The Film Casablanca – See It Again Sam!

Casablanca is one of those forever films that will be enjoyed by succeeding generations. It looks different, feels different and lingers in the memory.

The black and white photography gives it a magical atmosphere, even though the mood is dark. It’s easy to imagine the war time situation as a cast of edgy characters struggles to live and survive. But this is no battle fest. It’s a subtle and sophisticated examination of honour and morality in difficult times. Casablanca is set in Morocco, North Africa, a French territory and uneasy no man’s land after the fall of France to Germany.

Humphrey Bogart is Rick Blaine a former freedom fighter who left France in a hurry when the Germans arrived. He is now running a nightclub, operating on the edge of the law as he and the French chief of police, Louis Renault, played by Claude Rains circle each other warily. Many great lines were born in Casablanca including “Round up the usual suspects,” an order Renault gives after some important documents are stolen.

Another is “Of all the gin joints in all the world, you had to walk into mine,” delivered by Rick when Ingrid Bergman, his former lover walks into his club.

Bogart is bitter that she ran out on him in Paris. He didn’t know she did it to help a resistance fighter, Victor Lazlo, played by Paul Henreid. The plot turns around whether Rick will give her the papers she and Lazlo need to escape to the US and continue the fight against Nazi Germany. Or whether Bogart and Bergman will get together again and flee to the US, leaving Lazlo to certain death.

Another of the much quoted lines, “Play it again Sam,” doesn’t even appear in the film. A pianist in Rick’s club in asked to play As Time Goes By, to remind Bergman of the time she and Bogart were together in Paris. She simply says, “Play it Sam, play it for me.”

The aim of the film was to rouse America, end isolationist sentiments – and enter the war against Germany. Casablanca shows Rick struggling with his cynicism, whether to join in, or stand on the sidelines in Morocco. The film was shot on a daily basis – with the script for the day’s shooting only being delivered on the day. Whether this contributed to the performances is impossible to say but the film won 3 Oscars for best screenplay, best Director and best Picture!

One of Rick’s final lines to Bergman sums up the situation, “The problems of three little people don’t add up to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”

Sufficient to say that the US did enter the war – and Rick did the decent thing! The final scene has him and police chief Claude Rains preparing to go off and fight the Germans together as Rick says “You know Louis, I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.”