CASABLANCA (1942) **** This film probably does everything great that a film can do. For those of us who have watched it more than ten times, and loved it every single one, the only remaining question is whether it is the greatest film ever made. It's not a flawless film, as some have said...not like, for example Babette's Feast, or My Life as a Dog. Instead it is an ultimate personification of "Hollywood perfection," whereby one becomes convinced that Marilyn Monroe is all the more entrancing because she sounds like a cartoon, or Robert Redford is better looking because of his warts. Michael Curtiz' masterpiece makes romance, intrigue, situational ethics, hard drinking, and kicking Nazi's ass all look like one gear. So it must be! The only scene that I'm still confused about is the one where they all (Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains) sit down and order the best champagne, then promptly stand up and leave without drinking any. Henreid has the intensity for that kind of ideologically driven martyr who saves the world, all the while creating nothing but problems for everyone around him, but I don't see anything like the charisma that accompanies the historical alchemists who have made that formula work (Martin Luther King, JFK, Che Guevara, John Lennon, Boris Yeltsin). Ingrid Bergman's most dramatic scenes are only enhanced by her emotional sensibilities as an actress being thrown overboard, but if she is indeed "the most beautiful woman to ever visit Casablanca" it may be partially because we know a little too much about Madeleine LeBeau. Ultimately, though, the number one reason that the film is great is because it's Bogey's greatest role. Bogey was an authentic rugged individualist, recalcitrant, cynical but morally admirable, American willing to make the right move at the right time, whatever it was. In one of the ultimate ironies in the history of Hollywood the part was originally given to Ronald Reagan--thank God type-casting saved the day! Great as Bogey is, the only flawless performance is that of Rains who, as an Englishman, perfectly anticipates that will amuse the Americans about the French. Rick's Café Americain somehow appeals as one of the all-time great nightclubs, despite the fact that no one but LeBeau ever seems to be drinking much, and way over half of the patrons are utter assholes. That artists are more important to a bar than saints is a given, but the only thing the Nazis can possibly contribute is a target for ugly drunks. I don't buy into the conspiratorially alleged subtext that, in the famous final scene, that Bogey is dumping Bergman for Rains. I think it's more likely that he just decided that she talks too much. I mean, surely the artistically attuned Dooley Wilson would be more his style.
back to Brilliant Observations on 1776 Films page, or Index
go back home, or send me email
Reviews won't do it any more! I need sustained brilliance! I want to buy your novel!