Shot entirely on Hollywood sets, using studio actors, directors, and writers, Casablanca perfectly displays the art of collaborative studio production, rather than the vision of a single, independent auteur.
Casablanca 's ending resembles the classic ending, but it has been twisted and complicated. In the standard Hollywood film, no conflict would arise between the political and the personal.
The Mise-en-scéne elements of Casablanca, which were most essential to the success of this film were the directing style, cinematography, and lighting.
These two characters form opposing ideological poles that pull the rest of the players in Casablanca between opposite directions. The conflict between these two men is simply the battle of good vs. evil, which is what the OWI wanted films to portray.
Due to Casablanca's timely embrace of the War issues, the film achieved victory in its own war: the Academy Awards war. Out of its eight nominations, Casablanca won Best Picture (the main competition was Lubitsch's The More the Merrier), best screenplay and best director.
The praise: Casablanca won the Oscars for best picture, director, and screenplay, and was nominated for lead actor (Humphrey Bogart), supporting actor (Claude Rains), cinematography, editing, and music. The American Film Institute ranked it No. 2 on its 1998 list of the best American movies of all time, and No.
Casablanca is a Warner Bros production known for their big screen realism and glamorisation of everyday lives thus contextualising the exploration of America's position in World War Two. “The Big Three” created and managed movie stars by contracts directly linked to their studio.
Set in the backdrop of the Second World War, evoking the notions of honor, loyalty, friendship and duty, Casablanca is a classic which represents the very best the old Hollywood had to offer, and it's no surprise the film managed to stay afloat and still be celebrated three quarters of a century since the premiere.
Casablanca has so many exhilarating, dramatic, and touching moments, that is pointless to list them all. You're better off watching the film. But, in addition to the classic final scene, the scenes that are perhaps the most cinematically powerful are Rick at the roulette table and the singing of La Marseillaise.
Released in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor – which propelled a reluctant United States to enter World War II – the film was actually a classic piece of propaganda cinema masquerading as popular entertainment.
Historical context and setting The film is set in Casablanca, Morocco in the early days of the Second World War. In a geographical sense, the choice of Casablanca as a setting is essential to the way that the narrative develops, as all the characters are, in a way visitors there.
Ilsa is fiercely loyal to her husband, Laszlo, and the political cause—resistance to the Nazis—he represents, but the truth of her sentiments is constantly suspect. She claims to love Laszlo, but she also claims to be in love with Rick, both in Paris and in Casablanca.
Sam's piano is the symbolic heart and soul of Rick's Café.
IT is a classical Hollywood film because it uses the formal elements in a way to convey its message and has been critically acclaimed for generations. The elements of classical Hollywood are essential to the success of Casablanca.
ThemesThe Difficulty of Neutrality. In love and in war, neutrality is difficult for Rick, Ilsa, and Louis to maintain. ... The Inescapable Past. The first words of "As Time Go By" announce, "You must remember this," and in Casablanca, Rick, Ilsa, and Louis cannot escape the past and their memories. ... The Power of Lady Luck.
RomanceWarDramaCasablanca/Genres
The conclusion of Casablanca involves much more than the triumph of the idealistic values of sacrifice and restraint , and Casablanca is much more than pro-Allied propaganda. If the film concluded with the simple message that victory requires sacrifice, then the ending would be a happy one.
For Casablanca to fit this outline, Ilsa would have to declare her love for either Laszlo or Rick and leave with her choice, and the rejected male would let her go without a struggle because his love was so great that above all else he wished for her happiness.
Rick's substitution of Louis for Ilsa at the end of the film underscores the idea in Casablanca that politics trump romantic love, and the public is of greater significance than the personal. We can only speculate on Rick's and Ilsa's true feelings and motives, and the point is that the ending remains a mystery.
Ilsa and Rick's relationship is one based in romantic love, while Rick and Louis's relationship has been and still is one of expediency and political alliance, even if they have now added an element of genuine personal affection.
Casablanca. Along with Gone with the Wind and Citizen Kane, Casablanca is probably the greatest example of the classic Hollywood film. Shot entirely on Hollywood sets, using studio actors, directors, and writers, Casablanca perfectly displays the art of collaborative studio production, rather than the vision of a single, independent auteur.
Laszlo undoubtedly loves Ilsa, but Rick's and Ilsa's feelings aren't so clear. The film demonstrates the moral value of sacrifice and the triumph of the political over personal desire, but the final scene is full of ambiguity. Ilsa's true preference for Rick or Laszlo remains a mystery.
Another well demonstrated sociological concept well depicted in the film is that of fascism and its impact on society. The Nazis try to organize Casablanca according to their values, perspectives and systems such as they seize control of the economy as well as the political system as a whole.
The movie Casablanca is characterized by a lot of sociological concepts, analyzing issues concerning, social class, race, sacrifice and many others. Casablanca is indeed the kind of movie which makes us meditate and rethink about the world around us. The overall plot of the film is straight forward ...
The 1st sociological concept demonstrated in the movie is that of the difficulty of impartiality and neutrality. In war and love: IIsa, Rick and Louis find it extremely difficult to maintain neutrality. Rick avoids being involved in anything to do with politics and pretends to be non partisan.
The refugee is forever homeless travelling endlessly. It’s remarkable how the film addresses many of the problems and hardships which confronted the world after 1942. The film starts with a strong evocation of the enormous refugee problem created by German invasion of many countries in Europe.
The terrible situation is clearly explained at the start of the film whereby a voice explains the terrible global situation and thereafter a man is gunned down when he attempt to flee from gerdarmes. The man dies just next to a poster which has a picture of Marshall Petain Philippe, holding a France Resistant note.
All refugees in Casablanca hope to go to America. Since Casablanca is definitely the oasis at the middle of the desert, to the exiles, America must be the Promised Land. The refugees see America as not just a temporary exile but as a permanent home where they can start their live again.
Casablanca as well as Rick’s Café is an oasis located in the middle of the desert: shielded from the troubles of the world like a paradise. Yet the activities of the black market and the underground which occur at Rick’s contradict these qualities.
Read a Plot Overview of the entire film or a scene by scene Summary and Analysis.
See a complete list of the characters in Casablanca and in-depth analyses of Rick Blaine, Ilsa Lund, Victor Laszlo, and Captain Louis Renault.
Here's where you'll find analysis of the film as a whole, from themes and symbols to key facts.
Find the quotes you need to support your essay, or refresh your memory of the film by reading these key quotes.
1.In the movie Casablanca what stood out to me was the music. In my opinion I believe that it was crucial to the movie and it made the movie a hit. The music was used throughout the movie and it was the perfect song for the movie.The song was perfect song for the protagonists Rick and Ilsa.
Casablanca is surely still relevant today because of its simplicity and greatness. The story is relatively easy to follow, which is an element that is essential to Hollywood-style films today. It even set the Hollywood standard for Bogart’s character type, the anti-hero.
Ilsa is a quite shy girl who has a conflit on what to do if stay with Rick or go with her husban. She is not a charecter that is fun she`s a girl that is just there. On the other hand Marion is a fun charecter and she is very modern she drinks alot and she is not afraid to fight or step up as a women. She is not a push over.
1) I believe the most essential elements in the movie was the camera angle and lighting . Because the movie was in black and white the lighting makes it very essential to establish importance to the character or emphasize emotions. When the director first presented Ilsa, the audience could immediately realize that she was an influential character in the movie and to Rick due to the beautiful lighting (considering the movie was supposed to be called “Everyone Goes to Rick’s”). Also, in the scene where Rick is reminiscing about his time in Paris, the moving spotlight on Rick’s face shows us how emotional he was feeling at the time. My favorite scene in the movie is when Rick is arguing with Ilsa, the first time they spoke since Paris. Transitioning from the happy flashback Rick we can see that Rick had all of his emotions bottled up since Paris and when he finally gets the chance to talk to Ilsa he comes out with everything that he wanted to tell her. I guess Rick being drunk (ish) also helped.#N#2) To me its an original love story that does not end so well for the lovers, but ends well politically. From the beginning, Rick is recognized to help the “losing side” and this is what he ends up doing. He brushes off his emotions and his selfish ideas to help the French, symbolically represented by Lazlo, to try and win the war. This is why I don’t believe that this is entirely relevant to movies made today. The political relevance made the movie a hit and the love story also brings a broader audience to enjoy. The fact that it is a love story in the time of war could disinterest someone who does not like romantic movies, but overall it was the best black and white movie I’ve seen (also the only black and white movie I’ve seen).
Both the lighting and the camera angles help to portray and show us the many different emotions and feelings of the character , and they often set the mood and tone of the scene. Since there was no color to emphasize certain emotions the lighting and camera angels did that, for example when Rick is drinking after he insults Ilsa the room in very dark and you see many shadows. In that scene you know he’s depressed and sad he didn’t need to say anything we could of figured it out from the lighting. Also, the way the camera does close up shots really shows the characters true feelings we could see the pain in their faces and happiness. When Ilsa asked Sam to play their song and they focused on her face we could see her thinking about something that was very meaningful to her and the camera angle captured it, if they angle was different it might not have been as meaningful.#N#2. I think this movie is relevant and not at the same time. I feel the story about two people that love each but can’t be together appeals to the modern viewer. Also the characters people might see themselves or people they know connecting to a certain character but that might be it. For me I found myself not as interested in the movie as I thought I would be. I feel the way the characters talk could be a turnoff for many modern day viewers and also the black and white. But for people that don’t mind the old Hollywood style this movie would be relevant.
In the movie Raiders Of The Lost Ark the author uses costumes, and sounds to set the mood. For example, when Indiana Jones swings off the rope and ends up in the water at the beginning of the movie, they play the music which sets the tone. The Costume maker bought the hat and then had to make it look old and dingy. Also with the jacket the costume maker made the jacket seem old as if indiana had wore that jacket everyday of his life. In the scene of the snakes there was a glass between Indiana and a king cobra which makes it look realistic in the film. You would never know the glass would be there.#N#In the movie Raiders Of The Lost Ark marion and Ilsa ( Ingrid Bergman) from Cassablanca are different because Marion ( karen Alen) is more hard core and a big drinker. The main scene in the movie that shows the difference between these characters is when Marion was in her bar and she was having a drinking contest with a man. But in casablanca you see Ilsa very quiet at first . She is more a calm person like when she walked in the bar and sat and was looked around for Rick. Unlike when Indiana came in to see Marion, she screamed and yelled with a passion. This shows that women in the 1980’s where more tempered and had more of a different light of how a women should act. Also that women should act anyway they would like.
The music, storyline, setting and costume work during Casablanca make it a great movie because of its typical storyline and forbidden love plot. Also, the music makes it relevant today because a lot of aspiring new directors like to use the same background information used from Casablanca.
Major Strasser is a two-dimensional villain, representing the Axis powers, and Victor Laszlo is an unquestioning hero, representing the Allied Forces. These two characters form opposing ideological poles that pull the rest of the players in Casablanca between opposite directions.
At the beginning of the film, Rick moves in and out of hard shadows, often within a frame by himself. At this time, he is concealing his broken heart by acting as a staunch isolationist, both emotionally and politically.
Rick also mocks Renault for the way he blindly obeys Major Strasser, even though Renault claims to be in charge in Casablanca. He refers to the "Gestapo Spank," indicating that the Nazis are using their famed torture tactics to keep Renault in line.