79 years ago on this date, Michael Curtiz’s “Casablanca” was released. It's a film that has withstood the test of time, and produced some of movie history’s most memorable lines.
Here is an original review from 1942.
One thing people tend to not mention about “Casablanca” is what a cynical movie it is. It was made at a time when it was a sure thing that the Nazis were going to lose WWII. And so, it’s thematic resonances lie in its depictions of lost love, lost chances and, above all else, resistance to the greater good.
Fully filmed in the Warner Bros. lot, with a cast of immigrants and exiles who had fled the Third Reich, politics weren’t withheld in “Casablanca.” In fact, political commitment and unity was at the forefront of its story, overshadowing the romantic melodrama.
Of course, this flawlessly directed film features cinema's most romantic couple in Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. How can you live as a film writer without the memory of Bogart, Bergman, Henreid, Rains, Lorre, and Greenstreet hanging at Rick’s Cafe?
An oddly humorous fact about the film: Since Bogart was shorter than Bergman, he wore these platform shoes during filming.
Here's lookin at you, kid.
