casablanca
The classic and much-loved romantic melodrama Casablanca (1942) is a masterful tale of two men vying for the same woman's love in a love triangle against the backdrop of the conflict between democracy and totalitarianism. With rich atmosphere, anti-Nazi propaganda, Max Steiner's superb musical score, suspense, and unforgettable characters and memorable lines of dialogue, it is one of the most popular, magical (and flawless) films of all time - focused on the themes of lost love, honor, self-sacrifice and romance within a chaotic world. Directed by the talented Michael Curtiz and shot almost entirely on studio sets, the film moves quickly through a surprisingly tightly constructed plot. The script for this film was written from day to day as the filming progressed and no one knew how the film would end [Would Ilsa stay with Rick or leave with Laszlo?]. Its collaborative screenplay was mainly the result of the efforts of Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch - and producer Hal Wallis contributed the film's final line. Except for the initial airport sequence, the entire studio-oriented film was shot in a Warner Bros. Hollywood/Burbank studio. Thematically, the film is typical in its appropriation of an official h
We believe that Ilsa's love for Rick is so great, that she's willing to go through years of torment knowing what she's done to Rick, but that she did it for his own good. But ultimately, Rick's desire to stick his neck out for no one, which had been questioned throughout the film through other characters, is abandoned and he makes the ultimate sacrifice in giving up Ilsa, his livelihood, and maybe his freedom and life for "the cause". ero (Laszlo), who stands for the civilizing values of home and community and an outlaw hero (Rick), who stands for ad hoc individualism. In "Casablanca," he plays Rick Blaine, the hard-drinking American running a nightclub in Casablanca when Morocco was a crossroads for spies, traitors, Nazis and the French Resistance. By pinning the viewer's consciousness to Rick' s, most of what happens takes its logic from his point of view. It is Ilsa Lund (Bergman), the woman Rick loved years earlier in Paris. Ilsa Lund's role is basically that of a lover and helpmate to a great man; the movie's real question is which great man should she be sleeping with? There is actually no reason why Laszlo cannot get on the plane alone, leaving Ilsa in Casablanca with Rick, and indeed that is one of the endings that was briefly considered. Now she is with Victor Laszlo (Henreid), a legendary hero of the French Resistance. Basically, Casablanca asks you to believe that Rick, a man seems to have a great setup and who claims to stick out his neck for no one, is willing to give up EVERYTHING for the cause of the movement. " It is to know pain and joy, pride and pity for characters that are a fiction - yet are so real that you can't help but get lost in their story. Then, we find out that she actually did it because her love (was it love?) was so great for another man, she had to give up Rick for him. From a modern perspective, the film reveals interesting assumptions. Stylistically, the film is not so much brilliant as absolutely sound, rock-solid in its use of Hollywood studio craftsmanship. The richness of the supporting characters (Greenstreet as the corrupt club owner, Lorre as the sniveling cheat, Rains as the subtly homosexual police chief and minor characters like the young girl who will do anything to help her husband) set the moral stage for the decisions of the major characters.
Common topics in this essay:
Rick Ilsa,
Formally Casablanca,
Basically Casablanca,
Casablanca Rick,
Michael Curtiz,
Ilsa Rick,
Max Steiner's,
,
Bros Hollywood/Burbank,
Lund Bergman,
love rick,
stick neck,
train station,
french resistance,
love love,
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