Casablanca

Casablanca (1942)
Directed by Michael Curtiz
****1/2

It had been almost 15 years since I had last seen this film. I remember back then, I was convinced it was overrated — but seeing it now, after so many films great and small, I can see far more clearly that this is one of the greatest films ever made. The script is perfect, as far as I can tell, pitting several fascinating characters with and against each other in a real, historical setting. But the story that unfolds is so timeless as to be mythic, at once a love story, a political manifesto, a con game, romantic and devastatingly realistic, too. Bogart and Bergman are magnificent, and Claude Rains is smilingly delightful as the ingratiating local law enforcement. This is worth watching, and worth watching again from time to time. It doesn't get much better than this.

Comments

[Jonathan]

Agreed.