Casablanca

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

As discussed in class, Casablanca was known as "near perfect entertainment balance of comedy, romance and suspense."  In AFI's list of Top 100 Films of All Time, Casablanca came in 3rd place following Citizen Kane and the Godfather.  The story of Casablanca was originally based upon the unproductive play called Everyone Comes to Rick's. Not only was the film so successfully throughout the years the actors showed their true talent. The two lead roles of this love story, Bogart and Bergman both are on the top 5 list of AFI's Actors list. Bogart and Bergman were amazing actors in this film and truly expressed their emotions and thoughts on the camera. Some of the themes that the actors expressed were the lose of love and trying to save romance within a chaotic world. Other themes displayed was people's honor and self-sacrifice in a war. 

This film also was known for having a great amount of memorable lines that other film writers liked to use in other films to come. For example, "here's looking at you kid," "round up the usual suspects" and "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship." Even if you have never seen Casablanca, these lines were most likely used in films you have seen in todays society. 

2)  Find a related article and summarize the content.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-casablanca-1942

Roger Ebert discussed in his review of Casablanca that even though Warner Bros. definitely had an "A List" cast no one really thought that it was going to be as great as it really ended up being. The director of the film did not even know how the film was going to end; none of the actors did either until the end. For two characters who showed like they had a great amount of chemistry, Bergman and Bogart's characters do not end up together. In the end, Rick shows himself as a selfless person. Just like the theme he sacrifices his love for the great good. 


3) Apply the article to the film screened in class. How did the article support or change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?

After reading this article, it gives the reader a better understanding of not only the film but of the true characters of each character. The theme would have changed if Rick did not let Ilsa step on to that plane in the last scene. He became a hero that night by letting his lover go once again. 

For two characters who did not really know each other off the screen, the chemistry they both shared onscreen was amazing. They were an amazing couple that showed their true love for each other by making sacrifices. 

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including  your personal opinion, formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article. 

For the beginning to the end, Casablanca was an amazing film that really showed all their themes. The general plot of the theme has been used many times in different American films as well as the quotes that were read in the film. The director and writers of the film really made such a classic film without having to put that much effort in; since no one really thought it was gonna be an amazing film anyways. For a film with such a limited budget and for not really knowing how the movie even ended, the director made a great choice by having the "unhappy" ending. Even unhappy endings make the best film.

 Checklist for Plagiarism  

(x) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

(x) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes,

 I clearly explain that in the paper.

(x) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words,

 or used indentation and citation within the text.

(x) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited 

in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

(x) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

(x) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be 

stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

(x) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper 

lacks interpretation or originality.

(x) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully 

transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.

Colleen McGovern
November 27, 2013