You Must Remember This....

The upcoming re-release of Casablanca to cinemas nationwide gives viewers who have somehow never seen it a chance to view the most quoted film of all time. The famous screenplay contains, according to Julius Epstein, "more corn than in the states of Kansas and Iowa combined." And he should know, because he was one of the writers.

He also said "when corn works, there's nothing better" though, and he's right – Casablanca might be corny at times, but it just works. On paper it shouldn't have: a gangster actor (step forward, Humphrey Bogart) in the lead role, a virtually unknown Swedish actress (hello, Ingrid Bergman) as the love interest, and a script that several diverse hands took turns crafting - indeed one version was still being written as the film was shooting. And that script is probably the key to the success of the whole production.

The plot is adapted very freely from a bad play, is surprisingly elaborate – it's been described as "sophisticated hokum" - and goes like this: during World War II, various refugees from Europe flee to Casablanca, from where they try to get transport to America. But with the place run by the Nazi-controlled Vichy French government, this is hard to do and many of them end up waiting around forever for exit visas. The best place to wait is Rick's, a café/gin joint/casino with an excellent piano player called Sam, and run by one Rick "I stick my neck out for nobody" Blaine (Bogart). But when Rick's old flame Ilsa (Bergman) turns up, with her resistance leader husband in tow, Rick is torn between helping them and looking out for himself…

So far, so complicated, and yet on screen it all makes sense. The (second-choice) director Michael Curtiz is the reason for this, his approach to the material was "I make it go so fast, nobody notices." This worked unusually well, and the script problem worked out too - the palpable tension in the film is partly because the actors often didn't know what their characters were going to do next since it hadn't been written yet. In fact, the very famous, very last, line was dubbed in a month after shooting was finished. And what a line it was, and what a film it came from! It all just worked out somehow, just like things in movies are supposed to. Casablanca is the most beautiful fluke in cinema, and it might be the most loved film of all time. If you haven't seen it, go see what all the fuss is about.