Classic 40s Movie: “Casablanca”

September is Classic 40s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Paul Graunke.

Movie Title: Casablanca

Year: 1942

Writers: Jules J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch

Lead Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains

Director: Michael Curtiz

Plot Summary: When a former lover walks into the bar of a disillusioned American expatriate, he is forced to choose between love and duty, freedom and oppression.

Why I Think This Is a Classic 40’s Movie

Because of, well, everything. The dialogue, the characters, the chemistry between characters, the exotic setting, the dramatic dilemma, the denouement.

Which is not to say Casablanca is a perfect movie. It’s got plot holes and there are errors in continuity. But as Howard Hawks, who produced, directed and wrote scripts in the golden age of Hollywood, said, a great movie is one that has two or three great moments and no bad moments. Casablanca has plenty of great moments and no bad ones.

My Favorite Moment in the Movie

My favorite moment is the end of the movie, when Rick shoots Nazi Major Strasser to prevent him from stopping the escape of Victor Laszlo and Ilsa on the airplane. It’s a defining moment of truth for Rick; he “sticks his neck out” for someone else. It is also a suspenseful and defining moment of truth for Captain Renault. Will he continue to collaborate with the Nazis and arrest Rick? No, he covers for Rick with one of the most quoted line to come out of a film: “Round up the usual suspects.”

Which is followed by one of the greatest last lines ever for a film. As the two men walk into the fog-shrouded night, now allies in the struggle against the Nazis, Ricks says, “Louis, I think is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.”

That line wasn’t in the shooting script, by the way. The film’s producer, Hal Wallis, decided the conclusion needed a punch line and came up with the line after the scene was shot.

My Favorite Dialogue in the Movie

In a film with so much clever dialogue, my favorite is Rick’s farewell exchange with Ilsa because it sums up what, ultimately, is at stake in the story.

RICK: Last night we said a great many things. You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I’ve done a lot of it since then, and it all adds up to one thing: you’re getting on that plane with Victor where you belong.
ILSA: But, Richard, no, I… I…
RICK: Now, you’ve got to listen to me! You have any idea what you’d have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we’d both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn’t that true, Louie?
CAPTAIN RENAULT: I’m afraid Major Strasser would insist.
ILSA: You’re saying this only to make me go.
RICK: I’m saying it because it’s true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You’re part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
ILSA: But what about us?
RICK: We’ll always have Paris. We didn’t have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
ILSA: When I said I would never leave you.
RICK: And you never will. But I’ve got a job to do, too. Where I’m going, you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do, you can’t be any part of. ILSA, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.

Ilsa lowers her head and begins to cry.

RICK: Now, now…

He places his hand under her chin and raises it so their eyes meet.

RICK: Here’s looking at you kid.

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie

CHARACTERS AND RELATIONSHIPS

The character arc for Rick Blaine, the protagonist, is clearly laid out in Act 1 by what he says and what he does — or rather won’t do. What Rick won’t do is get involved in the other people’s problems or in the overarching fight for liberation from the Nazis. “I don’t stick my neck out for nobody” is his Inviolate Rule. And this is dramatized when he refuses Ugarte’s plea for help.

And then Ilsa walks into his “gin joint”.

And it seems to me that Ilsa the greater dramatic dilemma, the greater emotional conflict of the two ex-lovers. She is trapped in the middle between her feelings for Victor Laszlo, the man she married because she admired his ideals and courage, and her feelings for Rick Blaine, the man she fell in love with in Paris, believing her husband was dead.

Captain Renault is an amusing and effective reflector character. Renault and Rick are both men of the world who understand and respect each other. The famous line at the end of the film confirms what we have seen developing from the start: theirs is a beautiful dramatic relationship.

Two principal characters share similar temperaments — both are humorless, earnest true believers in their causes — yet stand diametrically opposed in terms of values and action. Major Strasser, the Nazi, is the inflexible villain, of course, and Victor Laszlo is his polar opposite, ramrod righteous, always saying and doing the right thing.

In between them are all the other principal characters, like Rick and Renault, who are more flexible in their morality, more adaptable in their behavior; they are decent people doing what they have to do to survive in terrible times.

PLOT

The plot is driven by the gimmick of a McGuffin. Everyone is in pursuit of letters of transit bearing the signature of General Charles de Gaulle that will enable the holder to depart from Casablanca for Lisbon and freedom.

If you think about it, the McGuffin doesn’t make sense. Why would anyone need a letter of transit to depart from Casablanca by air or by boat, for that matter? And it’s historical nonsense that de Gaulle’s signature would have any authority in a colony under the penumbra of Vichy France, like Morocco. The Germans certainly wouldn’t honor it.

And it doesn’t make sense that Victor Laszlo, the leader of the underground resistance against the Nazis, who has escaped from a German concentration camp in Europe, is allowed to walk around freely in Casablanca right in front of the Nazis. It doesn’t make sense that the Germans don’t arrest him on sight.

No, it doesn’t make sense — and it doesn’t matter. “Casablanca” is an example of a movie where the audience suspends disbelief in facts and logic because the movie remains loyal to the emotional truth, the plight of star-crossed. The head may protest the logic, but the heart embraces the relationship of Rick and Ilsa.

DIALOGUE

Is there a film with more quotable dialogue than “Casablanca”?

Rick: “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.”

Captain Renault: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here.”

Rick: “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

Rick: “We’ll always have Paris.”

Captain Renault: “Round up the usual suspects.”

Rick: “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

And probably the most misquoted line in a movie: “Play it, again, Sam”. Ilsa never said it. The actual exchange goes:

Ilsa: “Play it once, Sam. For old times’ sake.”
Sam: “I don’t know what you mean, Miss Ilsa.”
Ilsa: ‘Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By’.”

Thanks, Paul!

To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!

We already have a set of classic 5os movies, 60s Movies, 70s movies, 80s Movies and 90s Movies. This month, we’re working on 40s movies. And thanks to the GITS community, we’ve got 30 movies in the works, one for each day of the month!

Those who I put in bold have already sent me their posts. If you haven’t sent yours to me, please do so as soon as you can!!!

Act of Violence — Eric Rodriguez
Arsenic and Old Lace — Katha
Bicycle Thieves — Megaen Kelly
Brief Encounter — Emily Bonkoski
Casablanca — Paul Graunke
Double Indemnity — Susan Winchell
Five Graves to Cairo — Jeff Gibson
Foreign Correspondent — Doc Kane
His Girl Friday — John Henderson
It’s a Wonderful Life — David Laudenslager
Key Largo — Will King
Laura — Melinda Mahaffey Icden
Les enfants du paradis — Brendan Howley
Mrs. Miniver — Traci Nell Peterson
Notorious — Christine Henton
Now Voyager — Melissa Privette
Out of the Past — Brantley Aufill
Rope — Lance Morgan
The Bank Dick — Bob Saenz
The Best Years of Their Lives — Shaun Parker
The Big Sleep — Ipsita Barik
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir — Annie Wood
The Long Voyage Home — Vincent Martini
The Lost Weekend — Liz Warner
The Maltese Falcon — Roy Gordon
The Ox-Bow Incident — Clay Mitchell
The Philadelphia Story — Kristen Demaline
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock — David Joyner
The Third Man — Harry Cooke
To Have and Have Not — Felicity Flesher

Thanks to everyone who steps up for this ongoing project!

For the original post explaining the series, go here.

For all of the 40s movies featured in the series, go here.

Click REPLY and see you in comments about today’s classic 40s movie!

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