Casablanca

A classic in black in white, Casablanca, was a movie that focuses on Ideas of truth of human nature, social problems and complexity of human relationships. In this day and age many may find a black and white film to be difficult to watch with our advances in color and technology, however I found this black and white style to enhance the setting of world war two, as well as create a better sense of time and place that the film was centered around. The film contained lots of shadows, and often times the sound was hard to hear, but the shadowed moments were always during times when you were most curious, as well as the ones that were hard to hear. Irony? … I think not. An example of a dark scene can be witnessed when Ilsa came to convince Rick to give Laszlo the papers to make it legal to leave in Rick’s bedroom. Another example includes the dull sounds when Louie and Rick are planning out Laszlo’s exit and arrest. Other contributions to the film that set the mood, was the music. There was a lot of background music that played throughout the film that enhanced what was going on. During the scenes between Rick and Ilsa, there was a lot of romantic soft music. When the police were coming to the airport in hopes of catching Laszlo the music was fast and loud.

Movies that focus on ideas, as classified by The Art of Film Watching states it is “significance that helps to clarify some aspect of life, experience, or human condition” ( pg. 24). I found this to be a fit as the movie’s main theme was one of war, corruption, and love. All of these would be considered universal themes as described by the book as “one of lasting interests” (pg. 34). The ideas included truth of human nature as Louie, an official in Casablanca, was corrupt and helping people out against his required duties. It included social problems as identified to the time and place during World War II. Lastly it included complexity of human relationships, for there was a love triangle between Ricky, Ilsa, and Laszlo. Also a matter of human relationships included that of Ricky and Louie throughout the film, as friends with some slight tension, until the end, in the famous quote “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”. Reviews put the movie in the spot light, like one written by Ray Merlock in the Journal of Popular Film and Television. His thoughts of the movie included: “Perhaps what is most fundamental about Casablanca is not necessarily the collective talent that made a 1942 movie but that motion picture's overall impact and stature as "The Century's Key Hollywood Film" and a significant part of America's and the world's cinematic and cultural landscape.” I think this puts a great emphasis that the Casablanca was one film to start the evolution of cinema in an artistic and cultural way. Not only did it pave the way for cinema, I found it interesting that collectibles, and memorabilia’s were made for the film as expressed in the article by Kathy Jackson and Jack Nachbar in titled Play It Again and Again. They stated “The message is powerful, and fans seek something more than the memory of a great film: They want to extend the movie experience. Thus, Casablanca items, collectibles, and establishments provide a way of connecting with the film: They make physical a memory”. This idea seems strange, but then again most Disney movies do the same through toys including McDonalds toys.

Overall, I felt the movie had a good plot; however, it was slow in the beginning with slight confusion with so much going on and new characters being introduced, many of which were unimportant. After watching it a second time, it was easier to pick up on what was going on. One thing also I found to be difficult with the movie was telling characters apart, which is why there was so much confusion in the beginning. All the males have the same style of clothes, hair, and because it’s in black in white I had difficulty telling some of the characters apart. With today’s day and age with color it is much easier to see distinguishing characteristics about each character, and a uniqueness in the characters opposed to the black and white that doesn’t pick up as much details on the camera.

Casablanca. DVD. Dir. Michael Curtiz. Perf. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Raines, Conrad Veidt, Peter Laurie, Sidney Greenstreet. Warner Brothers, 1943. [1999]

Casablanca. By: Merlock, Ray. Journal of Popular Film & Television, Winter2000, Vol. 27 Issue 4, p2, 3p, 1bw; (AN 2754047)

Boggs, Joseph, & Petrie, Dennis. (2008). The Art of watching films. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill College.

Playing it Again and Again. By: Jackson, Kathy Merlock; Nachbar, Jack. Journal of Popular Film & Television, Winter2000, Vol. 27 Issue 4, p33, 13p, 3bw; (AN 2754051)