Casablanca
- Director: Michael Curtiz
- United States, 1942
Casablanca needs no introduction, except maybe the first few bars of As Time Goes By. It’s a masterfully told, elliptical yarn about a difficult period and after so many decades, it’s too easy to overlook the fact that it was contemporary to those times.
Bogart’s world weary ex-pat Rick Blaine runs an upmarket club frequented by a microcosm of affluent refugees, shysters and officials. A past lover who jilted Rick in Paris arrives with her Resistance leader husband of whom Rick was hitherto unaware. Should Rick help them escape Europe or try to regain her love and elope?
A relatively small cast ensures that character development is evenly spread and the plotting is detailed without being overly elaborate. Every aspect of the production is consistently excellent. As such, we can think of Casablanca as a self-contained capsule of cinematic perfection whose longevity has stretched far beyond the era of propaganda movies.
See also:
Brotherhood [Taegukgi]
Director: Je Gyu Kang Korea, 2004 An epic saga of two brothers caught up in the Korean War, this film demonstrates the Korean sensibility for well-crafted melodrama. What’s unusual, however, is the sheer ...
- Originally published: 28 Jul 2006 in Film
The Maltese Falcon
Director: John Huston United States, 1941 Huston’s directorial debut is a detective story about the pursuit of the titular avian, a priceless ornament whose origins are engagingly described by Sydney Greenstreet’s portly ...
- Originally published: 29 May 2007 in Film
Who is that guy?
Hello you. I'm Mike Padgett and I work in the technology sector as an Information Designer.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm based in Brussels, Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is St Feuillien Brune.
Comments
No responses yet to Casablanca
Why not give me your comments?