Well I am not going to lie before I watched the movie I always thought of Casablanca using the peripheral route process (elaboration likelihood model theory) because I didn’t bother thinking about it. I always thought of it as old because I knew it had Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and also I always for some reason thought it was a musical. From the cover I knew it had to do with love and I know movies back in those times had really mushy scenes where ladies would swoon onto the guy’s arms and things of that nature so I came into the movie with a contrast affected point of view (social judgment theory)
The play stars Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, a very cynical but warmhearted American bar owner in Casablanca, Morocco during WW2. Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), his former love who deserted him earlier, surfaces in Casablanca with her Resistance leader husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." She definitely opened other sides of Rick that we have not seen yet and we find out why he is the way he is. Ilsa and Victor need to escape from Casablanca, and Rick has two tickets which can be used to leave the country so he is the only one who can help them. The story goes on to a sad ending; well at least for me because Blaine doesn’t end up being with Ilsa.
After watching that movie, I think of the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” and that completely applies to me. I think the movie was definitely a classic in so many different ways. At first I was like here we go but Bogart’s character just pulled me right into the movie but even before that the characters pretty much got me in tune. Bogart and Bergman do such a great job that whenever we see the movie we are reminded of them. Rick is this m&m of a guy(hard outside, soft inside) who has buried has past only to have it stumble into his bar and Ilsa is this girl who has had two loves but has to ultimately choose one and even her correct choice grants her with nothing. Another classical thing is how many phrases and concepts are used from this movie, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” and the even more popular “here’s lookin at you kid”
I have to say that the supporting cast in my opinion were as good as the two leading stars. My two favorite supporting characters in the movie were Claude Raines who plays Captain Renault and Dooley Wilson who plays Sam. They were so great, Renaults personality and witty banter just increases the enjoyability of the movie and Sam, what a guy, Sam definitely brings the mood to the movie with his piano playing and especially the love song he sings “you must remember this…a kiss is still a kiss” that melted the hearts of a lot of viewers and so making the movie without them would have been a terrible idea. These are the characters that really did it for me
The movie is made perfectly- its romantic yet thrilling story, the songs performed by Dooley Wilson, the supporting cast, fantastic script, and the amazing cinematography. I will talk about the cinematography and mise en scene aspects of the movie in my next blog. It is definitely no mystery why Casablanca was one of the best movies ever made and why it still remains fresh even to this day. Casablanca just brings out the choices that are so tough it is heartbreaking and I have had a lot of those so maybe that is a reason why the movie appealed to me the way it did. If I were to cast a vote, I would put my vote for this movie to stay in the best films ever made category.
Here’s looking at you kid!
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