Megan Highland

“Casablanca. Sometimes it all just comes together – the story, the cast, the dialog, the direction – and you get a movie that stands the test of time.”

Hello Everyone!

This is a blog about Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, directed by Michael Curtiz, and became Warner Brothers Studio’s first international movies. One of the film’s most classic love stories, and rated one of the top movies of all time, according to IMBD.com. I have never watched this movie before, I do not watch too many older films, but have been trying to watch as much as I can. The techniques used to in older films, are amazing, now movies can do just about anything. Whatever someone wants they can create it, making it look as real as possible, but the older films had to be very creative, work with the time that they are developed in and the technology that was available.  My favorite scene was the flashback scene. Rick is drinking and thinks back to, the scene melts or vibrates away into another time, Ilsa and Rick are Paris driving around enjoying the city. The scene was great because of today’s standards the effects were horrible, but back then it was high tech. Flashback are great, the scenes create another story within a story, telling two sides of a coin, if you will. Seeing a character in another light, can help bring the audience to understand and help create a connection, especially with someone as cynical as Rick.

Film Noir is a different kind of film, one of the best classics is It’s a Wonderful Life, with Jimmy Stewart learning a lesson, of what life’s really about, family. Learning about the different elements of the film noir was interesting, there is so much meaning in the way women and men were depicted and the time in which they were developed fell right into that WWII era, where the family and the traditional gender roles were applied and expected. When watching this movie it is obvious where the story was going, the hero will win, the married woman will not leave her husband, the formula was the same as many love stories told now, though some things have changed. We still have these stories and these classic love stories and that is what makes this film so timeless and the reason people want to continue to categorize it that way, it is the Bella and Edward of the 40’s.

The love story is a classic one, but so is the technique, everyone starts somewhere. These characters were amazing and the actors that played them brought them to life, Rick, or Humphrey Bogart did an amazing job. He gave such sympathy to the character in the scene depicted above. Rick, at first introduction is so cynical and neutral; that it is hard to empathize with him; however all is turned around in this one scene. Looking at this man, you know that somewhere down the line, life made him that way, conveying everything with a look, every emotion, raw and powerful. Michael Curtiz the director did a good job capturing the truth behind each character and allowed the audience watch it unfold with the actors faces, using close shots and extreme shots, capturing that feeling. Everything is important, the angles, lighting, cast, story, director, mood, music, and they all have to come together, if a movie is going to make it and withstand the test of time, and Casablanca is one of those films.