Last night, I rewatched Casablanca for the I-don’t-konw-how-manyeth time. Despite all the competition, it manages to remain my all-time favourite movie (not an original choice, I know, but maybe there’s a reason for that). It’s proof that you don’t need a massive budget of flashy special effects to make a truly great movie (although they paid a record sum for the play on which the film was based, and the whole cardboard-cut-out plane with little people thing is very effective). What it does have is a fantastic script and great acting – and that’s really all you need.
Casablanca probably has more memorable lines than any other film I’ve seen – not to mention the memorable misquotes such as the title of this post. It’s not a comedy, but has more than its fair share of laughs. And there’s one of the most powerful scenes in film history – the Nazis are singing their German drinking song, leaving the rest of the café somewhat subdued until the noble resistance leader has the band strike up the French national anthem, leading a sweeping wave of patriotism which soon drowns out the bad guys. OK, so you probably have to see it, but it’s a real tear-jerker, I assure you – although being able to sing along with La Marseillaise helps combat that.
Here’s looking at you, kid.