Ingrid Bergman
CASABLANCA Review Pt.8 – Exception to the Auteur Theory?
Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman on the poster of Michael Curtiz's Casablanca CASABLANCA Review Part VII – Comparisons to Other Great Cinema Classics Film critic Andrew Sarris claimed that Casablanca was, "the most decisive exception to the auteur theory," but he was wrong — and wrong for several reasons. First, auteur theory generally applies toward films or filmmakers that are great, and while Casablanca has been claimed as great, no one has ever made that claim for Michael Curtiz. Thus, it's not an exception to the [...]
CASABLANCA Review Pt.7 – Comparisons to Other Great Cinema Classics
Dooley Wilson, Humphrey Bogart in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca CASABLANCA Review Part VI – Lack of Great Themes As I've shown, there are many flaws in Casablanca's narrative; among them the fact that it is melodrama — driven by plot, not character development. All the characters react to what the plot dictates; the plot does not organically flow from their personae. Now, before you claim, "But it's a war film," let me state: It's not, it's a romance set in war, but even were it a [...]
CASABLANCA Review Pt.5 – DVD: Lauren Bacall Documentary BACALL ON BOGART
Dooley Wilson, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca CASABLANCA Review Part IV – Ingrid Bergman The ending is good — Louie and Rick talk of leaving Casablanca after Louie covers for Rick's killing the Nazi Major Strasser — but there is nothing either actor does that lifts the scene above its own well-written basis. Then there is Strasser's portrayer, Conrad Veidt, an actor perhaps best known for his role in Robert Wiene's 1919 silent classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Simply put, is [...]
CASABLANCA Review Pt.4 – Ingrid Bergman
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 the way Victor is. The limits are Bogart's, not Rick's, and these limits provide the parameters for objectively measuring Bogart's [...]