Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
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Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
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Re: Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
#2Discussed at the time (of the article):
Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16844423 - April 2018 (16 comments)
Re: Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
#3One of the most common use-cases for a cinema camera is to point it at a beautiful woman... In this regard, "Casablanca" remains unsurpassed.
Re: Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
#4Fine article, though I would have liked to know more about the playwright than the director.
Re: Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
#5> “Casablanca is best described as cinematic magic that occurred accidentally on purpose,” writes [Alan K Rode, biographer of the director Michael Curtiz]
This is also the message of Umberto Eco's essay called "Casablanca, or, The Clichés are Having a Ball" — https://biblioklept.org/2013/05/26/casablanca-or-the-cliches...
> Casablanca brings with it, like a trail of perfume, other situations that the viewer brings to bear on it quite readily […] it probably made itself, if not actually against the will of its authors and actors, then at least beyond their control. And this is the reason it works…
Re: Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
#6I've seen Casablanca more times than A Beautiful Mind, and I worked on that movie.
My first viewings were indeed from the balcony of the Brattle Theatre, where one could get books of ten tickets cheap as a grad student. My last viewing was just before the pandemic, in the Stanford Theatre.
I vowed to let go of all inhibitions, and let the movie guide my emotions. That's how Casablanca deserves to be seen.
Re: Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
#7I had a film professor who told us that he thought Casablanca should be #1 on AFIs list of the best films. Citizen Kane is a masterpiece of cinematography, but otherwise I think it’s kind of weird. Casablanca is beautiful, complex, and approachable.
If you’ve never seen this film, give it a shot.
Re: Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
#8One of the most common use-cases for a cinema camera is to point it at a beautiful woman... In this regard, "Casablanca" remains unsurpassed.
Having recently rewatched it. I think the only thing I somewhat objected to was the use of gauze filters to soften the close-ups of Bergman as they felt jarring in relation to the other cinematography. It was popular at the time, but I feel like it has aged poorly. Other than that, what a movie it is. Looking forward to when I again (inevitably) watch it again.
Re: Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
#9A contrarian take on Casablanca from Cowen:
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/02/my...
Re: Playing it over and over again: how Casablanca was made (2018)
#10One of the most common use-cases for a cinema camera is to point it at a beautiful woman... In this regard, "Casablanca" remains unsurpassed.
Having recently rewatched it. I think the only thing I somewhat objected to was the use of gauze filters to soften the close-ups of Bergman as they felt jarring in relation to the other cinematography. It was popular at the time, but I feel like it has aged poorly. Other than that, what a movie it is. Looking forward to when I again (inevitably) watch it again.
I created this account to agree with you.
Casablanca is my favorite movies, and an absolute masterpiece of chance and time.
It is a film about world war 2 filmed during world war 2.
And as you noted, the use of gauze filters was very “of the time”, but it was always jarring to me as a kid and still is.
I grew up in a generation when those filters had been repurposed for signaling dream sequences.
I completely agree with your even tempered observation.