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931 reviews in total

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
What about the Music in Casablanca?, 19 April 2000

Author: james shoop from Passaic, NJ

Yes! Yes! I agree! Casablanca is an excellent movie. Action, adventure, romance, patriotism--"Play La Marseillaise. Play it", Nazi villains, idealism, and yes comedy--"I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in this place. Your winnings sir." It is indeed one of the most quotable films ever. It seems everyone has a line worth repeating, however Bogey has the best ones. But what about the music? It was Max Steiner at his best!

PS Besides "As Time Goes By" and "La Marseillaise" name at least one other song either played or sung during the movie. No fair going to the video.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Every performance is top-notch., 28 December 1999

Author: plato-11 from Vasaria

What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said? It is one of the best films I've ever seen. Usually when I see a movie that is as highly regarded as this, I perversely try to not like it. This one, however, is impossible to dislike. Peter Lorre gives one of the most memorable performances of his career, even though his screen time is roughly four minutes. Claude Rains is at his unflappable best, and has many of the most memorable lines in this film. Humphrey Bogart plays the type of character he does best, the bitter drunk. Ingrid Bergman is absolutely breath-taking, and not in an ugly baby way. I would recommend this to anybody.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
The finest example of American filmmaking, 8 October 1999

Author: Dan Brown (gotzvon) from Crystal Lake, IL

Casablanca has an essence that I cannot quite put my finger on.

All of the characters are captivating and the story is fresh every time I see it. The plot is dated, but that does not seem to matter. This movie is worth seeing time and time again

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
"We willl Always have Paris", 22 September 1998
Author: Rachael Simmons from Utah, USA

Does romance ever seem any better?? This movie is absolutely amazing!! Humphrey Bogart was the most charismatic man I know of. This movie is by far one of my favorite movies. I have never seen another romance that has compared with this one.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
The best, 16 August 1998

Author: Deviator-4 from Lee's Summit, Missouri

Casablanca is the best movie ever made. It has the best love story ever put in a movie. The chemistry between Bogart and Bergman made them two of my favorite actors to date.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
One of the greatest films ever, 23 July 2009

Author: Tweekums from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

If ever a film deserved to be considered a classic then this is it, even if you haven't seen it before you'll recognise much of the dialogue; it is probably the most quoted, and misquoted, film of all time. Humphrey Bogart is excellent in this career defining role as bar owner Rick Blaine who has come into possession of two "letters of transit" which guarantee the holders unhindered passage out of Casablanca. He has these as Ugarte, the man who asked him to look after them, was captured by the Vichy French police before he could get them back. Ugarte had been planning to sell the documents to Victor Laszlo, a Czech nationalist who is fleeing from Nazi occupied Europe to the United States via neutral Portugal. Things are complicated by the fact that Laszlo's wife Ilsa had a relationship with Rick before the fall of Paris and he never really got over her.

Right up until the end we don't know what Rick will do, perhaps he will let Victor and Ilsa have the letters, perhaps he will let Victor have them on condition that Ilsa stays with him or perhaps he will betray Victor and leave Casablanca himself with Ilsa. Bogart isn't the only great performance; Ingrid Bergman is fantastic as Ilsa, there is a real chemistry between her and Bogart, Claude Rains is great as the French policeman who's loyalty is likely to change depending on who he thinks is likely to be the most use to him and Paul Henreid's restrained performance as Victor Laszlo is faultless too.

It is hard to say what genre this film is, it is one of the great romances, it is also a war film, a thriller and even has some subtle comedy moments. Don't be put off by the film's age, the fact that it is in black and white or that it has a U certificate, this film is a must see. Whatever your tastes you owe it to yourself to watch this at least once, although I suspect few people will only want to watch it just once.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
The ultimate classic…, 15 April 2008

Author: Michael DeZubiria (miked32@hotmail.com) from Luoyang, China

I believe it was Mark Twain that once lamented about his works being called classics, because in his opinion a classic is something that everyone respects but no one ever reads. Or watches, in the case of movies. To a certain extent I agree, because who other than English majors reads The Waste Lands or Heart of Darkness or Hard Times? And who really watches Citizen Kane or The Third Man or Casablanca for the entertainment value?

Well, maybe more people than I think. The Third Man is a hell of a movie. For me, the first half or so of Casablanca was remarkably uninteresting, although the atmosphere created by the war taking place off screen is incredibly well done. I just hope I'm not becoming spoiled by modern film, that's one of my biggest fears.

Casablanca is the last hope for people who can't get to Lisbon to escape from Europe as it descends into war, and because all of the dregs of European society (the people who can't afford to buy their way out) make their way by hook or by crook there, it becomes a sort of a prison where people wait for years for their chance to escape to America.

The movie is so famous and such an enduring classic that it's almost impossible to write a review of it without mentioning some of the memorable lines, which are so famous that they have become a part of modern lore, like "Here's lookin' at you, kid," and of course, "Of all the gin joints in the world…"

It's hard to imagine the movie-making world in which the movie was made, but equally fascinating to learn that the people making the movie had no idea that they were making what would become one of the most popular movies ever made. It was a big movie, of course, but it was made on a relatively tight budget, which is something that I wish modern filmmakers would remember. Money has never been what makes great movies. Few people know that anymore.

There is an intensely romantic story in the movie, what must be the best love story in a war film ever made, and it is remarkable how convincing and unpredictable it is. During the first half of the movie, it's easy to think that you can see exactly where it's going, which is most likely the reason I found parts of the first half slow and uninteresting.

But soon there comes a point where you realize that you can't predict the ending. Specifically, this happens when we learn that Ilsa's (Ingrid Bergman) "new" love, the man for whom her romance with Rick (Humphrey Bogart – one of the biggest giants in film history) has to end, is really a good man.

It's a strange love triangle between the three characters, one that many people may find morally repellent, but moving nonetheless. These are real people, not movie characters, and it seems that their amazing level of realism comes across on the screen so smoothly that it's almost by accident.

Ultimately Casablanca is a story about painful sacrifice for the greater good, softened by the assertion that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. It's fascinating to consider the reality of that statement as we hurtle through the cosmos suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. But as we try to find all the answers, it's nice to be able to look back to one of the most tumultuous times in modern history and see three people who know they have to suffer but know the reason why. So often we aren't afforded that luxury in real life.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
A magical movie for a magical night in Phnom Penh, 20 September 2007

Author: venisejb from Australia

What could have been another piece of dreary American propaganda for WWII, turned out- by a strange piece of magic- to be a cinematic masterpiece, and ultimately a legend. Was it the director, Michael Curtiz? Was it the black and White photography, was it Dooley Wilson's haunting voice. Was it the superb casting? Who knows? but to think of anyone else playing the roles would have been insanity. Another Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Bogart or Bergman. Impossible.

About four years ago I was travelling around south-east Asia and in Phnom Penh (in Cambodia) and one night I went to the Foreign Correspondants club. It was my birthday and I was on my own so I stayed for a few drinks. I then found out that the club was showing THE ORIGINAL Casablanca. The benches the audience sat on were wooden. There were geckos running around the ceiling, no air conditioning, and it was heaven. The visa pronounced vezay, the gloved hand holding the 'aeroplane' Sydney Greenstreet swatting flies. Wonderful.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
The greatest.., 31 May 2007

Author: Mr_White101 from United Kingdom

Casablanca (written December, 2006)

Has there ever been more chemistry on screen than Bogart and Bergman? Has there ever been more individual character development in a single film than this? Has there ever been a Hollywood classic quite like Casablanca? This is cinema at it's very best, for all the reasons within the questions, and for a thousand other qualities; the luscious setting, the forever- memorable quotes, the beautiful cinematography and the timeless plot, its class, its intrigue, its legend and its, to name a few! Micheal Curtiz's Casablanca is sensational- it'll have you playing it again, and again, and again!

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Deserves It's Rank, 26 May 2007

Author: ZookGuy from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I had seen many films, but none were like Casablanca, it's duologue never failed, and it can touch the hearts of many without being too too touchy and romantic. It also has many plot lines, which is no mistake to the directors, because for some of them, it answers them as soon as you see them, it answers them in the middle, it leaves it for the end, or cliff hangs you on with not a single intention for a sequel. Besides, a sequel will destroy it's premise. While many actors are excellent in the supporting cast, Humphrey Bogart is spectacular as the selfish, money loving, one-woman, man, but gets his heart at the end. It's shocking that he didn't win the Oscar, (well he was nominated.) And this film never gets too predictable, when you pause, you still look at the single frame, looking for clues. This film is to be enjoyed for people of all ages, for the present and future.

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