Casablanca

1943

1h 43m

IMDb RATING

8.2/10

5.7K

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Drama

Romance

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

Directors

Michael Curtiz

Writers

Julius J. Epstein(screenplay by)

Howard Koch(screenplay by)

Philip G. Epstein(screenplay by)

Stars

Humphrey Bogart

Ingrid Bergman

Paul Henreid

See production, box office & company info

Top cast

Rick Blaine

Ilsa Lund

Victor Laszlo

Captain Louis Renault

Conrad Veidt

Major Heinrich Strasser

Signor Ferrari

Ugarte

Carl

Yvonne

Sam

Annina Brandel

Berger

Sascha

Pickpocket

Guest at Rick's (uncredited)

Ed Agresti

Bar Patron (uncredited)

Louis V. Arco

Refugee at Rick's (uncredited)

Frank Arnold

Overseer (uncredited)

Directors

Michael Curtiz

Writers

Julius J. Epstein(screenplay by)

Howard Koch(screenplay by)

Philip G. Epstein(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

I've just seen this on a big screen for the first time in over thirty years - no enhancements, 4K, HD - just as Michael Curtiz saw it back in 1942 and it's a cracking piece of cinema. "Rick Blaine" (Humphrey Bogart) runs his Casablanca café as a literal oasis in the North African desert - a refuge for all sorts fleeing the oppression of the Nazis in nearby Europe. Enter "Ilsa" (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband, a Czech resistance leader "Hector Lazlo" (Paul Henried) and we discover that "Rick" and her have a past, and when the pursuing "Maj. Strasser" (Conrad Veidt) and local police chief Claude Rains ("Capt. Renault") get involved in this cocktail of deceit and duplicity things gradually come to the boil in a wonderfully evocative, sophisticated fashion. Bogart and Bergman positively smoulder; the chemistry is electric - she, as usual, doesn't actually act - she is just herself, and that's all she needs to do. Rains is great as the conniving policeman as is Veidt delivering the rather sparse, but no less potent, dialogue perfectly. Like most of the best films, the key to this is it's (seemingly effortless) simplicity - and this one also has a wonderful musical score to complement the tensely directed, eerily shot, story augmented by an hugely talented supporting cast with the likes of Peter Lorre and the superbly sleazy Sydney Greenstreet. There was a great deal wrong and inhibiting with the "studio system" that prevailed at the time, but when it did work it could pull together an astonishing collection of people in front of, and behind the camera and create masterpieces like this.

Geronimo196726 Jun, 2022