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I could have sworn there was a thread about this movie already, but I guess I was mistaken.
I rented it a little while ago, but never had time to watch it. Fortunately I never returned it, and decided to stay up late tonight and take another look (I shouldn't be so cavalier about that sort of thing, Hollywood Video has tracked me across state lines claiming I owe them over five-hundred dollars in late fees for an unreturned copy of The Buddhist Fist).
Watching it tonight, I was again struck by how incredible this movie is, especially considering it was just of fifty or so movies released that year by just that single studio. Bogart manages to look both tough and sad at the same time and Bergman is absolutely beautiful. Were her eyes naturally moist and shiny, or was she recieving eyedrops between every scene?
Fun trivia:
No one knew right up until the filming of the last scene whether Ilsa would end up with Rick or Laszlo. During the course of the picture, when 'Bergman, Ingrid' asked director Michael Curtiz with which man her character was in love, she was told to "play it in between".
Because the film was made during WWII they were not allowed to film at an airport after dark for security reasons. Instead they used a sound stage with a small cardboard cutout airplane and forced perspective. To give the illusion that the plane was full-sized, they used little people to portray the crew preparing the plane for take-off. Years later the same technique was used in the film Alien (1979), with director Ridley Scott's son and some of his friends in scaled down spacesuits.
Terrific. Terrific.
Conrad Veidt, who played Maj. Strasser, was well known in the theatrical community in Germany for his hatred of the Nazis, and in fact was forced to hurriedly escape the country when he found out that the SS had sent a death squad after him because of his anti-Nazi activities.
Many of the actors who played the Nazis were in fact German Jews who had escaped from Nazi Germany.
Neat.
I have no idea if early 1940's Morroco was as exotic and intriguing as it is depicted in the movie, but I would like to think so. This movie edges out Breakfast At Tiffany's as my favorite romance. A friend of mine argues that the real story is Rick's redemption and not the romance, but I say he's full of shit. Around this time a fight usually erupts.
Naturally, no discussion of the movie can go on without quoting the memorable lines, of which there are hundreds of thousands, so lets keep it to a minimum. Just your favorite few, if you feel you really have to quote it.
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Major Strasser: We have a complete dossier on you: Richard Blaine, American, age 37. Cannot return to his country. The reason is a little vague. We also know what you did in Paris, Mr. Blaine, and also we know why you left Paris.
[hands the dossier to Rick]
Major Strasser: Don't worry, we are not going to broadcast it.
Rick: [reading] Are my eyes really brown?
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Rick: And remember, this gun is pointed right at your heart.
Captain Renault: That is my least vulnerable spot. |
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