The Two Things to Know About Casablanca

[xyzzysqrl]

1. This is a movie carried entirely on the strength of its dialogue. Everything else is really secondary. Little 'action' as such, little romance, lots of dialogue. If it weren't so well-written, that wouldn't work.

2. Those lines? The famous ones? "Here's lookin' at you, kid." and "Round up the usual suspects." and so on? Meaningless. Without context, anyway. All the -best- lines in the movie belong solely to the context, so isolating them weakens them massively. There were a lot of things I'd call wonderful -lines- in this movie, but very little I'd try to quote. If that makes sense.

So, yeah. Great movie. I liked. Not the best movie ever, but I liked anyway. If I were still taking film classes I'd have way more to say... but I don't feel like analyzing. Now and then you just want to say "It's only a movie." and be happy.

Sleeping now. Not sleeping now. Summer SUCKS. Too hot. Augh.

Comments

[doniago.livejournal.com]

You forgot to mention the directing, which is also noteworthy, especially in its use of shadow.

It's worth listening to the commentary track, if you have it on DVD. I mean the Roger Ebert one.

It's funny...I never thought much of the guy, but listening to his commentaries for Citizen Kane and Casablanca has done a lot to make me respect his views as a film critic.

[xyzzysqrl]

Didn't notice the directing, really, and no, no commentary track. We have a very bare-bones DVD release it seems.