Continuing with my all-time favorite movie. I freakin' LOVE this movie and will recommend it to anyone with half a brain (although I do admit, it's not everybody's ideal movie. It's mine. But as long as you can disagree with me intelligently and can be more than a half-wit even if you don't like my favorite movie, I have no problems with you. I'll get to this.)

Obviously, this is 1942's Casablanca (8.7 stars, #19 on IMDb's Top 250 List). In case you've been living in a hole in the ground, not exposed to any movies at all, this movie stars Humphrey Bogart (in his first romantic leading-man role), Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre. It's set in Casablanca, Morocco during the early days of World War II, where people from occupied Europe (particularly France) fled to try to get "letters of transit" to the United States. The movie kicks off when stolen letters of transit wind up at Rick Blaine's (Bogart) nightclub Café American (informally known as "Rick's").

Soon afterwards, a couple arrives in Casablanca: Victor Laszlo (Henreid) and his wife, Ilsa Lund (Bergman). Laszlo is a known underground Czech resistance leader, so the Nazis staying in the town, led by Major Strausser (Veidt) would love to arrest Laszlo, and the Captain of the Police, Renault (Rains) would like to help Strausser out, just because helping out the Nazis might keep Renault in power. But, Casablanca isn't under Nazi control, so Laszlo and his wife can remain relatively safe in the town.

But, both Laszlo and Ilsa know they need to get out of town and to America.

But, here's some more complications: Rick and Ilsa were lovers in Paris just before the Nazis invaded it. Since Rick is a former freedom fighter and an American ex-patriot, he had to flee Paris. Ilsa was supposed to go with him, but she stood him up (according to Rick's perspective.) However, Ilsa had discovered that her husband, Laszlo, who she thought had died in a German concentration camp, was actually alive. So, she left Rick to go to her husband.

Now, a couple years later, the former lovers meet, and both are torn with their feelings for each other.

At the end, Rick tells Ilsa that she has to go with Victor and not stay with him (Rick). Rick kills Strausser, and Renault leaves Casablanca with Rick to fight the Nazis somewhere. It's actually a perfect ending to what I consider a perfect movie.

(Letters of transit never existed. They exist in this movie, but in real life, they never existed.)

I had a chance to see Casablanca in theaters on May 21. Celebration of its 70th anniversary. However, I was still under the weather with a viral infection, and tickets were a little too expensive anyways. (With an emergency room bill and a car repair to pay for, I can't spend a lot of money on a ticket.) As much as I would have LOVED to see it on the big screen, surrounded by other Casablanca lovers. That bums me out, though.

I actually can't quite put my finger on why I love this movie so much. It seems to be a perfect storm of excellent actors (Bogie was known primarily as an actor who could only play thugs and gangsters. After this movie, he got to diversify his roles, and Bergman was always an incredible, underrated actress. And I personally adore Conrad Veidt—I'll get to him more). The chemistry between Bogie and Bergman is so tangible it jumps off the screen and practically slaps you in the face. The film's writing—I wish I were that talented and that witty.

The movie itself is a wonderful blend of romance (which I normally don't go for, but for Bergman and Bogie, I'll make an exception!), war (World War II—my favorite time period), suspense, and film noir—which is my favorite genre. If you watch it now and think that the movie is very familiar, that's because it has been copied so many times.

It won the Best Picture, Best Writing, Screenplay, and Best Director Oscars for 1942, which I think is one of the few movies that actually deserves the title of "Best Picture." It has been honored by the American Film Institute numerous times: #3 on AFI's 100 Years 100 movies; #37 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Thrills; #1 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Passions; #4 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Heroes and Villains (Rick Blaine, hero); #2 on AFI's 100 Years 100 songs ("As Time Goes By"); #32 on AFI's 100 Years 100 cheers; and it has 6 lines from AFI's 100 Years 100 Movie Quotes (#5, #20, #28, #32, #43, and #67). Incidentally, this is AFI's most quoted movie on that last list.

The lines are (check to see how many lines you've heard of before) :

#5: "Here's looking at you, kid."

#20: "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

#28: "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'." (Incidentally, the most famous line Casablanca has isn't in the movie! Everyone thinks Humphrey Bogart says "Play it again, Sam." That line is NOT from Casablanca. This above quote is what Ingrid Bergman says, and it comes the closest to that non-existent line. Bogie says "If you played it for her, you can play it for me." Play It Again, Sam is actually the title of a 1972 Woody Allen movie.)

#32: "Round up the usual suspects."

#43: "We'll always have Paris."

#67: "In all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

And those are only some of my favorite lines! Seriously, I wish I had the screenwriters' talent for dialogue.

Rick: "Your cash is good at the bar."
Banker: "What? Do you know who I am?"
Rick: "I do. You're lucky the bar's open to you."

Ugarte: "You know, Rick, I have many a friend in Casablanca. But somehow, just because you despise me, you're the only one I trust."

Renault: "I am shocked, shocked, to find gambling in here!"
Croupier: "Here are your winnings, sir."
Renault: "Oh, thank you very much."

Strausser: "What is your nationality?"
Rick: "I'm a drunkard."
Renault: "That makes Rick a citizen of the world."

Renault: "What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
Rick: "My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
Renault: "The waters? What waters? We're in a desert."
Rick: "I was misinformed."

Casablanca started its life as an unproduced play called Everybody Comes to Rick's. There are a lot of rumors circulating the production of the movie. The biggest known one is that Ronald Reagan was supposed to play Rick Blaine. That's simply not true. The confusion begins due to a press release that his press agent probably released to keep his name in the papers while Reagan went to work for the Army.

Another rumor is that the ending kept changing. It didn't. The ending of the play (which is only set within the bar) has Rick sending Ilsa off to be with Laszlo. That ending is retained, more or less. Plus, the Production Code wouldn't have liked a movie that ended with a woman ditching her husband and running off with another guy. The rumor was started by Bergman herself because she said in an interview that she didn't know which man she was going to end up with. While there were rewrites going on during the filming, and it was shot more-or-less in order, enough key scenes between Bergman and Bogart were shot after the ending was filmed. I don't think Bergman was lying or anything. I think she was addressing the emotional confusion of the character—Ilsa—rather than the script changing. Ilsa didn't know which man she was going to end up with.

OK, now I'm picking up a couple threads I glossed over earlier:

I adore Conrad Veidt. Love him. One reason is that he's a good actor. He was a German actor who got his start in silent movies. He was in the first horror movie: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and he was also the inspiration for the look of The Joker (particularly in his movie The Man Who Laughs.) When movies turned to sound, Veidt was turned away, because his German accent was so thick. He went to London where he learned English better. But, he still lived in Germany.

Another reason I love him: In 1933, when the Nazis rose to power, Veidt was one of those people absolutely opposed to the Nazi Party. He ended up having to flee Germany (the Gestapo wanted to assassinate him!), and he became a British citizen. He's best known in America for Casablanca and other films where he plays a Nazi. However, Veidt figured that this was the best way he could to help the British and the American war effort. He also gave up most of his estate to the British War Effort, and he donated large percentages of his film salaries (until his death in 1943) to the War Effort.

Now, to my rant at the beginning:

I had a friend who would call me on weekends and we'd talk on the phone for hours. She liked classic movies and liked Humphrey Bogart. So, as I said, I'll suggest this movie to anyone, because it's my favorite movie. So, I suggested it to her.

She didn't like it. Now, I don't have a problem if you don't like this movie, if you can intelligently debate me about it. Say that you don't like the romantic aspect and you don't see the same chemistry. Say that the dialogue isn't as great as I'm making it out to be. Say that the movie is overhyped.

However, when she told me that she saw it, and I asked her what she thought of it, she said, "I hate you." She then started absolutely bashing the movie, punctuating her criticisms with personal attacks on me, as in why would I ever like or suggest this piece of crap and she hates me for it.

Then she turned her attention back to horror movies, which I'm not a fan of. And I told her that I didn't like horror movies (notice that I didn't say "I hate you"?) She said, "Well, at least we both don't like Citizen Kane."

I said, "Yeah, but when I meet someone who likes Citizen Kane, I don't say 'I hate you'."

She said that I took it the wrong way. I asked what the right way to take "I hate you" would be. Because she didn't only say that she hated my favorite movie (and "hate" is such a strong word to use against anything, especially a movie. For example, I don't hate Titanic. As I said in an earlier review, there are some good parts of the movie, but I very strongly dislike it. And I wouldn't hate anyone who was a fan of Titanic. I just don't agree with them), but she hated me for the movie.

We actually haven't talked since. I'll leave her to her horror movies, and she can leave me to my Casablanca.

All right. Until next time.

Kat