Casablanca (1942) Watch Along
Added 2024-02-14 17:00:13 +0000 UTCAnother one off the AFI Top 100 List!
I felt really enamoured by this film. I was taken by the acting, story and cinematography. I was trying to figure it all out and put words to my thoughts in my mouth without talking too much without disrespecting the work while taking it all in! I felt incredibly torn with Ilsa! I cannot wait to rewatch this one!
Happy Valentines Day! (I don't celebrate it but I thought it would be fun to do this one for today!)
xx
ame
Comments
In the scene in the cafe where they Lazlo led in the singing of the French National Anthem La Marseillaise, "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOeFhSzoTuc" drowning out the Nazi's; the emotions on some of the faces , even tearful emotions, were cast members who actually fled Nazi occupied Europe. There emotions and tears esp the very pretty girl Yvonne played by Madeleine Lebeau was one of those who escaped and found her way to America. Here tears were real, and at the time this movie was made, in the winter of 1942-1943, the German army was victorious in an almost unbroken chain of battlefield successes. Europe lay under German domination. The Nazi's were winning and this film to come out at that time with many who fled the war and death meant so much. This is the French National Anthem in English translated subtitles. It's pretty intense! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MQ-SC9bmp4
Lana Gorgeous
2025-01-06 00:45:46 +0000 UTCThanks JAMES! So much going on so much to focus on and was a delight to edit this and rewatch! Still soo MUCH to take from it ❤️
Amalia Wolf
2024-09-01 07:28:47 +0000 UTCGod I love this movie. I have a lot of issues with the AFI top 100 but this one deserves to be there. No need to apologize for your restrained commentary. Seemed pretty on point to me. 👌
James Rogers
2024-09-01 06:38:08 +0000 UTCSo much I don’t know about !!!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-16 00:20:22 +0000 UTCSo much symbolism here in the lead character. Rick’s transition from neutrality and isolationism to active involvement is much like America’s journey to WW II. An additional layer is his past, when he fought the fascists in Ethiopia and Spain, which were both losing efforts, and then witnessing the betrayal of Czechoslovakia and the fall of France, all of which left him jaded about the Western democracies. And right before the famous line, of all the gin joints, etc., he says “They’re asleep all over America.”
Baron Imhoof
2024-02-15 08:39:05 +0000 UTCIt was amazing!!!!!!! There is so much to read and learn about regarding this film!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-15 05:00:11 +0000 UTCHumphrey Bogart was a big chess player, and supposedly, the game at the beginning of the film was from an actual game that he was playing during the filming. it features a game that started with the "French Defence" move
Castanea
2024-02-15 04:55:14 +0000 UTCSo I'm not usually an Allegory person but this film is a masterful allegory. Rick (AmerRica) was for justice in the past but now has been heartbroken and insular drinking and sulking in the bar while Germany has been invading Europe. This film was a call to Americans to not continue standing by with a noninterference policy, to move past small interests and personal attachments and to join the larger fight, as he does so he reinspires the french (Louis) to step by and stop helping germany and enter a beautiful refriendship.
Castanea
2024-02-15 04:47:17 +0000 UTCRick: You said you knew about Ilsa and me. Laszlo: Yes. Rick: What you didn't know was that she was at my place last night when you were. She came there for the letters of transit. Isn't that true, Ilsa? Ilsa: Yes. Rick: She tried everything to get them and nothing worked. She did her best to convince me she was still in love with me but that was over long ago. For your sake she pretended it wasn't and I let her pretend. What an amazing scene! The relationship dynamics and motivations of each of the characters are fascinating! I'd love to see the Director's Notes, perhaps describing the thoughts going through each character's mind during this dialogue.
John Courtright
2024-02-15 04:43:42 +0000 UTCI literally died laughing JM that’s awesome
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-15 04:34:51 +0000 UTCThanks for this Clay!!! That’s so cool you and your son went to Morocco!!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-15 04:34:33 +0000 UTCThanks Scot!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-15 04:32:48 +0000 UTCAmes, don’t forget to take some time out for yourself. At the rate you’re posting I’m concerned you might burn yourself out. Also, don’t take advice from people on the internet.
Scot
2024-02-15 03:55:01 +0000 UTC"I'm not fighting for anything anymore, except for myself. I'm the only cause I'm interested in." "Go ahead and shoot. You'll be doing me a favor." Ilsa-Victor-Rick was a complex 3-way relationship. Good observation about the movie showing the chessboard (with Rick moving pieces) when Rick first appears -- that could be a metaphor. I noticed you had a good laugh with the Captain's line: My heart "is my least vulnerable spot." I laughed too. Not just what he said but the intonation in how he said it. This was my third time to watch Casablanca. The movie is growing on me. The movie Casablanca is part of our culture. Cool how you still hear several phrases today from that 80+ year old movie. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." I noticed that Rick says "here's looking at you, kid" four times to Ilsa -- twice in Paris and twice in Casablanca. I like Victor. Ingrid Bergman is beautiful, and I thought compelling in her acting. I noticed that Ilsa called Sam "that 'boy' who's playing the piano." She could have told Rick sooner: "she was married to Victor; she thought he had died in a concentration camp; she hooked up with Rick; she learned Victor was alive after all; she immediately ended the affair." I read this comedic characterization of Rick's Café Américain: "reminiscent of a cantina in 'Star Wars,' only with more grotesque creatures, e.g., Peter Lorre." Yet, Peter Lorre was a damn good actor. Me and my son visited Morocco a few years ago. Stayed in Marrakesh. We wanted to go to Casablanca (but didn't) to do tourist stuff including going to Rick's Cafe that is a re-creation of Rick's Café Américain.
Clay F
2024-02-15 01:45:36 +0000 UTCFor AFI days, how about "Welcome to the Ames Film Institute"? lol
JM63
2024-02-15 00:06:53 +0000 UTCThanks Greg!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-14 21:59:23 +0000 UTCI can’t wait to have more rewatches of this movie!!!!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-14 21:59:04 +0000 UTCOmgosh so much surrounding this film!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-14 21:58:38 +0000 UTCOooh no I keep hearing everyone talk about this film!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-14 21:58:22 +0000 UTCLol!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-14 21:58:03 +0000 UTCGood catch! I'm sure there are lots of Easter eggs like this. I will keep my eyes peeled during rewatches. This is definitely an "accidental masterpiece." I'm also amazed -- it's a cinematic miracle!
JM63
2024-02-14 21:57:01 +0000 UTCI must ask him again! WHY!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-14 21:56:53 +0000 UTCLike you mentioned, this time I really appreciated the subtle manipulation of the score. During Rick and Ilsa's first meeting in his office, I love how the score is so soft and sympathetic during Ilsa's "Let me tell you a story" monologue and then smoothly shifts to harsh and suspicious for Rick's cynical reply. The screenplay was voted as the best of all time by the Writers Guild of America. I think I have to agree (it's at least the most entertaining of all time for me). Apparently there were constant last-minute rewrites so no one actually knew who Ilsa would end up with, so Ingrid Bergman was told to play it straight down the middle (which she does wonderfully). To me it feels like she really did decide to stay with Rick before the final sequence. https://www.wga.org/writers-room/101-best-lists/101-greatest-screenplays/list The action moves so, so quickly in this but it never feels rushed. Dropping the score is really effective at slowing things down for a moment and letting the audience catch its breath.
JM63
2024-02-14 21:12:48 +0000 UTCWould love to hear more about your friend's attachment to watching this at Christmas. Casablanca is a great movie (obviously), but there isn't anything especially "Christmassy" about it, so I'm curious...
Carl Lyngholm
2024-02-14 20:55:21 +0000 UTCDon't worry, you did a great job in this reaction of balancing taking in the movie with making good observations! (I never realized that when Rick asks Sam to play As Time Goes By the second time he's doing it to torture Ilsa). Definitely gets better with rewatches. I'm sure that the opening cafe scene influenced the Cantina opening in Star Wars. Also Han Solo must have been partly modelled on Rick. (And Rick symbolizes the isolationist movement in America, which was fairly strong in the first couple years after the outbreak of war in Europe.)
JM63
2024-02-14 20:54:36 +0000 UTC(from the 1987 Director's Cut) "By the way, Ilsa... I faked every orgasm." Very controversial line, Warner Bros. cut it as the last minute.
JM63
2024-02-14 20:51:42 +0000 UTCI actually think Humphrey Bogart's Best acting effort, Academy Award level, was "Treasure of the Sierra Madre."
william johnson
2024-02-14 20:14:43 +0000 UTC"Round up the Usual Suspects!" I would do Anything for Ingrid Bergmann, despite the lengthy Shunning of her by Hollywood for moral turpitude (who the H--l does Hollywood think they are!) and despite her sharing a sleeping bag with Gary Cooper in "For Whom the Bells Toll."
william johnson
2024-02-14 20:06:55 +0000 UTCIn reference to Rick running guns to Ethiopia in 1935. Italy invaded Ethiopia that year. The League of Nations had put an arms embargo on both countries to try and halt the aggression. However Italy could build it's own weapons while Ethiopia had to import everything modern to defend itself. As a result many arms dealers made fortunes smuggling guns to Ethiopia. Ethiopia was the first country liberated during the war by British troops in November 1941 so a month before Pearl Harbor was attacked. As I said in my Masters of the Air comments Britain fought Germany and Italy alone for over a year before we entered and Ethiopia was a great British success.
Stephen Knueppel
2024-02-14 20:04:26 +0000 UTCThank you for watching this with us. It’s a wonderful, nuanced, witty, smart and intriguing film. This has to be the 10th time I’ve seen it, including in a revival theater once!
Catchermag
2024-02-14 19:48:46 +0000 UTCThe story began as a play but was changed when finally adapted to film not just for the love story, but as a bit of anti isolationist messaging while Hitler was expanding the third reich. Rick is a proxy for this transformation, from “ I’m the only cause I’m looking out for” to sacrificing his cafe and the woman he truly loves for the cause of defeating Germany. Rick asking Sam “ if it’s December 1941 in Casablanca what time is it in New York?” of course refers to the attack on Pearl Harbor. “I bet they’re asleep in New York, I bet they’re asleep all over America.” The film has a beautifully layered and witty script and Michael Curtiz, experienced in the film noir genre of the thirties and forties, fills the visual experience with intrigue and atmosphere. I loved how well you anticipated the plot. Lot’s of people don’t do so well on the first viewing. You may find, like me, it is impossible to tire of rewatching this classic. It is filled with great dialogue and lines that have become cultural memes. To me, it represents the greatness of my parent’s generation and how they rose to the occasion. “Ilza I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world…”
Greg Nelson
2024-02-14 19:41:17 +0000 UTCWith how chaotic the making of this movie was, I am forever amazed at how perfectly the pieces come together in the end. There are many interviews out there from people involved that reveal how the screenplay was rewritten day after day, with lines of dialogue regularly rushed to the set, even as the scenes were being shot. No final decision was made about who Ilsa would end up with until the final day of shooting. I've always been impressed by Ingrid Bergman's ability to devote herself to both male characters, not knowing how it would play out. I'm glad you touched on the cinematography. Every time I see this, I notice something new in how the shots are set up. One of my favorites is early on when Rick and Renault first enter his office, as Rick is getting the money from the safe. Claude Rains sits in a chair with his back against the wall. When the camera cuts back to Rick, the camera is placed over Renault's shoulder. The physical camera is now inside the wall. It cuts again, and the wall is back where it was. There was no reason to set up a casual conversation this way, complicating a scene, especially at that time while shooting on such a tight schedule, but choices like that are made and executed throughout the film. I can't help but find a fresh smile during each viewing.
Shawn Goforth
2024-02-14 19:14:35 +0000 UTCYes something new to me!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-14 18:10:42 +0000 UTCExcellent choice, provides an interesting look at what was happening in French North Africa before America entered the war.
Stephen Knueppel
2024-02-14 18:05:09 +0000 UTCWhat a line!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-14 17:45:27 +0000 UTCNo just my pick!
Amalia Wolf
2024-02-14 17:45:19 +0000 UTCOf all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world
Catchermag
2024-02-14 17:17:47 +0000 UTCWas this the WOW winner??
RFK Fan
2024-02-14 17:16:15 +0000 UTC
