Sophia Halkias Film Review: Casablanca

Relate what was discussed in class or text to the screening: Prior to the in-class screening of Casablanca, a film directed in 1942 by Michael Curtiz, our professor anticipated a positive reaction from the class. We learned extensively about the background of the actors, directors, and various themes. The most useful and applicable information obtained from our discussions are the themes we briefly confer in order to connect the pieces of the film as we watch them. According to the American Film Institute, Casablanca is ranked as number three in the Top 100 Films of All Time. Michael Curtiz won Best Director for this particular film, although he was nominated for four other films he had directed. Interestingly, we discussed that Casablanca was written and based on an unproduced play Everybody Comes to Ricks. It is inspiring that one unsuccessful play can produce such an outstanding, and highly rated film. A student in our class shared that there is a caf named Ricks based on the movie and play. With no surprise, we learn that Casablanca won a number of Academy Awards, including best picture, best director, and best screen play. Additionally, the film was nominated for four other awards. Humphrey Bogart, one of the two main male characters in the film, was rated as the number one male actor by the American Film Institute. The beautiful and talented Ingrid Bergman was ranked number three female actress by the American Film Institute. The screening was easy to follow when keeping in mind the themes, including lost love and romance within a chaotic world, honor, and selfsacrifice in war. Find a related article and summarize the content: Instead of reading an overview or summary of the film Casablanca I opted for an interesting article to learn something out of the ordinary. In searching, I stumbled across a blog in written by Oliver Lyttelton with an article called 5

Things You Might Not Know About Casablanca on its 70th Anniversary. Lyttelton wrote this specific blog post due to the fact that it was a significant anniversary for the film, which is still regarded as a classic so many years later. The author considers Casablanca a virtually perfect film, complex, funny, thrilling, and swooningly, tragically romantic in its depiction of the love triangle between Rick, Victor, and Isla. The first of five things in the article informs us that President Reagan was never going to play Rick (Bogart) in the film. Apparently, during the times of production there were rumors circulating that President Ronald Reagan would play Ricks role in the film. This was proven as false; he was never actually involved in casting and this was purely a rumor. Secondly, there was an attempt to remove the film from its unofficial theme tune, "As Time Goes By. This film and this song are often associated with one another until this day. Thirdly, the studio considered shooting a new ending to the film according to the current events at the time. Fourth, a sequel never happened but the film was subject of two television prequels. Lastly, in 1980s, a journalist submitted Casablanca to agencies under a new title in which half of the people recognized it and fewer were interested in it. http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-casablanca-on-its70th-anniversary-20121126 Apply article to film screening in class: The five pieces of information in the blog were somewhat familiar because of the discussion and film screening in class. First of all, the song As Time Goes By is a song I had heard before but never associated with the film simply because I had never seen it. However, there is no doubt in my mind now that I have seen the film that this song will be associated with Casablanca going forward. Next, we discussed in class that there were two film endings possible due to the current events during this time. This was mentioned in the article, but it is something we had also discussed in class prior to the screen

filming. The last of the five things in the film was shocking being that over seventy years later, the film is still recognized for its success. The article did not support nor change the way I thought about Casablanca, but instead, offered new and interesting trivia about the filmwhich is something we often do in class with other films. Write a critical analysis of the film: I truly enjoyed the romance, suspense, and various conflicts in the film. It is always easier to follow along a film with a background run-through. I had anticipated the film to be extremely intense, and it truly lived up to the expectations. I enjoyed the widely-known and associated quotes we went over in class prior to the film. During the screening, I made mental notes each time we heard one. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, a quote spoken by Rick at the end of the film to a French police officer, is one of the most iconic and memorable quotes of all time. The film shows the love triangle and how passion drives people. A big part of the film was the current events at the time, the struggles of the war, and most importantly how life changes due to the war. One of my favorite scenes was when Isla swore she would kill Rick, but they ended up sharing a passionate kiss instead. Their love for each other was extremely strong, despite the fact that she ended up with her husband who she had deemed as dead when she got involved with Rick. CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 1) (X) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 2) (X) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 3) (X) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 4) (X) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

5) (X) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 6) (X) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 7) (X) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 8) (X) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper. Name: Sophia Halkias ______________________ Date: April 20, 2014___________________