An Honest Opinion of Casablanca
Casablanca is a film that I believe will always be held in high regard. The film had the right components to make it soar. The main film aspects I’m focusing on, are sets, characters, and dialog. Each of those aspects flowed smoothly to create a film that most consider to be what a great film is.
This film premiered in 1942, then was general released in 1943. Around this time, the United States had World War II. Many speculated that the movie was released as a moral boost for those opposing the Axis power. In the film you see certain instances where World War II plays apart, such as in the flashback in Paris. This helps set up the plot, where Casablanca is the last stop to get to the United States. This last
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stop is one of the hardest places to leave, and Rick Blaine takes advantage of that by opening up a café. The sets in the film were outstanding.
Since I've never been to Casablanca, I don’t know what it looks like there, but the film paints me the perfect of what it might have looked like. There’s not many instances where you see an outdoors environment, but all the indoor sets look great. Ricks Café, owned by Rick Blaine, looked like an enjoyable place to be when there’s not much to do in Casablanca. Inside the café, there are tables grouped together with a space in the middle for Sam, the pianist, to serve as entertainment. Off to the side you see a bar area and a backdoor, where some of the locals disappear off to. Behind the doors, there is an illegal casino area so the local can furthermore enjoy their time. The scenes that are in Ricks Café, seems to create a delightful environment, which can be felt even if you’re not physically there. What adds on to that affect are the characters in the …show more content…
film. The characters in this film were phenomenal.
The most interesting and best played, were Rick Blaine, the owner of the café, and Captain Louis Renault, a crooked cop. Rick can at first is seen as a really tough kind of man, who will only do what is in best interest for him. He seems to be an overall manly man, who would care for no one, but as the movie progresses, you can realize his true personality. Captain Renault, on the other hand, is clearly state to be a crooked cop, and he stays that way to the end. The relationship between both, is very uncommon. Rick owns a café where there is an illegal café, but if you were to stroll in there one night and play roulette, you just might see Captain Renault having good time. Even though they seem to be friends, they still don’t fully trust each other 100%. There’s an instance where Rick help a young women at the gambling table to win money, so she can pay her way out of Casablanca. If Rick wouldn't have helped, she would have had to sleep with Renault to earn her way out. Renault tells Rick that is not that big of a deal since he has a more attractive women he still needs to “attend
to.” One of the biggest item in the film are letters of transit. The letter of transit are documents that would allow any person to travel without being questioned or have to wait for a visa. Of course this type of document never existed, but it was created to add in another obstacle for those who wanted out of Casablanca. In the movie Rick ends up with stolen letters of transit, and Captain Renault questions him about those letters and Rick lies, but Renault knows he’s lying, but that’s just the way there relationship works out. One of my favorite parts of the films, includes Renault frustration for not finding these letters. He’s not able to secure these letters and takes out his frustration by shutting down the café, and says, “I'm shocked... shocked to find that gambling is going on in there.” Then comes out an employee to give Renault his winnings from gambling, and Renault just says, “Thank you very much”, and leaves. This is one of the parts that made me laugh the most, and is another important aspect of the film. The dialog in the movie is really good. There’s a lot of one liners that I've heard, but never really understood what they meant until I watched the film. One of which was, “Here's looking at you kid.” That is such an iconic quotes that is still repeated to this day. Another one of my favorite quotes Rick says is, “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.” He says this when his old love interest walks into his café. The reason had such deep feeling about this, was that that the women had left him with a reason, and she walked in with another man. His dialog only helps build on to his character, a perfect example of that is when he said, “I stick my neck out for nobody!” This dialog just adds in a certain, what we would call in our times, swag to his character. The film aspects, build upon each other to create an amazing movie. The film was an overall success hailing in two Academy Awards for Best Picture, and Best Writing, Screenplay. There aren't really any negatives I could point out, so that only ads on how great the movie is. The sets, characters, and dialog, perfectly formulated this film into a masterpiece.
The film Casablanca centers on an American man by the name of Rick Blaine who flees a German-occupied France during World War II to a city in Morocco by the name of Casablanca. (Casablanca, 1942) This city is a territory of France at the time and is out of full German jurisdiction due to this status. (Casablanca, 1942) Many citizens of German-occupied countries in Europe sought refuge here due to the lack of control Germany had on other countries’ territories early in the war. The general intent of refugees in Casablanca was to flee to even further countries such as The United States of America, which they could not achieve in their home, occupied countries. As the film’s plot develops, the viewer is introduced to refugees very important to the freedom-fighting movement France, and we learn that Rick originated in New York, U.S.A.
In the film Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz, a clear juxtaposition exists between Rick and America. Despite Rick’s numerous similarities to America and his deep longing to be part of the country, a physical and psychological barrier separates the two. With America practically being on the opposite end of the world, Rick understands that he cannot abandon his responsibility to aid and influence others in Casablanca. Rick is willing to sacrifice his personal comfort and well-being for the greater good of society. This juxtaposition between America and Rick foreshadows that the United States would soon become involved in the war by overtly displaying Rick’s transformation when he confronts his troubled past.
Audience members, when seeing Casablanca, would associate it as a war film, and I agree with that, but to be more precise, it is a pro Allie war film. The literary elements in the film are the reasons why it can be viewed this way, with the emphasis on the plot and characters. The timing of when the film was released also supports the idea of it being an anti Axis film. Although it was set in 1940, it was made a year after Pearl Harbor and America entering the war, but it was released right before the Allies had a meeting in Casablanca, so the filmmakers seemed to have wanted the audience to empathize with the Allies.
In the essay “Beautiful Friendship: Masculinity & Nationalism in Casablanca”, Peter Kunze lavishly explains the magnificence of Michael Curtiz’s 1942 film Casablanca. Kunze focuses on how the movie not only highlights an exchange of relationships, but how the film has an underlying meaning between these relationships. He also implies that there is a more complex meaning behind every character in regards to their gender, economic, and social roles. The overall thesis of his reading is “the patriarchal ideology underlying the narrative commodifies Ilsa, leading Rick to exchange her with other men in an act of friendship and solidarity as well as to dissuade any perception of queerness between the strong male friendships in the narrative” (Kunze
Throughout history, the film industry has seen many directing styles and techniques. The early part of the 20th century saw a factory style of film production, but as the years went by, director's began to employ new and untried techniques in their pictures. One such technique which these director's implemented was a new approach to the use of the camera and camera angles. "Casablanca," an Academy Award winning film of 1942 saw director Michael Curtiz manipulate the camera in ways others had not. He uses the close-up, point-of- view, and creative shot motivation methods in his film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, to create an American cinema classic.
The characters have done a great job giving insight to what it must really feel like in WWII. The experience they gave during the film really show 's great effort on love pain and sorrow. But they all have a role to play because they dealing with war and they want us to know what that feels like. Most people who are alive nowadays has never experienced what war was like so they figured to show and have people understand. Overall I think this film showed well explanation on how things were back then and how things work now. All characters were motivating from different situations because of the relations between WWII. The original play, as mentioned, was a good, strong story but lacked cinematic appeal. It was static and talky. Curtiz, who was something of a pioneer in camera techniques, added much of the necessary dynamic action to the film, brilliantly handling the refugee crowd scenes and the violent opening street scene that sets the mood of the film and makes it clear what a dangerous place Casablanca
Robert B. Ray categorizes Casablanca as "the most typical" American film. Ray uses Casablanca as a tutor text for what he calls the formal paradigm of Classical Hollywood as well as the thematic paradigm that addresses the conflict between isolationism and communitarian participation. The film is typical in its appropriation of an official hero Laszlo, who stands for the civilizing values of home and community, and an outlaw hero Rick, who stands for individu...
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...o survive and flee the inevitable evil. With World War II raging, viewers in the United States could feel the fear and anxieties as well as compassion for the characters. Although some movies can be rewritten to obtain a better effect over the viewers, Casablanca cannot be redone. The mere fact that the evil of the day was a reality of the time prevents this movie from ever having the same effect on the audience.
The film Casablanca will always remain an American classic. American people critiqued it as a high quality film over a time period, defining a classic and still today Casablanca remains a top American movie. Michael Curtiz, the director, shows World War II on the home front, using the setting to transfer the view point. The famous and popular Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid play the complex love triangle that leads the film to the stories purpose and theme. Casablanca illustrates liberal criticism through a hometown war rebellion setting, the nationalistic view points, and true love’s tribulations.
...t it is clearly obvious what is about to happen using an establishing shot. Casablanca also uses camera angle specifically portraying Captain Renault and Strasser as less powerful people in the office scene. Editing allows for smooth transitions between shots and allows for us as viewers to experience the scene like we are seeing through the characters eyes. Lighting provides us a mood of the scene, specifically when Rick first sees Ilsa for the first time since Paris. The Music plays a role in how we as audiences should feel while watching the movie. And without production design movies would not flow correctly. Every setting is specifically chosen to depict the location where the scene takes place. Casablanca is a quintessential film because it ties up all the formal elements of classical Hollywood. Without this movie Hollywood may be a completely different place.
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