CASABLANCA movie notes by MR MUNRO

(RICHARD K. MUNRO MA )

classroom teacher of history, Spanish, English and ESL from 1987-2021

MENTOR TEACHER KERN HS DISTRICT

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR ETS

CASABLANCA…MOVIE NOTES for Mr. Munro’s Seniors

HOLLYWOOD AT ITS VERY BEST

PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM

THE LOVE THAT WAS DOOMED.

THE ROMANTIC TRIANGLE

THE TORMENTED SOUL:”THIS NEARLY WAS MINE

Humphrey Bogart AS RICK BLAINE

Ingrid Bergman AS ILSA LUND

Paul Henreid AS VICTOR LASZLO

Claude Rains AS CAPTAIN LOUIS RENAULT

1) Casablanca appeals to such a wide audience because it is a skilled mix of many genres:

a) It is a romantic film (one of the great romantic films of all time)

b) It is a war film that clearly highlights “why we fight” (the Allied Cause vs. Axis)

c) It is a drama of intrigue and spies involving terror, murder and flight.

d) It is a drama of D.P’s (Displaced Persons or immigrants) trying to get visas

e) It is a character study centering on Rick Blaine (Bogart)

f) It is about seduction

and sexual abuse: characters are

coerced into sexual activity they don’t want to do.

g) It is also a musical journey into popular and national music of the time making the film almost a musical.

h) It is full of ironic lines and comedy relief (the pickpocket; the elderly couple trying to speak “perfect English” like an American; Captain Renault undecided how Urgarte died).

What part of Casablanca appeals to YOU the most?

2) Diegetic sound is the sound that you might logically expect to hear in a film scene such as the dialogue, the singing, the clinking of glasses, the sound of a gunshot. Non-diegetic sound is clearly dubbed or added artificially to a film –the characters can’t hear it. This includes the music score. The leitmotif

[1] of “As Time Goes By” is very powerful. So is the scene with the dueling nationalistic songs the Die Wacht Am Rhein [2](Nazi song) and the Marseilles (song of the French Revolution). Consider the role of music within the film (diegetic and non-diegetic).

What effect does music have on our understanding of key scenes?

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[1]Leitmotif:

a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation. “As Time Goes By” is a leitmotif in

Casablanca

[2]

Dear fatherland {VATERLAND}, put your mind at rest,–dear fatherland, put your mind at rest,–Firm stands, and true, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine!––Firm stands, and true, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine!

Much, as your waters without end, Have we our heroes’ blood to spend…

…the German youth, pious, and strong…

[3]Redemption

the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.

Everyone is in need of redemption. Our natural condition was characterized by guilt: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23

). See also

Psalm 130:7-8

Luke 2:38

; and

Acts 20:28

[4]

Catharsis: release, liberation , purification

3) One of the things that make Casablanca great is that it speaks to that place in each of us that seeks some kind of inspiration or redemption

[3]. On some level, every character in the story receives the same kind of catharsis[4]

and their lives are irrevocably changed. Rick’s change is the most obvious in that he learns to live again, instead of hiding from a lost love. He is reminded that there are things in the world more noble and important than he (such as freedom; the Allied cause) and he wants to do his part. Symbolically he represents isolationist America which is turning like FDR (after the Atlantic Charter) to Britain, Churchill, De Gaulle and the Allied Cause.

a) . Louis (Captain Renault), the womanizer and opportunistic scoundrel gets his redemption by seeing the sacrifice Rick makes and is inspired to choose a side, where he had maintained careful neutrality so as to save his own skin (and profit from the situation).

b) The stoic Resistance leader Victor Lazlo gets his redemption by being shown that while thousands may need him to be a hero, there is someone he can rely upon when he needs inspiration in the form of his wife, who was ready to sacrifice her happiness for the chance that he might survive the Nazi terror.

c) Ferrari, the local organized crime leader gets a measure of redemption by pointing Ilsa and Lazlo to Rick as a source of escape even though there is nothing in it, materially, for him. We cannot but think that his heart is touched by the beauty and tender love of Ilsa.

d) Ilsa herself has a bad conscience; she has kept her sin (her adultery, her temptation) from her husband and realizes she can overcome this if she accepts her husband’s forgiveness. Rick may be sexier than the older Lazlo but Lazlo has fame and money and will probably offer a better life than Rick. She won’t stay 26 forever!

e) Then there is the beautiful young Bulgarian refugee; she is considering cheating on her husband with Captain Renault to get the exit VISA. We have to think she is also offering herself to Rick as well. Rick is so moved by her suffering that he lets her husband win at roulette (this may be symbolic of American generosity in Lend Lease for the Allies).

Is redemption important for young people? Can a former Nazi find redemption? (Think Schlindler) Can the bad student today or the drug abuser of today or the greedy businessman (think Scrooge) really change their lives? What about you?

Casablanca shows a number of competing motivations through Character positions. Think about what motivates each character (money, power, sex, friendship, patriotism)and how some of them are actively repressing desires and the costs and benefits(opportunity costs) of these courses of action. How do the characters give a modern audience a deeper insight as to the suffering of the DP’s (Displaced Persons or Refugees without papers) and what it must have been like during WWII?