I hope you all had a very nice Christmas. Almost as important, today is the Feast of St. John, the apostle and evangelist. I'm a little early with my Quarterly Cinema Scan for reasons which should become apparent within the coming week.
Naming a favorite movie of all time is a subject to which I referred in my April 6, 2017 post. For the last forty years or so, or in other words ever since I saw Casablanca for the first time, there could be no other answer. Yet, I am sometimes hesitant to identify that classic film as my favorite out of concern for an accusation of simply giving the same answer as millions of others. It's kind of like being asked to name a favorite rock song, a favorite European city or a favorite U.S. president. If someone replies Stairway To Heaven for the first querry, Rome for the second and Washington or Lincoln for the third, has that person really given the issue much thought or just grabbing the same low hanging fruit that countless others have offered? Wouldn't coming up with answers such as Like A Rolling Stone, Barcelona and William Henry Harrison be far more interesting? (Okay, "Harrison" was a joke.)
Nevertheless, having considered the potential negative ramifications, I'm sticking to my guns anyway. I hereby declare that Casablanca is deserving of all the adulation it has received since its 1943 general release, and is both the greatest movie and my favorite movie of all time. I have watched Casablanca five or six times, but until recently I had not seen it since 2007. How can I tell? Because it has never, until now, appeared in one of this blog's previous Cinema Scans. It's time to fix that omission.
The story is centered at Rick's Cafe Americain, a nightclub owned by Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) in the Moroccan city of Casablanca. The bustling den oozes atmosphere, so much so that even Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet), the proprietor of the main competing club, the Blue Parrot, is a regular at Rick's. Casablanca is under the control of the Vichy French during World War II, thus technically neutral but under Germany's thumb. This accounts for political undertones, thick tension, mistrust and even paranoia. The city is crawling with spies, black marketeers, undercover agents, refugees, fixers, deal makers and scalawags, most of whom have found their way into Rick's. Blaine's strategy for survival, if not success, is to remain neutral, even though most of his guests despise the Germans. This approach is put to the test when, in an early scene, creepy Signor Ugarte (the inestimable Peter Lorre, whose acting resume is replete with such roles) surreptitiously hands over to Rick letters of transit, documents needed by refugees fleeing the Wehrmacht to reach the United States. Ugarte has come into possession of the letters by purportedly killing two German couriers.
One evening Rick's former lover, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), walks into Rick's with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Rick hasn't seen Ilsa since she abruptly left him in Paris two years ago. Victor is a Czech who is famous for leading the resistance movement against the Nazis. Ilsa begs house pianist Sam (Dooley Wilson) to play As Time Goes By. Rick storms out of his back office, not realizing Ilsa is present, and lashes out at Sam for playing that song. It used to be Rick and Ilsa's song, which Rick has forbidden Sam from ever playing. Seconds later he realizes she is close by. That encounter is one of many unforgettable moments of Casablanca. One great scene follows another, right up to the end. (The most thrilling scene is described in item # 6 below.) You simply must see Casablanca.
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I am going to assume that you will take my advice and promptly watch Casablanca by whatever means possible. That gives me leeway to divulge a few spoilers in item # 5 below. It should come as no surprise to you that I do not know many of the ways movies can be accessed these days, so I'm leaving the search and find mission up to you. I guarantee it will be worth your trouble. I am presenting some nuggets of trivia regarding the production of Casablanca which you may not know, even if you've seen the film before. I have compartmentalized the nuggets into seven general groupings.
Casablanca Trivia:
1. Writing On The Fly. Most films have one script writer; a few have two. Casablanca had an army. The story's origins arose from an unproduced play called Everybody Comes To Rick's, co-written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. Movie producer Hal Wallis, who worked for Warner Bros. studio, bought the rights for the princely sum of $20,000, even though other studios had turned down the opportunity. Wallis chose identical twins Julius and Philip Epstein to be the principal writers of the screenplay. Their job was to draft a conversion of the unsuccessful play into a script for a full length feature film. In spite of their young age (33), the twins were veteran writers who had a knack for spicing up scripts with snappy, witty dialogue. But even the Epsteins thought Casablanca had little potential. Wallis got nervous that the writing process was taking too long, so he hired forty year old Howard Koch, another respected veteran, not to supplant the twins but to complement them. Koch's strong suit was to develop the political and military aspects of the story. That move by Wallis was ill-advised, as the Epsteins and Koch argued constantly and attempted to subvert the other's work. To further complicate things, Wallis employed a fourth writer, Casey Robinson, to smooth over some of the romantic discourse between the leads. Pride of authorship for a major motion picture has rarely been at stake to such a degree before or since. The pressure was on Wallis, and in turn director Michael Curtiz, to strike (have the picture in theaters) while the iron (World War II) was hot.
With so many cooks in the kitchen, much of the script's writing was done on the fly. It's estimated that only fifty percent of the script was completed when filming began. The details of the ending were settled only three days before filming wrapped up. This mostly impacted Bergman who did not know whether her character would end up with Bogie or Henreid (or perhaps neither).
2. Real Life Backdrop. Three important historical events made the timing of various stages of Casablanca's production and marketing most favorable to the project. As noted above, the genesis of the story was a play titled Everybody Comes To Rick's. Warner Bros. had purchased the filming rights in 1941, and just five days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, studio boss Jack Warner appointed producer Hal Wallis with the responsibility of turning the play into a movie. In times of war the movie studios, with the encouragement of the federal government, were most eager to make war movies available to the public. The fact that Wallis had a story in hand so quickly was a tremendous benefit.
The second fortuitous event for Casablanca was the November 1942 invasion of north Africa by Allied Forces, code name "Operation Torch." The filming of Casablanca occured between late May and August 3, 1942. Post-production was completed by the end of that month, and the studio planned its premier for June 1943. But when Operation Torch, one of the most important strategic developments in the early part of the war, made headlines, the public's appetite for movies with military settings intensified. The studio smartly cashed in by moving up the release date of Casablanca to Thanksgiving Day, 1942. It became Hollywood's third highest grossing film of that year.
In another, third stroke of good fortune, what could fairly be called "free publicity," the leaders of the United States and Great Britain, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchhill, met in -- of all places -- Casablanca, to strategize what was then thought to be the impending end of the war. The film had very recently opened across the United States, so having the public witness the Moroccan city's name in the news headlines made them all the more curious to see the film.
3. Bogie Bites The Dust. Obviously Casablanca was a huge hit, as evidenced by its winning three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. But it took a long time for the general public to look upon it as "one for the ages." Ironically, what gave its popularity a second life was the passing of Bogie in 1957. As a tribute to the late actor, an arts theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts called the Brattle began playing movies in which he starred, with emphasis on Casablanca. Harvard students started showing up in droves on a weekly basis. Many donned apparel similar to that favored by Bogie, including trench coats, brimmed hats and an ever-present cigarette. A cult developed, much like the weekend showings of Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Uptown Theater in the eighties. Audience members would call out lines of dialogue simultaneously with the actors on the screen. The "Bogie cult" aspect faded over time, but not movie fans' love for the classic film. Unlike many movies from the forties, Casablanca has aged well.
4. Can't We All Just Get Along? No. The cast was not one big happy family. Just the opposite. Bogart and Bergman were polite toward each other but had no off-screen warmth. Could it be partially due to the fact that Bogart's (third) wife, Mayo Methot, frequently came on the set to make sure her husband was behaving himself? When he wasn't in front of the camera, Bogie retreated to his trailer to play chess. Bergman called Henreid a prima donna. She may have been right. Henreid only took the part of Laszlo, which he saw as a third wheel, if he received equal top billing with the two headliners, Bogart and Bergman. Henreid considered Bogart to be a second-tier actor. Another cause for back stage uneasiness: Bogart knew that the script was being written on the fly, so he was constantly in director Curtiz' ear trying to change his lines.
It's hard to imagine Casablanca's love story with any actors other than Bogie and Bergman. But even those two actors had reservations about accepting producer Hal Wallis' offers. Bogie was known from prior roles as a tough guy, not a romantic lead. He did not think the public would buy into a beautiful woman like Bergman ever falling for him. Bergman had early doubts that the story would ever be taken as serious drama. But later in life she admitted, "There is something mystical about it. It seems to have filled a need, a need that was there before the film."
The icing on the cake for rudeness occurred at the Academy Awards ceremony held in Los Angeles on March 2, 1944, to celebrate the movies which had their general releases the prior year. When the Best Picture Award, which is established to honor the producer, was announced for Casablanca, studio head Jack Warner reportedly elbowed Hal Wallis away from the microphone to make a self-aggrandizing speech. Few who knew Warner were surprised.
5. An Embarrassment Of Great Quotes. [Spoilers Ahead!] In Quarterly Cinema Scan XXXVI posted here on July 26, 2019, I mentioned that 1972's The Godfather was replete with lines of dialogue which not only have become famous but have been adopted into the verbal culture of our society. So too with Casablanca, and might I add, even to a greater extent. Here is a sampling, some of which might sound familiar even if you have not seen the movie.
Ugarte: You despise me, don't you?
Rick: Well, if I gave you any thought, I probably would.
Rick, lamenting the arrival of his true love: Of all the gin joints in all the towns, she walks into mine.
Signor Ferrari, attempting to get Rick to permit house pianist Sam to switch from Rick's Cafe to the Blue Parrot: What do you want for Sam?
Rick: I don't buy or sell human beings.
Ferrari: Too bad. That's Casablanca's leading commodity.
Corrupt police captain Renault (Claude Rains) to Rick, in order to stay on the good side of the German's who feel Rick is against them: I am shocked -- shocked!-- to find that gambling is going on in here! (Within seconds, one of Rick's employees hands over Renault's winnings from the gambling table.)
Rick to Ilsa, during the flashback scene in Paris: Here's looking at you, kid.
Renault after witnessing Rick shoot a German officer: Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects!
Rick to Ilsa: I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
Rick to Ilsa - We'll always have Paris.
Rick to Renault, for the last line of the film: Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
[Important note: Contrary to popular belief, and notwithstanding the title to Woody Allen's 1972 comedy, no one in the movie Casablanca ever utters the words, "Play it again, Sam."]
6. The Grand Sing-Off. Rick Blaine is adamant about staying neutral, even once declaring, "I stick my neck out for no man." His business is thriving, partly because he never tips his hand. Such resoluteness is admirable, since it would be understandable if he gave deference to the Germans who control the Vichy city and whose presence is always felt. Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) is their leader. Many of the cafe's customers are pro-Allies, but are too fearful of German retaliation should they dare speak up.
Enter Ilsa's husband, resistance fighter Victor Laszlow. When the German soldiers take over the cafe by singing a hearty, loud rendition of their drinking song Watch On The Rhine, Laszlow directs the band to play La Marseillaise, a French favorite, at the same time. The band does not comply until Rick gives them a discrete, silent nod. Soon Laszlow is joined by most of the patrons who have suddenly discovered their own bravery. The Germans are vocally overpowered, and consequently embarrassed. Strasser is beyond furious. The scene is stirring, patriotic and emotional. At this point we realize at least two important things: Rick is not as neutral as he initially seemed to be, and Casablanca is not going to be an ordinary love story.
7. Resources. If you are a current or future movie buff, you might want to check out one or more of these resources to learn more about my all-time favorite:
Round Up The Usual Suspects by Aljean Harmetz
We'll Always Have Casablanca by Noah Isenberg
Casablanca: Behind The Scenes by Harlan Lebo
Casablanca: The Most Beloved Movie Of All Time, Life Magazine (March 2018)
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Here are the films I have watched at home during the final quarter of 2020.
1. Airplane! (1980 comedy; Flight attendant Julie Haggerty dumps boyfriend Robert Hays just before she boards a flight to Chicago piloted by Peter Graves, but Hays buys a ticket for that flight, hoping for a second chance.) A-
2. Barton Fink (1991 dramedy; John Turturro, accustomed to writing plays for New York stages, finds out adjusting to movie script writing in LA is unrewarding, as he holes up in a one star hotel room next door to mysterious John Goodman.) B+
3. Casablanca (1942 drama; Humphrey Bogart owns the most happening casino in Casablanca when who should appear but his former lover, Ingrid Bergman, and her husband Paul Henreid.) A
4. Country At Heart (2020 romance; Jessy Schram is an unknown Tennessee singer-song writer who collaborates with Niall Matter, former friend of, and hit song writer for, big country star Lucas Bryant.) B
5. Fargo (1996 dramedy; Smarmy car dealer William H. Macey, up to his eyes in debt, hires dim witted Fargo thugs Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare to kidnap his wife so he can demand ransom from his rich father-in-law, but pregnant Brainerd cop Frances McDormand gets in the way.) A-
6. How To Steal A Million (1966 comedy; Audrey Hepburn enlists the help of art expert Peter O’Toole in stealing a fake sculpture from a heavily secured Paris museum.) B
7. Major League (1989 sports comedy; Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen are battery mates on a 1980’s Cleveland Indians team whose owner, Margaret Whitton, wants them to tank so she can escape her lease and move the franchise to Miami.) A-
8. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020 drama; Chadwick Boseman is a young trumpeter and song writer whose own visions of how certain blues should be played run afoul of stubborn, opinionated singer Viola Davis and the other three members of her veteran band.) B-
9. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985 drama; Gordon Warnecke, a young Pakistani adult living in the south London slums, starts a laundrette business in partnership with his white lover Daniel Day-Lewis and with the financial support of family friend and drug trafficker Derrick Branch.) B-
10. The Snake Pit (1948 drama; Olivia DeHavilland is a patient in a psychiatric care state hospital where much of the nursing staff is cold-hearted and regimented but where a kind doctor, Leo Genn, helps her understand herself.) C
11. There’s Something About Mary (1998 comedy; Schmuck Ben Stiller hires dishonest private investigator Matt Damon, another schmuck, to spy on Ben’s fantasy girl Cameron Diaz, who has a medical practice in Miami.) C+
12. The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (2020 historical drama; (Mark Rylance plays William Kunstler, the criminal defense lawyer who represents six of the seven defendant war protesters dubiously charged with inciting a riot in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.) B
13. Where Eagles Dare (1968 war drama; British colonel Richard Burton and American Special Forces Lieutenant Clint Eastwood lead a small force behind enemy lines during WW2 to rescue a U.S. general who’s being held captive in an impregnable German mountaintop fortress.) B
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