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102 min – PG – view video trailer
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
Genres: Drama, Romance, War
IMDB 8.7 / Amazon 4.5 / MRQE 95% / Decent Films A+
Oscars won (3 of 8): Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Curtiz), Best Writing/Screenplay (Julius Epstein, Philip Epstein, Howard Koch) / nominated: Best Actor (Humphrey Bogart), Supporting Actor (Claude Rains), Cinematography B&W (Arthur Edeson), Film Editing (Owen Marks), Music (Max Steiner)
Ranked #2 Greatest Movies Through 1960, in 36 of 41 best movies lists, a Zagat Top Movie
Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. IMDB rating: 8.7 from over 222,004 users
Casablanca: easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you’re wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), whose only hope is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a cynical American who sticks his neck out for no one, especially Victor’s wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart. Amazon 4.5 stars from over 769 users
Among the many happy accidents that make Casablanca what it is, perhaps the most ironic is this: Humphrey Bogart wouldn’t meet his ultimate leading lady, Lauren Bacall, until the following year, on the set of Casablanca knockoff To Have and Have Not… Bogart has such a strong screen persona — tough-minded, jaded, a flawed protagonist with tarnished principles — that it’s tempting to see Rick Blaine as a variation on the characters Bogie plays in, e.g., Key Largo or To Have and Have Not… The problems of three little people may not amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, but they can sure make for a great film. Read full Decent Films review (rated A+, Superior artistic-entertainment for Teens & Up)
MRQE 95% with over 128 reviews linked
NOTES: Quite possibly more words have been written about Casablanca than about any other movie. It is in the top ten of most lists of the greatest movies and half of those lists place it in the top three! Here’s looking at you kid!
Greatest Movies Through 1960 