Rounding up the unusual suspects in "Casablanca"

Yesterday, CineVerse had the pleasure of unraveling the mysteries and joys of "Casablanca," which is 70 years old in 2012. Here are some of the discussion points of interest that we explored:

WHAT MAKES CASABLANCA SO GREAT ALL THESE YEARS LATER? WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS THAT COMBINE TO CREATE A FILM OF LASTING VALUE?

• Outstanding ensemble cast, including colorful supporting characters portrayed by veteran character actors
• Top notch behind the camera talent: director Michael Curtiz, genius producer Hal Wallis, composer Max Steiner, director of photography Arthur Edeson, writers Howard Koch and the Epstein brothers, and future director Don Siegel
• The ending is not predictable; in fact, it’s rather complicated and ambiguous
• The dialogue is sparse and cynical, which has helped make it timeless
• The film moves effortlessly and invisibly between shots and scenes thanks to a steadily moving camera, an economy of well-composed shots, and terrific old Hollywood studio system talent that knew how to manufacture a product efficiently
• It has something for everyone: romance, melodrama, comedy, music, action, politics
• Thematically, the film also beautifully melds idealism, intrigue and romance
• Arguably, this is the film that reminds most Americans, nostalgically, about World War II, in that its plot greatly involves that war and was released just after we got involved; thus, it wistfully evokes a bygone, unforgettable era in a way that makes it timeless

THEMES EXAMINED IN CASABLANCA

• Whether or not to remain neutral, both in love and war: Rick, Ilsa and Louis must each face a choice whether or not to fight the Nazis
• Sacrifice: each major character, by the end of the film, must choose to make a sacrifice for the sake of defeating the Nazis: Rick chooses to let Ilsa go; Ilsa chooses to get on the plane with Lazlo, and Louis chooses to protect the 3 lovers.
• The power of the past: Rick, Isla and Louis cannot escape their memories or their past; Rick is reminded of Ilsa in song and by her returning to his life; Ilsa is torn between her past lover and her current lover; Louis realizes that he must leave Casablanca after helping Rick.
• The power of good luck: gambling, and the promise it offers to those seeking to escape Casablanca, is prevalent at Rick’s care; Sam sings the song “Knock on Wood”.
• Political allegory: the film plays like a well-timed fable about America’s stance on WWII. Before Pearl Harbor, America, like Rick, tried to remain neutral and not get much involved. But after Pearl Harbor, and after Elsa suddenly re-enters Rick’s life, America and Rick understand the moral value of sacrifice and the importance of political idealism over personal desire
• The anti-hero turned hero: Rick is one of cinema’s first anti-heroes throughout most of the movie in that he has good and bad qualities, a multifaceted, mysterious personality (as evidenced by how many names he is called by others), and a shady past. But once he makes the moral decision to help Laszlo and Ilsa, he becomes a heroic figure—although we’re still not quite sure of his true motivations to help them.
• Lover’s triangle: a Freudian reading of the movie suggests that the past actions which disallow Rick from going back to America represent an Oedipal complex, which clears up after Rick starts to identify with Laszlo, a father figure, and his cause.
• Living in exile: Casablanca is a city replete with foreigners, many of whom live in exile. America represents a promised land on the far side of the desert, while Casablanca symbolizes an purgatorial oasis in the desert, with Rick’s Café standing as a neutral sanctuary for all
• Motifs and symbols repeated in Casablanca: Sam’s piano, which produces music that serves as a drug allowing patrons to escape their concerns and which functions as a symbol of purity; the spotlight, which serves as a reminder that people are always being watched; the letters of transit, which function as a real ticket out of hell, but which also serve as a MacGuffin-like plot device

CASABLANCA IS CONSIDERED A MIRACLE OF A MASTERPIECE, CONSIDERING THE HAPPY ACCIDENTS INVOLVED IN ITS PRODUCTION AND ITS PERFECT TIMING. DOES ANYONE KNOW OF SOME OF THE LUCKY CIRCUMSTANCES THAT HELPED MAKE THIS MOVIE SO SUCCESSFUL?

• Consider that the picture was filmed in under three hurried months
• Many screenwriters were called in to help doctor the script
• The actors didn’t care for the director or each other
• This was just another assembly line production on Warner Brothers’ docket, with no great expectations from the makers involved
• The U.S. entering WWII and the Nazis actually entering Casablanca shortly before the film’s release made the movie topical and relevant to modern audiences

HOW DO YOU INTERPRET THE ENDING OF THE MOVIE, AND HOW IS THIS ENDING SO INNOVATIVE AND DIFFERENT FROM HOLLYWOOD MOVIES OF THIS ERA?

• It’s not a classic Hollywood ending for its time: there are no easy choices, nor is there clear resolution: neither Ilsa nor Rick knows what the other is thinking or feeling about one another; no one necessarily “lives happily ever after”
• We don’t know by the end who Ilsa loves more; she has not professed her love for one man; nor do we know Rick’s true motivations: Is he giving up on Ilsa because he knows he can’t compete with Laszlo? Is he enacting some kind of emotional revenge on her for Ilsa abandoning him?
• The ending involves a painful decision and a conflict between personal love and political idealism.
• If the movie ended with the straightforward morale that sacrifice is necessary to win the war, then the conclusion would be a happy one. Instead, while sacrifices are made, their consequences aren’t necessarily happy ones.
• In this way and others, Casablanca represents a sea change in American movies for its time: it helps usher in a new era of moral sophistication in which the protagonist’s motivations and past actions are blurry and perhaps shady. This cosmology would prefigure the onset of film noir and its dark character motivations.
• Ultimately, what is the most important relationship in the movie? The ending suggests that the crux of the whole film involves the sudden, developing friendship between Rick and Louis, and how that relationship, according to one reviewer, “acts as a ballast to Rick’s relationship with Ilsa.” According to reviewer Glenn Erickson, “the film is really a political romance between Rock and (Louis), as they circle and test one another to see who’s worthy and who’s not. When it comes time to act, their combined cool saves the day. Each makes a dramatic choice to step away from their cynical detachment and take a stand. With these two sharpies in charge…we know there’s hope for the future.”

FILMS THAT REMIND US OF CASABLANCA

• Passage to Marseilles (reuniting Bogart, Curtiz, Rains, Lorre and Greenstreet)
• To Have and Have Not
• Sirocco
• A Night in Casablanca (the Marx Brothers)
• Play it Again, Sam
• Havana

OTHER MOVIES BY DIRECTOR MICHAEL CURTIZ

• The Mystery of the Wax Museum
• Captain Blood
• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• Angels With Dirty Faces
• The Sea Hawk
• Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Mildred Pierce
• Life With Father
• White Christmas