Casablanca, without spoilers
Last night I watched Casablanca for the first time (James had bought me the DVD for Valentine's Day, but for some reason I hadn't got round to watching it). It's very good. If you haven't seen it, you really should, if only to hear the origin of several well-known phrases - it's a classic in all senses.
In a way, it's quite a quiet film (both figuratively and in that I had to turn the volume up to maximum, though this was partly because it was so hot I had several cooling systems going), with lots of dialogue and not so much action. This is a good thing - it's in no way action-packed, but it's thoroughly enthralling, drawing you in to life in non-occupied France (specifically Casablanca) during the war. Everyone has different experiences and motivations and scruples. And it's fascinating from a social point of view, because it was made in 1943 while the war was still going (and as such, expect there to be a bit of a message at the end!).
The main characters are fascinating, and none moreso that Rick (Humphrey Bogart), who looks and sounds quite like a gangster and yet comes across as a wonderfully bitter and practical sort of person with a hopeless sentimental streak (if I didn't make him sound so, I mean he's very likeable - it doesn't take long at all to realise how attractive he is, in a sadly old-fashioned sort of way). Else (Ingrid Bergman), the stunning love interest caught between two men is also endlessly likeable, in spite of being essentially dishonest and unable to make her mind up. The scenes between the two of them have a lovely chemistry, and the acting is absolutely top-notch.
It's really quite impossible not to get emotionally caught up in the love story, but also everything is just so interesting. The other characters make it a very rich story - noble champion of underground movements all over Europe, corrupt and changeable (and yet ultimately likeable) chief of police, ruthless Gestapo henchman, young married couple trying to escape the Third Reich. It's actually quite a short film (98 mins, IIRC), but it's powerful stuff, unpretentious in its technology (you can tell it's all shot on a set!), and yet fantastically lavish in its storytelling.
In a way, it's quite a quiet film (both figuratively and in that I had to turn the volume up to maximum, though this was partly because it was so hot I had several cooling systems going), with lots of dialogue and not so much action. This is a good thing - it's in no way action-packed, but it's thoroughly enthralling, drawing you in to life in non-occupied France (specifically Casablanca) during the war. Everyone has different experiences and motivations and scruples. And it's fascinating from a social point of view, because it was made in 1943 while the war was still going (and as such, expect there to be a bit of a message at the end!).
The main characters are fascinating, and none moreso that Rick (Humphrey Bogart), who looks and sounds quite like a gangster and yet comes across as a wonderfully bitter and practical sort of person with a hopeless sentimental streak (if I didn't make him sound so, I mean he's very likeable - it doesn't take long at all to realise how attractive he is, in a sadly old-fashioned sort of way). Else (Ingrid Bergman), the stunning love interest caught between two men is also endlessly likeable, in spite of being essentially dishonest and unable to make her mind up. The scenes between the two of them have a lovely chemistry, and the acting is absolutely top-notch.
It's really quite impossible not to get emotionally caught up in the love story, but also everything is just so interesting. The other characters make it a very rich story - noble champion of underground movements all over Europe, corrupt and changeable (and yet ultimately likeable) chief of police, ruthless Gestapo henchman, young married couple trying to escape the Third Reich. It's actually quite a short film (98 mins, IIRC), but it's powerful stuff, unpretentious in its technology (you can tell it's all shot on a set!), and yet fantastically lavish in its storytelling.