Vintage

One would assume that a film released more than sixty years ago that is still being talked about fairly regularly, even in these days when we have countless distractions of the cinematic variety as well as from all other forms of entertainment and life in general, must be pretty damn good to not be forgotten or covered up with years of garbage or even O.K. films.

You would have to think that such a film couldn’t get by on luck but that it had to be a grade-A, high-quality piece of work. You would also have to think that there probably aren’t too many films that could stand such a test of time. And if you were to try and make a list of all films that have successfully done this Casablanca would have to be at or about as close to the top of that list as can be.

            Released in 1942 and featuring an unforgettable cast including Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains Casablanca is a film that could probably inspire a daylong discussion of plot, theme, filmmaking techniques, etc. For the purpose of this review, though, we’ll keep it a little shorter than that.

            The basic story in Casablanca seems fairly simple at first but by the end becomes quite complicated in terms of characters relationships to one another. A good part of the action takes place in “Rick’s”, a bar/club owned and operated by Bogart’s character. The club seems classy, like a place for high-society and local officials like Captain Rennault, but also attracts its share of riff raff as most alcoholic-beverage-serving establishments seem to. It is here in his very own club where Rick hides some letters of transit that had been given to him that promise safe passage from the city of Casablanca to America. These letters are tied to a murder so they’re kind of a sketchy thing to keep around but Rick does it anyway because that’s the kind of guy he is; As long as his club is running in a smooth order it’s all-good with him. That is until a well known criminal on the run from the Germans by the name of Victor Laslo comes into Rick’s with Ilsa Lund on his arm, a woman who Rick was romantically involved with back in the day before the German occupation of Paris/Ilsa’s secret husband forced them apart.

            Rick is not too happy to see Ilsa at first but soon remembers his old feelings for her, breaking the cold and neutral exterior he presents up to that point. The two of them soon share a romantic moment of reminiscence after llsa pulls a gun on Rick to try and get the letters of transit, a bluff coolly called by Rick who always has wheels in motion in his head as evidenced by the plan he soon unleashes. After the meeting with Ilsa, Rick meets with Rennault to set up Laslo and we’re led to beleve that Rick will use the letters himself and ride off into the sunset towards America with Ilsa. Once at the airport, though, Rick shoots the German official who was there to take Laslo away and holds off Rennault while telling Laslo and Ilsa to get on the plane.

            Why he does this is honestly a little confusing but it doesn’t detract from the film in any way. In fact, it probably makes it better by highlighting the complexities of human relationships and decision making or some other such ideas that people might want to ponder on their own if they have that kind of time. Even if they don’t, though, they should most certainly make some time to watch this film if they haven’t already because if anything is an ACE Casablanca is an ACE.