Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)

Everyone knows the deal with this one.

This is not going to be a long spiel. It is more of an addendum to my reviews of Humphrey Bogart's movies from last year.

Besides, what is there left to say about Casablanca?

Its greatness has been cemented in the public imagination for so long it is almost on the point of becoming underrated.

I last watched Casablanca in August, at the end of festival of Humphrey Bogart pictures focused on 'international' locations. What I took from watching Casablanca at the end, was getting a sense of the shadow it threw on the rest of his career.

After watching the Casablanca clones (Sirocco and Tokyo Joe, one can see even Bogart wrestling with the impact of his most famous film.

It is also a reflection of the way stars of his era were generally stuck in similar roles and genres.

Casablanca is the kind of movie I enjoy - it is focused around a single location and a small cast of characters.

Set largely inside Rick’s club, Casablanca is a world unto itself - deals are done, lives hang in the balance and secrets are the most important currency.

Claude Rains steals the movie as the cheerfully amoral police chief Renault - his witty asides and the clever choreography (the way he accepts his winnings while closing Rick’s club for illegal gambling) are a comic delight.

The margins of the movie are so colourful, and Bogart and Bergman are so iconic, that they are almost too archetypal. Nothing against their performances, but they are not as fun as the characters around them. 

After going through so many of his movies in a short space of time, I have gained such a new appreciation for Bogart’s face. That  face, particularly his eyes, have been the most fascinating aspect of his affect. Those sunken eyes burdened by age, mistakes and regrets.

Coming out of the miniseries, my preference is for the goofier, weirder edge of his filmography and performances. Rick is a more solemn and withdrawn characterisation. But it also gains a new potency after watching a broad selection of his other roles - including parts that feel like pale re-takes of Rick.

By contrast, the original gains so much more power.

Related 

Across The Pacific (1942)

Sahara (1943)

To Have and Have Not (1944)

Tokyo Joe (1949) 

Sirocco (1951) 

The African Queen (1952)

Beat the Devil (1953)

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