The art in film history: They had a date with fate

Most girls would say “The Notebook” is the greatest romance movie of all time, but I disagree. Yes, I will never miss the chance to see Ryan Gosling, but it just wasn’t my idea of romance.

Before you stop reading, picture a movie about World War II set in a bar where both sides of the war are drinking together, simply tolerating each other’s presence and discussing undercover deals. Now add an award-winning romance and you’ve got yourself a movie for date night.

Michael Curtiz’s “Casablanca,” produced in 1943, was a film filled with war and romance during WWII.

“Casablanca” is a film about a man named Rick and all the events that happen at his bar/casino, Rick’s Cafe Americain in Casablanca, Morocco. Rick, played by the famous Humphrey Bogart, arrived in Casablanca after being stood up at a train station in Paris by Ilsa, Rick’s lover, played by Ingrid Bergman.

Before Ilsa was to meet Rick she found out her husband, presumed dead in the war, was alive and she was forced to act as if nothing happened. The film is set years later as the two are reunited at the cafe. Sounds like a gripping romance, right?

I won’t give away the ending of the film but let’s just say it’s not the usual romantic ending where they grow old together. Rather, it pulls at the heartstrings in a whole new way, using war as a key factor.

What caught my attention in the film was the tension, which Curtiz does a great job of creating in Rick’s Cafe. In WWII, Casablanca served as a mutual ground, though it was never civil. In the film this is evident, but Rick’s had an unspoken rule that the war was left at the door.

Can you imagine that? A place where the politics of a harsh — to put it mildly — war were left at the door? Now, it doesn’t always turn out civil, but that is what makes it so realistic.

Because it was filmed during a time of war, the film encountered certain restrictions. The main one occurred when they wanted to film at an airport at night but had to come to a halt due to security reasons. Curtiz, instead, used a sound stage and a cardboard cutout of an airplane.
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To make it look like a real plane, he hired little people to put the shots in perspective, a technique that became popular and is still used today.

“Casablanca” is on the top 100 classic movies of all time because of its success. It won an Academy Award for Best Picture and many of the quotes from the film including, “Here’s looking at you, kid,” have been named as some of the top quotes of all time by the American Film Institute.

This movie is one of the best romantic/war movies I have ever seen. The drama and reality it brings makes for an intense and more believable story line, one I believe almost anyone can enjoy.