Claude Rains Articles

Turner Classic Movies' look at Arabs in Hollywood movies continues this evening with six movies. Why exactly Gabriel Pascal's film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) is one of the six, I don't know. Caesar was a Roman-born emperor; Cleopatra, a descendant of Greek royalty, was an Egyptian queen long before the Arab conquest of Egypt. Now, I may be puzzled about [...]

Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca CASABLANCA Review Part V – DVD: Lauren Bacall Documentary BACALL ON BOGART Now, the biggest mistake that prevents Casablanca from reaching greatness is its lack of great themes. There is nothing in the film that is so overwhelmingly majestic, technically or performance-wise, that can put it in a class with many of the other highly praised motion [...]

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca CASABLANCA Review Part III – Humphrey Bogart Now, compare scenes where Humphrey Bogart tries to act with his eyes the way Paul Henreid does, and one notices Bogart's utter limitations — he could do cynicism well, and pain ok (aided by a drink in hand), but that's about it. This is not because Rick is constricted emotionally [...]

Paul Henreid, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Humphrey Bogart in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca CASABLANCA Review Part I Once again, this is not to say that the Casablanca screenplay — credited to Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch — lacks charm; the comic scenes in the film, such as those involving the pickpocket, are good, but compare them with the deeper and blacker humor [...]