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Post by Vercetti on Feb 12, 2007 4:33:41 GMT
That can be applied to anybody. Christ. Kubrick comes to mind.
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Capo
Administrator
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Post by Capo on Apr 2, 2007 0:58:58 GMT
CasablancaMichael Curtiz 1942 USA An American cynic goes against his views to save an old love from the Nazis in war-time Morocco.
Curtiz was Hollywood's most prolific director during the 1930s and '40s, making films left, right and centre, regardless of budget and production value. Like his The Adventures of Robin Hood[/url] (1938), this has a sense of not being able to stop for one second, and it is a fine, succinct film which shows the director to be an incredibly effective storyteller: the opening voice-over establishes the boring if dangerous life of having to wait for visas in Casablanca, which then moves into something far more sophisticated; characters reveal much about themselves with a simple gesture or editing or camera technique. Examples: Ingrid Bergman walking into Bogey's café and recognising Sam, Sam recognising her, or, later in the film, a character fumbling about to check his pockets having just ran into a thief we met earlier. It helps that the writing is very witty, and the performances are all spot on: Claude Rains would steal the show, if the lead was anybody else but Humphrey Bogart, whose indifferent cynic-cum-born-again resistance fighter couldn't be any more obvious a justification of the USA entering the War.
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Post by Michael on Apr 2, 2007 1:05:50 GMT
I've tried liking this film, but it always comes off as too corny and melodramatic for me.
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Post by archer on May 12, 2008 8:10:21 GMT
Pretty stupid movie.
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Post by Mike Sullivan on May 12, 2008 21:32:17 GMT
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Post by Michael on May 12, 2008 23:15:08 GMT
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Post by Mike Sullivan on May 12, 2008 23:26:48 GMT
I read the past messages too.
It's really is a stupid comment. For sheer entertainment, this film is hard to beat. A perfect script with one of the greatest casts ever assembled including Bogart in his prime and Ingrid Bergman in her most alluring along with a supporting cast to die for. Cinematography by Arthur Edison is also wonderful, capturing the mystery and suspense in the story. Direction by Curtiz is lean with not a scene wasted and perfect pacing. The perfect fuckk you to the auteur theory.
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Post by Michael on May 12, 2008 23:58:27 GMT
It's cheesy, overdramatic and boring. How about that?
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Post by Mike Sullivan on May 13, 2008 3:55:15 GMT
What the fuck is exciting then? What would have made it an exciting film?
You don't have to regard it as a work of art or anything, but this film is definitely not over dramatic. It's actually very subdued when compared to a normal studio film from the 1930's or 1940's and kept at a perfect pace. Where's the overdramaticism? I understand it being perhaps a tad bit melodramatic, but this is one film that never enters overdramatic. And certainly not "cheesy". If it were cheesy, then Ilsa would have stayed with Rick regardless of logic and sense. This is a film that throws away the idea of being cheesy, saying that at times self-sacrifice is necessary.
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Post by Michael on May 13, 2008 4:31:23 GMT
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Post by Mike Sullivan on May 13, 2008 6:35:23 GMT
So, if Bogie strapped some TNT in his face at the airport and blown himself up, it would have been exciting?
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Capo
Administrator
Posts: 7,847
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Post by Capo on May 13, 2008 15:13:47 GMT
This is quite a silly argument.
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Post by svsg on Feb 5, 2009 16:56:12 GMT
What I liked the most about the movie was the nostalgia of a past romance in Paris (away from home) and a painful revival of memories of lost love and heartbreak, but in yet another unlikely location, Casablanca.... "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world".... And the chemistry between Bogey and Ingrid was great too. As such I find Bogart's "no nonsense man" persona and the associated clever humor a bit annoying, but he brings out the pain and bitterness of a lost opportunity well in his acting and Ingrid is just stunning. No major complaints with the movie.
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Post by arkadyrenko on Mar 2, 2009 22:36:45 GMT
CASABLANCA is a movie i can't bring myself to like it. I admire it, but i don't like it. It's undeniably a classic, and deservedly so, but frankly, i don't give a toss about it. I'm absolutly cold to it.
CITIZEN KANE, however, that's another matter entirely.
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Post by ronnierocketago on Mar 3, 2009 4:46:32 GMT
Weren't you the one who told me once of how during that french/Nazi sing-off, you despite being a proud social democrat wanted to root for the Nazis?
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Post by arkadyrenko on Mar 3, 2009 21:01:36 GMT
Well, what i said was that when the french and the germas do a context sing-a-long who's the patriotic daddy now scene, i felt the shits coming! I'm absolutly allergic to patriotic bullshit. Sure, i can understand the context, this movie was made during WWII, and this was a moral boost to their allies the French (yes, once upon a time, the americans liked the french... American Independence War, anybody?). But fuck, it's patriotic bullshit! It's a sad thing that wars, even agaisnt bastards like nazis, have to be fought for the sake of country and patriotism. As if there's no higher valours then that to chose from! And no, religion and God are not some of that!
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