Has "Casablanca" lost its status as a great film?

It's him.

It's an absolutely beautiful film in many ways, and I admire its structure and how all the elements come together and make a cohesive plot out of a lot of different characters and plot points. There's a payoff for everything. It's a good example of a movie that makes a statement but does so in a very entertaining way. And the craftsmanship of the sound, the editing, even the visual effects is really, really good (particularly for this era).

 

Michael Curtiz was an A-list director on whom the studios depended a great deal. He worked closely with Bogart to bring the actor's persona to fruition in front of the camera.

Casablanca was an expensive studio production and a major release in 1942. Warner Brothers gave the film everything they had. It was one of the most successful films of the year, both financially and critically, and one that proved to be profitable in re-releases for a long time.

 

Oh, bollocks.

 

Perfect example of a well made Star filled Hollywood film shot on a back lot
A great film,but there are better films

 

he had a great career, nommed for best director five times (including the year before for yankee doodle dandy) directed mildred pierce, captain blood, angels with dirty faces, not sure why he got the b-list rep, maybe cause he directed an elvis film? (a good one at least).

 

Curtiz does NOT have a b-list rep.

He has an A-list rep. He directed many of the most distinguished and artfully made films in Hollywood's studio system. He was considered an artist. As you yourself point out, he was nominated five times. Even at the end of his career, when he directed King Creole and The Comancheros, those films were much admired because of his involvement.

 

Casablanca is made of visionary granite, as far as film buffs are concerned. The folks that deride B & W and narrow images aren't buffs! I have a nephew who wouldn't watch Casablanca unless he was restrained or at gunpoint! To quote him, "I don't watch Black and white."

To me, Casablanca keeps getting better and better. The more movies I see that aren't as good, the better it seems.

 

I hope not.

 

I have never understood the appeal of Casablanca. I've seen it twice, and both times it left me cold. It does have its admirers, especially Robert McKee, a lecturer in script writing, who regularly maintains it's the best film ever made, and often goes through the film scene by scene with his students. It's one of those classic films which continues to elude me.

 

Complete agreement. I've also seen it twice, and I think I got less out of it the second time, than the first. Didn't 'hate' it or anything, but I certainly couldn't understand what all the hoopla was.

By way of contrast, I've seen Citizen Kane about 10-12 times (most all of them on the big screen too, I might add) -- and I've never tired of it. Saw it three (3!) times in the same week back in the mid-90's (in a theater! - a (then) brand new restoration), and I distinctly remember seeing new things in it every single time that week.

 

I can't see quality losing it's allure ever. Do the works of Vermeer no longer thrill because they were done manually instead of being pieced together by a team of digital computer people? Do Mozart's masterpieces no longer qualify since they were clearly not produced by a big name blatherer who insisted on using a drum machine? I could go on, but you get my drift.

Articles like that seem to be meant for rather narrow people who also seem to have a tendency to view anything newer as being superior to anything that existed before they were born. Let them talk (or write) their heads off. Pass them by and be glad they aren't clogging up the venues where the great works are displayed or shown.

As for me, I'm going downtown tomorrow to see the Della Robbia exhibit again. I highly recommend it if you're in town.

 

I agree with you and would add The Maltese Falcon as a better film.

Casablanca has some great moments and a witty screenplay, but I think the flashback scene drags it down a bit.

 

I think it's a much better film than Citizen Kane.

No here.

 

I might watch it again in a few

 

Not for me. Remains one of my fave films. I love the cast and is one of those comfort films I watch when things get a little dark in real life.

 

On the cusp of the anniversary of it's release, 26 November 1942.
From CBC Radio's q with Tom Power... Casablanca at 75: fascinating facts about one of the most famous films of all time.

 

I’ve never heard anything but praise for it. It is the very definition of classic Hollywood. Me and a couple of friends around the same age as me saw the film just under a year ago, most of us for the first time, and we all thought it was great.

 

Boogie helps as well.

 

No, it hasn't lost its status as is clearly evident by the responses here. And until I started watching films seriously I thought it was one of the greatest ever made as well. The best I can say about it is that Michael Curtiz had honed his craft to near perfection by the time he directed Casablanca. It's a highly polished film.

 

Bogart is one of my favorite actors, if not my favorite. But I find that he doesn't play "happy" or "in love" half as well as he plays cynical, maladjusted or downright nasty. The "Casablanca" flashback scenes, and the "He's in love" scenes in "Sabrina" both lack sincerity, IMO. At least when he's in love in "In a Lonely Place" he's jealous, possessive, and crazed. When he's in love in "The Maltese Falcon" he's still making her take the fall. It DOES work when he's opposite Ms. Bacall, though, huh?

It doesn't get in my way, though. "Casablanca" remains a favorite.

 

I've never heard anything but good reviews about the movie. It's a classic in so many ways. It hasn't lost its attraction for me in any way. Bogart & Bacall were great in that movie. Written on set at times, it has some of the most memorable lines in a movie ever.

 

Comments like this make Ingrid want to cry.

 

I agree, and really, who want's to watch Bogart get "friend-zoned" at the end?
All for the good of the war I suppose.

 

What a beautiful woman.

 

For me, you're hooked by the depth of Bogart's pain. I know there were other cinematic displays of male Pain (Gable in GWTW, of course), but Bogie is so traumatized by the scab being ripped off that he even tries to find solace in 'their song,' knowing full well it won't help. As a college freshman awash in the same pain with a bottle in front of me, I knew what Rick was feeling.