80 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 via Variety, it’s fascinating to read it today.
One thing people fail to mention about “Casablanca” is what a cynical movie it was. Its production started at a time when it wasn’t a sure thing that the Nazis were going to lose WWII. And so, its thematic resonances lie in its depictions of lost love, lost chances and, above all else, resistance.
Fully filmed in the Warner Bros. lot, with a cast of immigrants and French 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. The emotion in the scene where they sing "La Marseillaise" wasn't acting
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? Maybe Clayton Davis might be the exception.
TCM manages to squeeze in airings of “Casablanca” on a monthly basis. The memory of these characters hanging at Rick’s Cafe will live on for generations to come. The film finished 84th in Sight and Sound’s 2012 critics poll, maybe it climbs up the ranks when the 2022 poll results are released this coming week.
Comedic fact: Since Bogart was shorter than Bergman, he wore these platform shoes during filming.
