Casablanca (1942)

Casablanca. It's hard to know exactly what to say about what is arguably the greatest movie ever produced. It's right up there with Citizen Kane. I mean, they don't come any better than this. Casablanca. Even the title conjures up images in our minds - the hot sun, the stuccoed buildings, the lazily-turning ceiling fan, the crowded market place, the furtive glances, the shadowy figure standing just out of sight, the blood running between the cobblestones in the street. And yet, most people I know have never even seen the movie. And then there's that quote. You know the one. Most people get it wrong. Still, it's part of American culture.

Casablanca follows the adventures of American ex-pat Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), his one-time love Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Blaine is an idealist who fought for the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War, ran guns for the Ethiopians, and edits a newspaper in Paris, where he meets and falls in love with Ilsa. When the Nazis invade Paris, Ilsa and Rick decide to escape on the last train out, but Ilsa never shows up. Standing on the platform in the pouring rain, Rick reads Ilsa'a "Dear John" letter. As the rain washes her words off the paper, Rick's piano-playing friend Sam (Dooley Wilson) drags him onto the train. The embittered Rick ends up in Casablanca, in French Morocco, where he opens Rick's Café Américaine, a bar where all of the hapless foreigners show up to gamble, to plot their escape, to steal or simply to drink their troubles away.

All of this is shown in a superb flashback that occurs about a third of the way through the movie. When Ilsa shows up at Rick's with Laszlo - one of the heroes of the French underground - we don't know why Rick looks like he's about to toss his breakfast, but Sam does. Laszlo needs to get to America or England. The Nazis want to stop him. The French Chief of Police, Louis Renault (Claude Reins), worries that his corrupt, albeit comfortable, life is about to be seriously disrupted. Rick has letters of transit that will get two people out of Casablanca, but he refuses to sell them to Laszlo. Rick wants to hurt Ilsa as much as she hurt him, not seeing - at least not at first - that she's already hurting just as badly. She's married to Laszlo, who loves her dearly, but she's in love with Rick, who loves her even more. The final scene at the airport is one of the greatest in all of motion picture history.

Director Michael Curtiz makes the most of Julius and Philip Epstein's screenplay, and the score by Max Steiner is one of the best ever produced. Notice how he weaves the pop standard "As Time Goes By" and "La Marseillaise" throughout the score. If you've never watched Casablanca, rent it soon. Find out what all the fuss is about. Discover for yourself why Rick wants Sam to play it again. My guess is you'll want to do the same.

Casablanca is rated G and is available in glorious black and white.