I’ve never really liked Casablanca .
I watched it again yesterday afternoon with some onion rings and a lascivious bitch under each arm in the hope I would enjoy it
I know I should like it , after all it’s supposed to be one of the biggest screen love stories of the 20th century .
But I just don’t get it.
Rick is too bad tempered. Ilsa flitted from one man to another in a blink of an eye and the film noir stalwarts such as Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorrie just got on my tits as did Claude Rains with his jaunty kepis.
I didn’t believe the story and I was bored …..
The love affair between Bergman and Bogart feels wrong to me and as I did in Now Voyager , my affections clearly swing towards Paul Henreid as the quietly spoken Czech resistance leader .
Boy was he a dish, especially when he got the Night Club crowd to belt out the Marseillaise to drown out the nazi singing
He had me at “ Ahoj”
I love Casablanca and never tire of watching it. It has always appealed to the idealist and romantic in me. Of course, you make several valid points because much of the plot is ridiculous, it's true. My favourite stupid aspect is Ilsa being on the run with a hunted leftist radical but having an extensive designer wardrobe to die for.
ReplyDeleteAnd those shoulders
DeleteI had mixed feeling about the movie for a long time. Then I read that most of the actors and actresses in the night club scene defaiantly singing Le Marseillaise were aftual French ex-pats who were singing their hearts out because it really meant something to each of them.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Now that makes sense too…you can’t manufacture that passion , not in extras
DeleteThere are certain scenes in the film that are superb, and the rest relies on them. Not one of my favourites either.
ReplyDeleteWhat are your favourites cro?
DeleteHow about 'The Ghost and Mrs Muir'?
DeleteIsn't it a relief when someone else says what you've secretly thought for a long time? I don't get why it's a big deal but I'm glad I've seen it as it's referenced and parodied in films I DO like.
ReplyDeleteYes, it sorts of give you permission to loosen your corsets and say “ me too!!!”
Delete"with some onion rings and a lascivious bitch under each arm". Pure gold!
ReplyDeleteI thank you x
DeleteI have always watched it with great pleasure, totally uncritically, as it is a film I grew up with. You've given me an ear worm of the Marseillaise now!!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I can’t get out of my mind the nightclub moll belting out the tune like a good un
DeleteCasablanca is a great film despite the flaws, which are many - including the flashback in Paris scenes, which no-one thought to record with vocals. Astonishing. And Sam who was supposed to play it again could not even play the piano! There are so many legends about the making of this film, and I think it is an icon because of this - being written on the wing day by day, no-one knowing how it would end, the studio arguing over the final lines to insert as Louis and Rick walk away into the fog.....not to mention the three quarter sized plane loaded with height challenged people to give an impression of a full sized plane, the country wide hunt for a bottle of |Vichy Water for Louis to toss away....and so it goes on. I suppose what is most important about it is it's role as a morale booster, of not only the story, but the making of the film, a taale of triumph over adversity.
ReplyDeleteIf you like Paul Heinreid (I don't, the most wooden actor on the planet, and famously difficult to work with) go and watch Now, Voyager with Bette Davis....the famous lighting two cigarettes scene!
Liz, intriguing …..I love the story of the plane which is something I know little about. The fact of it being written on the hoof as you say, shows to me.
DeleteAnd the play it was based on (Everybody Comes To Rick's) was remarkably poor, and didn't even get staged for fifty years or more after the film. The role of Rick was originlly meant for Ronald Reagan, and was then offered to George Raft. So it could have been a real dog's dinner.....
DeleteMy moroccan boyfriend must have liked the film - he sometimes repeated scenes - he was dishy x
ReplyDeleteFast cat
Deleteand loose John - I am happy to say x
DeleteNot sure I've ever seen it in full, only the well-known bits as excerpts. Your not giving it any recommendation is all I need - and wanted. So, a case of back burner for yet longer.
ReplyDeleteBtw: Another 'staple' I've never seen and which seems to be on telly at least 100 times p.a. is 'The African Queen'. Another for 'some other time'.......perhaps.
I prefer The African Queen to Casablanca, but if you get the chance, one of my all time favourites is going to be on - Shawshank Redemption.
DeleteI saw 'Shawshank' at the cinema on its release, being already familiar with the Stephen King story. Despite the film now having acquired a kind of 'cult' status, its now widespread acclaim hadn't particularly appealed to me all those 28 years ago, so haven't seen it since. Maybe I ought to give it another try.
DeleteRaymondo
DeleteI get that , shawshank had a different way in its narrative and that intrigued people, on second showing is a pretty bogstandard prison flick
Veg, I watched The African Queen just before Casablanca on bbc2 and boy did I enjoy it. Hepburn’s guttural cries grated but I did enjoy it
DeleteNot one I'd choose to watch, but I suppose it has now achieved a certain status, and so will always get 5* reviews whenever it's shown. Your writing would give Victoria Wood a run for her money. "Onion rings and a lascivious bitch under each arm" - priceless! xx
ReplyDeleteApparantly im a misogynist ……that’s a first
DeleteAnd apparently, as a woman who reads and loves your blog, I'm a dependant victim. Also a first! xx
DeleteI love the film, multiple warts and all, every time I see it. I found Claud Reins to be kind of wooden. But I've never held a lascivious bitch under each arm.
ReplyDeleteNot easy when you are eating onion rings
DeleteI saw the movie more than once and I don't remember much about it. Apparently I wasn't enthusiastic either. Merry Christmas John.
ReplyDeleteYes apart from key scenes I found it a let down yael
DeleteLoving hearing all the names of those good old actors - I love Casablanca- might watch it again over Christmas but without the bitches Happy Christmas.
ReplyDeleteAnd to you dear pat …what are your plans?
DeleteI don't know about other women who read this blog, but I am getting fed up with your "humorous" use of offensive words for women and their bodies when discussing your dogs.
ReplyDeleteOver the last couple of weeks we've had numerous "bitches", "lady parts" etc.
It's becoming misogynistic and weirdly sexual and when I now look back at your years of blog posts, I can see the same tone, although it has gotten worse recently.
You have a problem with women and possibly with sex, too.
Yes, you masquerade as their friend, confidant, counsellor, etc, but at the core is a distrust, disgust and disrespect for women.
No doubt your female followers - - do you call them "bitches" too, or obsess over their "lady parts", I wonder? - - will rush in to defend you.
You've made them into dependant victims.
I hope that you take this opportunity to reflect on this and perhaps take time to discuss your issues with women and sex with your counselling instructors.
Anon WOMEN
Anon, I suggest you contact the Kennel Club and try telling them that you find their classification of dogs i.e. dogs or bitches, unacceptable. Good Luck!
DeleteCould I politely suggest, if you're getting fed up with John's blog - don't read it! It's that simple.
DeleteI am not one tiny bit offended by John - in fact I find it all amusing .
DeleteAnon,
DeletePsychobabble at its best,
Me thinks you are enjoying the debate far too much.
Good job I didn’t repeat the “ vagina on the breadboard “ story
You would have needed some serious anger management reading that
https://disasterfilm.blogspot.com/2019/01/a-vagina-on-chopping-board.html
Now shall we return to Bogart?
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DeleteAnon, you're a moron! I say this with absolute certainty, as only a moron is unaware that a female dog is always called a bitch!
ReplyDeleteHave you not realised yet that it would be better to keep quiet and be thought an idiot, than to comment and prove that you are?
Never mind..ingrid Bergman did look divine in a frock
DeleteThere is some great music, play it again Sam,
ReplyDeleteI didn’t realise just how many other songs were in it
DeleteBogart hated Bergman.
ReplyDeleteReally I never knew that ? Why
DeleteBecause she developed a terrible crush on him, and he couldn't handle it. He left her strictly alone off screen, and was advised on screen to 'always make her come to him,' and you see that in the acting, especially in the reconciliation scene in his office.
DeleteForgot to add that Bogart owed his screen career to drop dead gorgeous English actor Leslie Howard. They had been in a stage play together, and when it was filmed Howard insisted Bogart be included in the cast, against studio wishes. Bogart was grateful evermore, and one of his children was given his name. Watch any of Howard's fab films, and continue to mourn his mysterious death during the war, his plane shot down by the Germans.
DeleteI was an old black and white movie lover as a child and watched all of them late into the night. But in my small town area, the tv stations never played Casablanca. I read references to it all the time and was absolutely desperate to see it. Finally once I moved to the city a local movie house ran it and I loved it, maybe just because of how long I had waited to see it. I also loved Bogart, though, so there is that.
ReplyDeleteNina
It’s a film , I think most of us know about , even if we haven’t seen it. And in film, it is often referenced with much affection and gravitas so over the years it’s become rather divine
DeleteI've only ever watched it once and at the time said 'never again'. Some films I will go back to and see why I didn't get on with them, but not this one.
ReplyDeleteI so get this
DeleteDude, Anon, seriously? Clearly John is a stalwart friend to many women in his life. And don’t you see the respect with which he recalls women colleagues who have guided and inspired him as a nurse?Way to strain the gnat. —elf
ReplyDeleteSay no. More it’s just another trouble causing tirade . Talk more about Casablanca
DeleteI like it OK, but I agree it's somewhat overrated. I'd have to watch it again to be any more specific -- it's been many years!
ReplyDeleteAs long as we're "fessing up" to not liking certain well-loved movies here, may I say that I dislike "It's A Wonderful Life" which is ubiquitous this time of year? Besides being somewhat depressing, it really ticks me off at the end where Mary is the one who saves George's ass but he gets all the credit. I know. I'm a heretic.
ReplyDeleteHiya, l don't really want to join in wading in the treacle that is 'anon' comments. But maybe time to use the button thing (internat savvy l am not, but you know what l mean) , which does not allow comments from unregistered commenters. Sorts out the wheat from the chaff, and as a dipper in and out of the JG Blog Fanclub, there seems to be an element of nasty malevolence creeping in and it is not nice! So 'do one' anon and just go have a good wash, ya smell bad from here babe!. Love to the crew and to my dear friend John, whom l have not had the pleasure of meeting in person yet. Tess x
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately Anon will registered and has registered several times Under various pseudonyms
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DeleteI feel the same way about Casablanca. Last night we watched ‘It’s a wonderful life’. It had the same problem. No chemistry and terrible unsubtle acting by James Stewart. I have no idea how it won so many Oscar’s. Curly club.
ReplyDeleteMy two favorite holiday movies are "The Bishop's Wife" (1947) with Cary Grant and Loretta Young, and "A Christmas Carol" (1984) starring George C. Scott with Frank Finlay as Marley. Both are superb.
DeleteThe Bishops wife is a corker
DeleteSorry but I like that film. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
ReplyDeleteI managed to make it to my 50's without watching Casablanca. When I did, I loved it - not for the unconvincing romance, but for the depiction of a melting pot of people thrown together in a time of crisis and muddling through the best way they can. I have never watched it a second time though.
ReplyDeleteCasablanca is 'okay' - one of those films lauded some years back and the accolades seem to have stuck. I much prefer 'The Big Sleep' - if I do have to spend a rainy Sunday evening in front of the box. I do like a good noir.
ReplyDeleteI find the story totally believable. Its a woman's nature.
ReplyDeleteI've only seen it once and that was some time in my mid-20s. Watched it at Christmas with my sister and her French husband and mother-in-law. It was also my sister's first time seeing it. I have to admit we spent a good deal of time giggling, if not outright laughing, at it. There were so many cultural references (way more than just "play it Sam" and "beautiful friendship" in my memory) that we hadn't realised stemmed from that film. I think the fact that her MiL seemed a bit disgusted with us finding something to laugh at made it all the funnier.
ReplyDelete