Reviews from a Futon : Casablanca (1942)

This past year found me on my couch (well, my futon, to be precise); a disc in my spine had wandered, compressing my sciatic nerve… The meds meant spending time on small screens scrolling would send my eyes blurring. I decided to pick up some missed reads from over the years, and maybe dig into some classic cinema.

When I was an early teen, my family went on a Florida trip to Disney…

the ‘Great Movie Ride’ included a ‘Casablanca’ section. It has permeated into our culture, presenting itself in cartoons and referenced in films… lines floating up in winkish nods… “play it again, Sam”… “Here’s looking at you, Kid.”

It occured to me that I should perhaps try what was regarded as one of the ‘greatest films ever made’. I had low expectations going into it… I really didn’t know what I was expecting? Some films of the era mire themselves in exposition, derailing the pace which never seems to recover. The opening ten minutes come close to this trap, but it quickly rights itself and I soon found myself drawn into the WWII era story of espionage and unrequited love. There were genuine laughs drawn out in the characters, and lines.

Taking place in French controlled Casablanca; a passageway to Lisben, where travel to America was possible to escape the Nazi reach. Bogart plays Rick, an American cafe owner, living his life just fine until the love of his life and her husband walk through his door. They had met and fell in love in Paris, under the spectre of the German approach. They’d arranged to flee by train… and she never met him. He moved on, and pretended she never happened.

Humphrey Bogart had a charm and swagger, his big sad puppy dog eyes cast an endearing form, the slow drawl to his voice … the likes that carried into parody, and imitation but watching him onscreen really brings home the presence he was onscreen…

That low drawl, and sharpened dememaning wit. World weary by 40.

His heart broken, fault lines running down his face like dry riverbeds… tears cast only in the low lit nights, a short glass of strong whiskey, and a bold, filterless cigarette in hand. Rick, this time…  again an American in a strange land. Rick, morally ambiguous, unless it has to do with Nazi’s. He has no time for Nazi’s, or jilted lovers causing a scene in his cafe.

The curious aspect for me, is that my initial introduction to Bogart was most likely via parody… probably old Mad Magazines, and saturday morning cartoons, maybe even Saturday Night Live?

However, seeing him in this and in some of the other films, it becomes evident his skill, it becomes evident why he has endured. He has an absolute presence onscreen, so his accolades and legacy are well earned. You can see the echoes of Bogart even in Harrison Ford’s Han Solo… any of those lines you can hear that drawl and swagger

Every facet of this film, from the script to the sets, to the lighting are all polished. This is a certain film craft that is just wonderful to watch, you can feel the work behind the scenes, everything running at top form.

The characters are all endearing, even the Police Commissioner Louie, as played by Claude Raines. He is delightful and almost gleeful in the bribery involved in dispensing of exit Visas from Casablanca. The dialogue overall is tight and snappy, giving Raines and Bogart a launchpad. Peter Lorre’s short role in the film was fantastically memorable. His distinct voice yelling ‘Rick! Rick! You’ve got to hiiddee me!’ is an echolocalia hit.

Ilsa… his lost love as played by Ingrid Bergman, her visage displayed in soft lighting. Eyes sparkling in every shot.

It feels as if everyone on screen is a fully developed character, that the extras all carry full back stories, only waiting for the moment to step into the footlights and tell their tale. A moment reserved as elder patrons of the Cafe draw a drink with their favourite waiter on the eve of their departure highlights this. The political tensions as Nazi’s trickle into town bubbling up.

The pacing of the films is often the starkest contrast to our modern era.

You’ll notice the camera taking long shots without cutting away. Entire scenes of dialgoue and well rehearsed movements play out in single cuts. The overall sense of seeing the actors together working off of each other is palpable, the long takes offering time to see the interactions. At times, what we watch almost feels like a well crafted play than a film.

The camera work is sly during a tracking shot following Rick and Captain Louie’s conversation. Moving along from across the crowded nightclub, up a short set of stairs into the office, where set design left the wall open for the camera. Culminating in a silhouette of Rick opening a safe, the execution is so smooth you are apt to miss the fact that the camera hasn’t broken shot.

A bittersweet film, drawing to the moral of the ‘greater good’, reflecting the era in which it was released. The Hays Code had taken effect, in short a government imposed ‘morality clause’ that Hollywood had decided to abide by. This particularily effected the ending of the film…

Ilsa, was married (although her husband believed dead) when she met Rick in Paris. The Hays Code prohibited men from stealing other men’s wives, adultery, was not a moral position to hold. This often left screenwriters to ‘write around the Code’ in creative ways. Innuendo abounded in most places, they could infer but not state.

Rick sends Ilsa off on a plane with her husband, leaving him and Louie on the tarmac, where Rick delivers the classic line “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.

Casablanca was eventually included on the AFI list of 100 greatest films, sliding in behind Citizen Kane, for a number two slot. It is often deemed as one of the greatest films of all time… for a cultural contribution, I feel it surpasses Citizen Kane in this regard. Where a few film buffs may pick up on a reference to the phrase “Rosebud”, “Here’s looking at you kid” is a much more renowned quote.

While I was overall impressed with how well this film stood up, the craft overall was absolutely remarkable. This film, amongst many of the others really seemed to serve to fill in some of the culture reference gaps that had eluded me over time…

Here's a few Bogie Doodles!