Casablanca

A movie with romance, action, drama, comedy, and just about anything else you could put in a movie, Casablanca has it all. It is a must watch movie for people of all ages. Coming into my film class, I had never heard of this movie but now know why it is holds the title of second best film in the nineteenth century according to an article by Kathy Jackson and Jack Nachbar. It is a timeless classic that people have tried duplicate in a variety of ways, with none of attempts coming out with a product that could shine a light to the film that premiered in 1942. Even though I had not seen or heard of the movie before watching it, I do vaguely remember hearing the line, “Here’s looking at you, Kid,” in another movie. Although I don’t recall which movie I heard it in, the article “Playing It Again and Again,” says that the line has been used in a few other movies and television shows. Of all the gin joins in all the towns all over the world, she walks into mine,” and “Everybody comes to Rick’s,” are a few of the other famous lines from the movie that have been used in a variety of different things.

As I mentioned before, I hadn’t ever seen or heard of this movie before watching it, so it would make sense that I wouldn’t have known that the film was actually based off of the popular play written by Murray Burnett, called “Everybody Comes to Rick’s.” The article “Casablanca,” by Ray Merlock gave me a very in depth look at how the play was turned into one of the best motion pictures of the nineteenth century and arguably one of the bests of all time. Ray’s article showed that even though the movie wasn’t an exact reflection of the play, it had many of the same actors used in the play and just a few of the lines and names of characters were changed. His article also mentioned that the cast and crew of the movie represented thirty four different nationalities, which was a very astounding statistic.

The first thing that I noticed about the movie off the bat was that it was in black and white. This was kind of a turn off for me at first because it made me instantly think that it was going to be boring. However, as I continued watching the movie I noticed that the director used different types of lighting to create different effects. One example is how they always showed Ilas in a much brighter and warming light. This made her come off as being a center piece throughout much of the movie. The director also used more lighting to show happier moments in the movie and less light when something bad or a more dramatic effect was needed. Through reading the articles that referred to this movie I also found out that a color copy of this movie is out there, which makes me interested in seeing whether or not the same effects were able to be portrayed. The ending of the movie was a good ending but it still left some unanswered questions I had. I wondered: What happened with Rick and Captain Renault?, If Ilsa and Victor ever made it to America safely?, and if Rick and Ilsa ever got to see each other again?

Although the movie being in black and white made it boring at times, the director’s use of emotional scenes kept me interested and wanting more. An emotional scene for me was when Victor and Ilsa left on the plane. This was sad because as a viewer I knew that Ilsa still loved Rick and Rick still loved Ilsa, so it made me imagine how tough it would be to do the right thing like Rick does and let Ilsa leave with Victor. Another scene that was very interesting to me was how Rick had a tender enough heart to let the young couple in his saloon win enough money in craps to pay for their way out of Casablanca. Throughout the movie the character of Rick is portrayed as the person that always does the right thing no matter what it entails. He is willing to bend over backwards so that people are able to get what is the best for them. When the article “Playing It Again and Again,” says that Casablanca is an enduring classic that has left its mark on American mass media and popular culture, I believe it because it has left a mark on me. It makes me inspire to be more like Rick and have the courage to do the sacrifices for what is right. I also hope that anyone who watches this will be inspired to do the same thing.