Humphrey Bogart

A community portal about Humphrey Bogart with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an iconic American actor of legendary fame who retained his legacy after death. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Bogart the Greatest Male Star of All Time. Playing primarily smart, playful and reckless characters anchored by an inner moral code while surrounded by a corrupt world, Bogart's most notable films include Angels with Dirty Faces, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, In a Lonely Place, The African Queen , The Caine Mutiny, and We're No Angels. In all, he appeared in 75 feature motion pictures.

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Casablanca (1942)

Written by bdsr80 on

From: foolishblatherings.wordpress.com

casablanca

Here’s looking at you, kid.

– Rick

Coming in at #11 of the Top 250 of all time on IMDB. Nominated for seven Oscars, winning three; including Best Picture, Best Director for Michael Curtiz and Best Screenplay.

Casablanca is considered one of the greatest cinematic romances of all time. Highly doubt that. Not to say that it was a terrible movie. Far from that, but it wasn’t perfect.

Set in the middle of WWII in unoccupied Casablanca, Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is an former freedom fighter who has a famous club where all the refugees come to get away from the Nazis. His trusty pianist pal, Sam (Dooley Wilson) entertains the crowd with his songs.

One night, he receives two transit papers that were stolen from an SS officer from Ugarte (Peter Lorre). He hides them as SS officer, Major Strausser (Conrad Veidt) arrives in town to investigate where the papers are with the help of morally ambiguous Captain Renault (Claude Rains).

That very night, Rick’s former love, Isla (Ingrid Bergman) is with her companion, Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid). Both are active freedom fighters that are looking for a way to get out of Casablanca to escape to America.

Problems with the movie. The “romance” between Rick and Isla was not fully explored. There was no connection between them. It felt forced. Two beautiful people got together. No explanation. This movie should have been longer. Allowing the relationship to develop between the lovers.

Negatives aside, Ingrid was lit beautifully. Loved it. Interesting angles with the camera. Light and shadow worked perfectly.

Judgment: Gorgeous visuals, but the story could leave you high and dry.

Rating: ***1/2

Posted in 1942, Academy Award Winner, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, Best Picture, Classic Movies, Drama, Nazi, Running Feature, Top 250 of All Time on IMDB, War Tagged: Casablanca, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Dooley Wilson, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet

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