If it isn’t #1, then it’s definitely top 3 or 4, easily. A terrific film. Brilliantly photographed as well.

Thanks KG! I think the analogous motifs of Casablanca to America’s insertion into World War II are wide-ranging and subtle. The bombing of Pearl Harbor effectively forced the US into the war, much like Rick here is essentially forced to make a decision that is totally out of his control (or interest, really). If you look at the film from a globalist perspective there’s a lot to unpack, I think. Boil it all down, however, and you still have a supercharged story of tragic love and loss ahead of the backdrop of terror and death, a spectral suffocation that weighs heavily upon the film not only from an overarching plot level but also for each individual character.

One of the things I have discovered whilst watching a lot of these older films (my review of Grand Hotel also alludes to it) is that a lot of the higher profile actresses had their own personal makeup artists and cinematographers, specifically to capture them at their best angles. I guess if you’re making something that will last forever like film you want to get things right, but it’s a fascinating insight into Hollywood’s golden age that I had never realised before. Some actresses actually went so far as to stipulate which DOP’s were brought onto their films to ensure they shot them the right way.

Could you imagine a Streep or Hathaway trying this kind of thing! LOL!!!

Haha, yes you can comment again! LOL!!!

Thanks for picking up that error mate, I’ve amended my review accordingly. Always happy to get things right if I make a mistake!

I remember seeing it as a kid back in the day and I didn’t think much of it (I thought it was boring and silly), and it’s only now as an adult I can reflect on just how perfect a film it is. Definitely worthy of its status as a Hollywood classic, if not THE Hollywood classic. Bogart and Bergman’s chemistry is scintillating.

Hate to THAT guy, but I do have to point something out. You said it started production six months before Pearl Harbor while, in fact, May of 1942 is six months after that attack. I think it’s just a typo given the rest of what you wrote, but it’s an important distinction to make.

Anyhoo, I think I solved my commenting issues, here.