Review of Casablanca (1943) by William D — 20 Sep 2012

Casablanca may not attract today's generation of movie-buffs raised on all things CGI, special effects, and subtle-as-a-sledgehammer action flicks, but if you seriously want to wean them off on all that, hide it or bury it in your back garden if you have to, and plop this in your DVD player one night just to show them that just because it's all black-and-white, talk and no violence, swearing or flying spacecraft doesn't mean it's a bad 'un.

Yes, there's a lot of lovey-dovey stuff going on, it's set and released during the war, and the icon who is Humphrey Bogart is all pokerfaced and wooden throughout and also delivers his lines in the same stuffy voice which almost sounds like he's a quacking duck. But what makes Casablanca superior to all the other films out there and I know I'm probably stating the obvious here, is the blossoming romance between Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, the story with a lamentable ending, scenes that have been doomed to eternal references in different forms of media and a list of memorable, quotable lines. Does "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" ring any bells? "We'll always have Paris", possibly? What about "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine"? Surely, a lot of people would remember "Play it again, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'"? Although having said that, the poor fellow must get sore and weary of it after the numerous times Bogart's character tells him to play the darn tune. Still, it's a beautiful song that's very melodic.

Casablanca is one in which you must see and the finishing result should make you feel part of your life was completed. However, whether you will be telling people to "play it again" or not, is up to you. Some may think it's past its sell-by date, others will think that it's timeless. They're right to think so.