Casablanca (1942)

Casablanca is set In the middle of WWII in Casablanca, a part of unoccupied France, where an American former freedom fighter named Rick (Bogart) runs a popular nightclub. This club is frequented by people who’ve made the long journey in order to try to get passage to America, away from the Third Reich’s iron-fisted rule. Rick happens to get a hold of a couple of letters of transit, which allow unquestioned travel out of Casablanca which can never be revoked — very valuable stuff indeed. The Nazis are also in town, with the local French police captain (Rains) doing everything he can to appease them. Things get tense when an underground Czech rebel named Victor Laszlo (Henreid) arrives, and along with him is Ilsa (Bergman), a former love of Rick’s who deserted him in Paris some years back. Ilsa needs the letters of transit before Victor is sent to a concentration camp, but the embittered Rick is still angry at her, causing emotional strife for all players involved.

Casablanca is a well-made, intelligent film, strengthened by terrific performances and flavorful characters that are the highlight of the eternally-quotable script, not to mention it contains the forever memorable song “As Time Goes By”. As a film, it’s perfectly directed and brilliantly edited, with almost no scene or character shown needlessly, always progressing the story or giving more information about certain characters. Casablanca is a must-watch classic film, particularly for fans of the two leads.

Qwipster’s rating: A+

MPAA Rated: PG for some mature themes
Running Time: 105 min.

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Heinreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre
Director: Michael Curtiz
Screenplay: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch (based on the play, “Everybody Comes to Rick’s” by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison)