CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MOVIE (FILM STUDIES RESEARCH)
(CASABLANCA – 1942)
By Michael Curtiz
Today I am writing a critical review on the film Casablanca, which is released in 1n 1940s. In this age digital media, social media and other traditional sources of media shows the thinking of the people and what they want to see on the screen. But it is unfortunate that it was not the thing from the start of the media and its platform in the past. In 20th century there was no digital or social media platforms even in the start of 21st century it was very slow in early 2000s but it boomed after the first decade. In the 1st half of the century 1900s especially in 1940s the movie industry was evolving and getting bigger slowly. Masses were going towards cinema as it was a form and some might say the only form of entertainment and joy for the people, as the world was going through hard phases of World War 2.
The movie ‘Casablanca’ was a complete portrayal of hard times of World War 2.
Now, let us begin discussing why Casablanca is considered one of the best and one of the classical movies all the time. The Casablanca movie has a great popularity after all that time. The elements that has made the Casablanca which was released in 1942 and is considered to be the epic and greatest of all the times are explained as below:
- Cast and specially the leading characters are the first element that makes the movie one of the classics. The main character of the movie were acted by Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. The story was a love story between the hero and his lover. The roles which were acted by the cast and the understandings among the actors and characters resulted in making those characters long lived in peoples memory. So, the acting and cast were the important elements that made this movie a classic and a great one.
- The fundamental point that made this movie great as we discussed earlier that the movie was released in one of the hard phases during the World War 2. Masses were trying to get their mind away from all the bad things that a war had created at that time. They were trying to find entertainment in other things so they went towards the cinema to have some good time in that war period. This also made the movie a hit on the box office because people trying to divert their minds and go to cinema. Some said that if the movie was released after the war period people might have not gone towards the cinema this big that the people during war went. So the timing of the movie was another reason of the success of the success of the movie.
- The Third thing that made the movie one of the best is the story. And the story is considered to be the main reason. Story showed that nothing is bigger than the goal and your cause even your love can be sacrificed for your cause. The story if this movie does not always based on the love it also showed the other side and stories. The audience of the movie also loved that killing the Nazis in that movie was more important than the love and it was sacrificed.
- Screenplay of the movie was adapted from a play that was not a good one. But they changed the dialogue and made some changes in the story. The writer and the director had a great picture in their mind for the casting so it helped them in casting which I as viewer, already discussed that it was one the best thing in the movie.
- The cast was very close to the characters that were written. The dialogues were also written in the right tone. The main character ‘Humphrey Bogart’ before this movie played some very great lead characters in some of the other great films and scripts in which he played a big lead role so he was already established actor. In this movie Casablanca he played the role of Rick Blaine an American and a drinker owner of the disco in Morocco which was in the middle of Europe and Africa. So there were movements of agencies and people from all the sides of war. The opening scenes and sequences were of dance and comedy.
- Casablanca got the academy awards like the award in the best movie the director and the best screenplay. The main thing in the movie is that everything thing was done magical, it had both drama, love and patriotic feelings during the war, it also showed the refugees during that war that were running from the Nazis and also the general war in Europe. So it had everything thing to be successful movie and a movie to be remembered in coming decades and even now. The writers loves and tries to follow the way and the show of a narrative in a great manner. So in coming ages it was considered a great example for the writers and it inspired many writers.
- The production was done in the hard time of the World War 2 result was that it was a very hard and the difficult situation to shoot a film so it was very chaotic production. But when it was released it was the time that German Nazis were going down and losing the ground so the patriotic feelings of sacrifice for the greater cause of country and world. People loved and enjoyed it so it made people watch it again and again. The dialogues of this movie was one to be remembered. Whenever people see the movie they find a dialogue that is a gem from a Treasure box movie name Casablanca.
So to conclude it this were all the reason that made the movie which is still remembered and to be one among the most successful and classic movies. It helped people to show that if they are suffering from the war there are also some other people like the refugees that were running the massacre of Nazis and other people of colors. It really entitled the people to sacrifice to bring down the Nazis.
