A Leksell's Casablanca Thoughts

Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid is a true testament to what the proper lighting and camera angles can do for a movie. The simple plot was enhanced by subtle changes in both.  New York Times movie critic, Bosley Crowther, reviewed Casablanca in November 1942. His view on director Michael Curtiz was that he “directed for slow suspense and that his camera [was] always conveying grim tension and uncertainty.” The camera pans through the bar showing greedy, criminal activities, not lingering long on one before sliding to another. Women sell jewels, couples arrange for passage, and pockets are picked. It seems as if this is a dangerous place to be. Our imaginations soar with what kind of man could run this place. Suspense builds until we meet Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart. The camera finally arrives at his table, but shows just his hands and the table around him as he signs a paper. Only after lingering there for a minute does the camera finally move up to his face. This slight delay in showing Humphrey’s face kept the audience waiting in anticipation to see the star. Curtiz knew the power of a star’s status on a movie and used techniques that would enhance them.

Ingrid Bergman, who played Ilsa, was a beautiful woman who needed no special effects to dazzle, even in black and white, but the lighting in Casablanca made her ethereal. Her performance lit “the romantic passages with a warm and genuine glow” (Crowther). In the scene where Ilsa and Rick were reunited, she was cast in a normal light until she implored the piano man to play “As Time Goes By.” The lighting on her then changed to shine from above, causing a halo to surround her face, softening her already beautiful features into a magical glow. Emotions portrayed in her close-up, magnified the love she still had for Rick. Through light alone, Curtiz said volumes about her feelings. He used this technique throughout the film to amplify emotions. As Rick reminisces about their time in Paris, he sits alone in the dark, his bottle spotlighted to focus our attention on it and his misery. Ilsa returns to the bar to see him, resplendent in white as the lights from the window reflect against her. The contrast between the dark bar and her white dress is so striking that it shifts our focus from his misery to her beauty.  

The lighting in Casablanca made the movie more memorable. I was so enchanted by the camera work and the lighting that the fact that it was in black and white was not distracting. The sharp lines and shadows conveyed emotions like no other movie I have seen. Casablanca expressed feelings about WWII and showed how people then were still in the dark about what was going on. By using light to showcase beauty and camera angles to build suspense, Curtiz showed that there was still hope. Casablanca has been a classic for many years and I am happy to add myself to its list of fans.