NFR Project: 'Casablanca' (1942)

 

NFR Project: “Casablanca”

Dir: Michael Curtiz

Scr: Julius J. Epstein, Philip J. Epstein, Howard Koch

Pho: Arthur Edeson

Ed: Owen Marks

Premiere: Nov. 26, 1942

102 min.

The most perfect of Hollywood movies, the epitome of the Studio Era, was the result of a team effort. Somehow script, actors, director, cinematographer, and production designers all combined to make an iconic film about love and conscience.

The film capitalized on America’s entry into World War II. It portrays an American expatriate who’s ambivalent about the Allied cause. Richard Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) runs Rick’s Café in Casablanca, Morocco – at the time under the rule of France’s Vichy government, a government in collaboration with the Nazis. He cynically supports no cause, even though he has a track record of fighting for noble causes.

His indifference is disturbed when Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) appears with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Lazlo is a freedom fighter wanted by the Nazis. The two seek to escape to America. The keys to their escape are “letters of transit,” passes that allow the bearers to travel freely out of the zone of danger. Rick is given the letters by an unscrupulous gangster, Ugarte (Peter Lorre), who is caught and executed shortly after.

Everybody wants those letters of transit – including Casablanca police official Captain Renault (Claude Rains) and Nazi Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt). Ilsa and Lazlo ask for the passes, but Rick turns them down. You see, in years prior Rick and Ilsa were in love in Paris, only to be mysteriously parted when the Nazis invaded. Rick is still nursing a broken heart.

It turns out that Ilsa thought her husband was dead when she got involved with Rick, and had to leave him to reunite with her husband, without explanation. Rick’s bitterness keeps him from forking over the letters to Lazlo. Finally, Ilsa confronts Rick with a gun, only to be told to shoot. She breaks down and confesses that she is still in love with him.

With the Nazis hot on Lazlo’s trail, the matter all comes down to the wire. Will Rick turn in Lazlo and keep Ilsa for himself? Or will he do the right thing and sacrifice himself so that Ilsa and Lazlo can get away?

The fact that nobody knows what Rick will do (the ending was up in the air, even during filming) drives the plot. Bogart, by now a star, carried the character of Rick into iconic status. He is worldly wise, cynically humorous, unpredictable. Ingrid Bergman is at the height of her beauty, and plays Ilsa with an enticing wistfulness. Paul Henried is suitably heroic as Lazlo, and Veidt is deliciously evil as Strasser. Even minor players are cast to perfection – Sydney Greenstreet, John Qualen, Marcel Dalio, Dooley Wilson, and S.Z. Sakall are all present.

The crux of the film is: what will Rick do? The conclusion is satisfying. Rick and Ilsa have their moment of love rekindled, AND Rick does the right thing. Strasser is vanquished, and Rick and Renault stroll off into the fog, headed off to join the Resistance.

In the meantime, we have the memorable dialogue ringing in our ears: “Here’s looking at you, kid,” ‘we’ll always have Paris,” ‘Play ‘As Time Goes by.’” The movie is heavy in sentiment and heartache, but the combined elements of inspired casting, a taut, witty script, and shadowy cinematography add up to an undeniable romantic experience. We are swept away by the “problems of three little people,” and share in the quiet affirmation of the conclusion.

To this day, we watch Casablanca every New Year’s Eve. It’s a fine tradition.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Cat People.