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Casablanca - 1942 - Michael Curtiz

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of its theatrical release, Casablanca is back on the big screen. The classic tale of an American expatriate, Rick (Humphrey Bogart), running a popular bar in the eponymous Moroccan city. All is going as smoothly as could be expected during a world war until Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), a woman from Rick's past, arrives with her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Everyone is trying to get out of the city as the Nazi are turning up the heat on the free French officials. 

Poster by N.E. of New Flesh

Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies gives an introduction to the film in which he states Casablanca is the greatest movie of all time. One could definitely make that argument. It has a script that is full of memorable lines, though infamously not the line "play it again Sam". The cast is mostly amazing but Bogart and Bergman do not have much chemistry. The cinematography is as friendly to Ms. Bergman as there has ever been for an actor.

The gauze filter used on her beauty shots, softens her look to an ethereal level. We see Ilsa as Rick sees her. Not a woman that is running from the Nazis but as a memory. She represents a past that he wishes to return to, a simpler time.   

Poster by Rory Kurtz 

After 75 years, Casablanca remains quintessentially classic Hollywood.