As Time Goes by: 'Casablanca' Eighty Years on
Remembered as one of the best films of all time, ‘Casablanca’ looms large over the film industry today. Even those who haven't actually seen the film will have heard of it, most can even recite one or two of its iconic quotes. "Here's looking at you, kid" could arguably be considered common vernacular.
Directed by Academy Award winner Michael Curtiz,, and featuring stellar leading performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, ‘Casablanca’ is set in the titular city of Morocco in the midst of the Second World War. Our protagonist, Rick Blaine, is an American expatriate operating a nightclub "Rick's Café Américain" in the city – an establishment that attracts a varied clientele. From German officers to French officials to a sea of refugees arriving in Casablanca from war-torn Europe in the hopes of travelling onward to America.
After coming into possession of two letters of transit, coveted documents that would allow anyone to leave Casablanca, politically neutral cynic Rick must decide where his loyalties lie when his former lover arrives in the city with a Czech resistance leader in tow, hoping to reach America and continue the fight against fascism.
In addition to winning Best Director, the film received the award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture, with Bogart nominated for Best Actor and Claude Rains nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his brilliantly witty performance as Louis Renault, the prefect of police. Described by Rotten Tomatoes as "an undisputed masterpiece", Casablanca ranked second behind Citizen Kane in the American Film Institute's "100 Years... 100 Movies" list. Six quotes from the film, more than any other movie, were featured in the list.
2022 marks eighty years since Casablanca first premiered, so this would be a good time to reflect on why it deserves its place in the pantheon of celebrated films.
A large part of Casablanca's enduring popularity is it's screenplay. Casablanca has gone down in Hollywood history for its troubled production, with a script written day-by-day by a rotation of different writers. Despite this, the screenplay for Casablanca is remembered as one of the best ever written, in large part due to the film’s cohesion and its innovative use of Chekhov’s Gun. Casablanca survived changing hands by ensuring nothing went to waste; that no character or conversation was superfluous.
The story is stripped to its necessities, but at no point feels lifeless. On the contrary, every frame in Casablanca is full of character and atmosphere. Adapting techniques from the German Expressionist movement and the burgeoning genre of film noir, cinematographer Arthur Edeson made clever use of the lighting in every scene to both conjure an appropriate mood and represent the morality and emotional conflicts of the characters.
The script cleverly utilises implication and deception, a feat that requires the film to respect and trust that the audience is able to work certain mysteries out on their own. Exposition to explain who’s who and what the key relationships are is masked in the dialogue under wit and strong emotions; nothing is completely spelled out. In a similar vein, the film makes a clear distinction between what is true and what is said. Rick professes apathy and neutrality, but slowly and surely details of his backstory and actions throughout the film begin to suggest that the perception Rick wants others to have of him is not necessarily his true character.
Rick's complex character is compelling enough on paper, but his ranking fourth place in the AFI's "100 Years... 100 Heroes" has only so much to do with the writing and is mostly down to Bogie’s performance. After almost a decade of being consistently typecast as the gangster archetype — often playing second fiddle to the more popular "tough guys" such as Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney — Bogart was offered something new, something he’d never been considered a good fit for: a romantic lead. He didn’t fit the conventions. With his characteristic sneer, his facial scar that left his already nasally voice with a slight lisp, and his slim build, he didn’t meet any of the usual physical criteria for a leading man in the vein of Cary Grant or Clark Gable. But from his first scene Bogart hits the ground running and refuses to pause.
Bergman — a fabulous actress who was not only stunningly beautiful but always able to breathe a fresh, revitalising life into even the most one-note of her characters — gives one of the most memorable performances of her career as Ilsa Lund. She perfectly encapsulates all the sorrows, regrets, and deep love that Ilsa feels. She works very well with Bogart as they both share that mournful quality to their eyes - his dark and hers light - that really adds something magical to their scenes together.
Casablanca was made shortly after the United States entered the Second World War. Rick, although a realistic and well-rounded character, serves as a metaphor for America's position just before the attack on Pearl Harbour - that indecisiveness between saving oneself and sticking your neck out for the greater good.
All the characters arguably represent a certain point on this line between self-preservation and the fight for a better world. Whether it is possible to remain strong in the face of tremendous adversity, a theme that makes Casablanca both perfect product of its time but equally timeless, it is a message that was needed then and is needed now. This, together with it being a remarkable piece of writing and filmmaking, only scratches the surface of why Casablanca remains as relevant a film today as it was when it inspired and enchanted the cinema-going public eighty years ago.