Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Casablanca Vs Bonnie & Clyde Compartive Essay
Casablanca Vs Bonnie & Clyde Compartive Essay
Cinematography
Mise-en-scene
Editing
Sound
Performance
One of the first and main differences between the films Casablanca and Bonnie & Clyde is
the film era that they were released in. Casablanca was released during the classical
hollywood era, and Bonnie and clyde was released just as the new hollywood era began.
Therefore there are many, various differences between the two, ones that are particularly
seen through aspects of film form such as cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound,
performance, and aesthetics.
In Bonnie & Clyde, use of real texas locations, something greatly contrasting the controlled
studio shooting scene in the classical hollywood era. The use of real locations is something
that greatly helped set the energy and realism to the film. This was also something that had
been inspired by the French New Wave films, for which french directors would bring their
cameras out to film in the streets of paris. The mise-en-scene in Bonnie & Clyde had also
been something that altered the conventions for classical hollywood gangster films; instead
of being set in big cities with nighttime shootouts, bonnie and clyde was set in rural texas
where most violence occurred in broad daylight. The costumes, particularly Bonnie's, had
been inspired by the French new wave as well as form new,popular Hollywood stars. Her
costumes had been impactful to fashion trends at that time.
The editing of casablanca resembled the classical continuity style, one which disguised
transitions from shot to shot, making the film appear as a seamless flow of images,
something which greatly matches the experience of a flashback in the paris flashback scene.
Once we immerse into Rick’s flashback, the editing matches the events of his memory. As
we see the moments of Ilsa and Rick together the clips used are quite long with a slow
fading out from one shot to another, creating a whimsical experience for the audience. In
contrast to this, as clips of the war are being used, shorter clips are used, something which
greatly speeds up the pace of the sequence, connoting the urgency and chaos experienced
at that time. in the opening montage, Casablanca’s opening montage is one typical of
expositions in classical Hollywood films. This is something which is borrowed from
documentary style films, contextualizing the story and grounding the context of that in the
midst of the war. Flashbacks are made with the camera slowly zooming in on the character
before fading out of focus. This was a conventional way of introducing flashbacks in the
classical Hollywood era.
The entire score of Casablanca was mostly based on the song ‘as time goes by’, making it a
sound motif seeing as it had been used in key moments of the film to remind the spectator of
Rick and Ilsa’s love. The use of this orchestral and symbolic song is also something that
gives us context of time since this genre of music was commonly used during the classical
hollywood era. Right before the parisian sequence, Sam plays it on the piano at the bar,
something that he was told prior not to do by Rick as it reminds him of painful memories. So
now as the song plays, Rick delves into those memories that have become painful for him,
giving us the perfect sound setup for the parisian flashback, something that moves the
narrative forward for the audience as we are getting a better insight into their relationship
and its significance to Rick. As for the non-diegetic sound in this sequence, shouting of
people and explosions are being used, allowing the audience to fully immerse into the
environment that is being shown to the audience. Additionally, throughout the whole film,
sound is greatly used through the witty, snappy dialogue; one which cleverly intertwines
personal as well as public narrative.
Contrary to Casablanca, in Bonnie & Clyde, the musical soundtrack involves contrapuntal
sound, meaning music is able to be contradictory to the event going on. An example of this
is seen in a violent scene with upbeat, happy music. The use of bluegrass is also something
which evokes the period of the great depression as well as the deep south locations.
Interesting sound techniques such as sound bridges were used, and heightened diegetic
sound to shock the spectators.
Finally for performance, Humphrey Bogart effectively brought psychological realism to the
depiction of rick, as well as his own acting style which adds to the uniqueness of the
character. Ingrid Bergman's performance effectively conveys inner turmoil and conflict that i
Ilsa faces in the film. Both bogart and bergman’s acting was seen as ‘natural’ in that era of
classical hollywood. In contrast to this, the performance style of faye dugaway and Warren
beauty in Bonnie & clyde is seen as more self-conscious, reflecting changes in acting styles
in the emergence of the new hollywood era.