I'm rewatching "Casablanca" on DVD and realize that I probably like the film better for the relationship between Claude Rains and Humphrey Bogart rather than the one you are supposed to like between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
The reason why has to do with the genuineness of the Rains/Bogart friendship. Even though they had threatened each others lives as in the Bogart/Bergman relationship, they are more willing to forgive and move on, creating the great line that Bugs Bunny often repeated, "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Anyway, as a huge Rains fan, and a somewhat good Bogart fan, this helps. Claude Rains is just fantastic in any role and he usually is underrated or ignored by most reviewers.
Overall, what's fantastic about "Casablanca" to me is not the romance, which is nice, but really it's the suspense. You really don't know until the last few frames of the picture where this thing is going and who is going to live or die or stay or escape.
Even today upon multiple viewings, I am fascinated by the intricacy of the writing, that you really can't guess what's going to happen next until it happens.
1 comment:
It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th time I watched this movie that the line "If it's December 1941 in Casablanca what time is it in New York" struck me. It places the main action of the film in the week before Pearl Harbor. The coming change to Rick's entire existence as an American and an American forms a certain ironic underpinning to all of his relationships in the story.
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