Unlike The African Queen which I saw for the first time a couple of weeks ago, I've seen Casablanca a number of times through the years. It's a movie that is infinitely watchable - scene by scene, line by line. It all adds up to a classic film experience in the truest and finest sense of the word. Casablanca is an icon, with a cast of who's who of Hollywood legends - Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Paul Heinreid.... it goes on and on. Bogart won his Academy Award for The African Queen. Was he better in that movie than Casablanca? Nope, not even close. Bogart's Rick is one of the great characters ever written or portrayed on film.
Is there a more lovely looking woman ever shown in the glow of black and white film than Ingrid Bergman? Again, no. Her soft flawless skin bathed in light and shadow highlights the best of what non-colorized films can offer to a viewer. Casablanca is the ultimate story of love and sacrifice, a movie that was considered a classic of its time and has only become more firmly entrenched now almost 75 years after it was released. If someone wants to call it the best movie ever, be my guest. It's somewhere in the top 5.
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