Casablanca

1942 1 hr 42 min CC

PG

The Bogart film of all Bogart films, with nightclub owner Rick fighting his cynicism to choose between love and duty. Set in Morocco during WWII, this classic contains one memorable scene after another, only to be topped by one of the greatest endings ever. Co-star Ingrid Bergman simply glows on the screen.

If it’s difficult to imagine CASABLANCA without “As Time Goes By,” it’s downright impossible to imagine that legendary film composer Max Steiner did not like Herman Hupfeld's 1931 song and was against using it in the film. Production complications served against Steiner’s wish to compose his score around a different song, almost certainly for the better. “As Time Goes By” anchors the fraught romance between Rick and Ilsa, and Steiner’s stirring expansion of the song’s melody within the score shows, bittersweetly, that the embers of their romance burn still. Steiner’s integration of external music sources doesn’t end here, his invocation of the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” in key moments (most memorably in the scene where French and German patriots sing their duelling anthems) generates patriotic solidarity in a movie made during the height of the second World War. Steiner’s musical contributions amplify the gesture of allyship this great American studio film represents amidst the defining conflict of the 20th century.

Director Michael Curtiz

Cast Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre

Country USA

Language English

Aspect 1.37

More info on IMDB ››