At the time of
creating Casablanca no one had any
real expectations for its success.
However, it left viewers in awe all over the world, even until this
day. The film was a sensation due to the
fact that it touched on a little bit of everything. The genres of love,
action, war, drama, and a small sense of comedy, are all aspects that bring Casablanca together.
From the very beginning of the film, one
can see the resemblances of a film noir style in Casablanca. The setting of
troubling times, when Germans soldiers invaded Europe and many refugees in
Casablanca looked for a way to receive exit visa’s to Lisbon, in the hope of
reaching America.
Although Casablanca
is not a film noir, there are aspects of the style present. The scene where I found the most film noir
stylistic aspects used were in Rick’s Café Americain. The screen first focuses on a close-up shot
of Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart). The
audience can initially just see his hand, “scribbling a signature of approval
across a check for an advance of 1,000 francs: “OK-Rick.”” As you can see in the photo above, there is a
smoky and dark atmosphere in this shot of Rick; obviously the cinematographer
wanted a gloomy, murky, night scene, thus using low-key lighting. From this scene, Rick comes off as a
hard-hearted, neutral, and dissatisfied character.
The film had already drawn the audience
in with its first main character, as someone who sticks his neck out for
nobody, but the complexity and emotion does not truly grow until Ilsa Lund
(Ingrid Bergman) walks into the café.
Sam (Dooley Wilson) the piano player stumbles as he see’s her. Isla asks Sam to play “As Time Goes By,” Rick
and Ilsa’s song from back in Paris. Then
there is a close up of IIsa’s face as Sam continues to play the song. There is such emotion in this simple
scene. The close up displays Ilsa as she
thinks back on old memories. One can see
her regret of walking into the café, with the downward lean of her face and the
plain sorrow she possess with the slightest bit of tears in her eyes. Rick soon comes over and yells at Sam, “ I
thought I told you to never to play that song.” There is then a close up of
Ilsa face, almost crying and then a close up of Rick’s face, totally astonished
and confused. Normally, the protagonist
male characters in film noir’s were driven by their past, and in this instance
I believe that the Rick was driven from his past. The outcome of his actions and decisions at
the end of the movie were driven for his love of Ilsa.
Another resemblance of film noir style I found
in Casablanca was at the end of the
film. Most of the time noir films do not
have a “happy ending.” It is arguable
whether or not this film did, but it is still customary that the male character
is driven by his past in film noir. The only thing that Rick found important
about his past was Ilsa, and that is why he had to let her go. The end of the film is in a rich and smoky
atmosphere. As Roger Ebert once stated,
Ilsa’s face reflects to be confused with emotions in this scene, as seen in the
photo above. The scene has dark
lighting, and the airport is dim and shadowy, resulting in the characteristics
of puzzlement. Even until the very end,
the storyline is twisty and complex, mostly because no one truly knew which man
would walk away on the plane with Ilsa. I
believe that this still expresses the styles of film noir. Surely, Rick could have taken the two exit
visa’s, left with Isla, and let Ilsa’s husband, Victor, stay in Casablanca to
be sentenced to a concentration camp.
However, Rick had to be the larger person and seek nobility. Rick and
Ilsa were obviously in love, but Rick had to sacrifice their love for a higher
purpose. Rick was driven by love to let
her go. Essentially, one can see the
aspects of film noir in Casablanca. Some may argue that the film did not have a
“happy ending”, like most film noir’s, because Rick and Ilsa never did actually
end up together. However, the ending was
one of the many aspects of the film that made it successful, and the way I see
it, Casablanca could not have ended
up any other way.
Sources:
Casablanca. Dir. Michael Curtiz. Perf. Humphrey
Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Warner Bros. Studio's,
1942. DVD.
Dirks, Tim.
"Casablanca (1942)." Casablanca (1942). American Movies
Classics Company's LLC., 2013. Web.
13 June 2013. http://www.filmsite.org/casa.html.
Ebert, Roger.
"Casablanca." All Content. N.p., 15 Sept. 1996. Web. 14 June
2013. http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-casablanca-1942.
Franco, Hector.
"Casablanca Film Review." HubPages. N.p., 12 May 2011. Web. 14
June 2013. http://ryuhawk.hubpages.com/hub/Casablanca-1942-Film-Review.
No comments:
Post a Comment