PowerPoint Presentation

Study GuideEMC / JOUR 3000Edward Bowen

Casablanca (1942)

Warner Brothers (Jack L Warner, Executive Producer)

Produced by Hal B. Wallis

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Screenplay by Julius and Philip Epstein, Howard Koch

From a play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison

Music Score by Max Steiner

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid , Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Dooley Wilson, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, S.Z. Sakall, Marcel Dalio

Est. Cost - $1,039,000; Est. Initial Gross - $3,700,000

Casablanca (1942)

Thus Casablanca is not just one film. It is many films, an anthology. [...] When all the archetypes burst in shamelessly, we reach Homeric depths. Two clichs make us laugh. A hundred clichs move us. For we sense dimly that the clichs are talking among themselves, and celebrating a reunion.Umberto Ecohttp://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_casablanca.html

The Technical DimensionProduced by Warner Bros. at the height of the Hollywood studio system, Casablanca embraced what is now known as "invisible style." Rather than dazzling the eye with eye-catching visuals and histrionic acting, it seduces the viewer by creating a seamless, lush universe that gradually envelops the audience. Hardly an effortless accomplishment, "invisible style" required an absolute mastery of the various cinematic elements by its collaborators, including Hungarian director Michael Curtiz (Mildred Pierce, 1945), director of photography Arthur Edeson (The Maltese Falcon, 1941), Art Director Carl Jules Weyl (The Big Sleep, 1946), composer Max Steiner (Gone With the Wind) and soon-to-be-director Don Siegel (Dirty Harry, 1972), whose dynamic opening montage invests the film with a sense of political urgency.Turner Classic Movies Websitehttp://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/316%7C0/Casablanca.htmlhttp://www.film-daily.com/2011/05/warner-brothers.html

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The Technical DimensionCasablanca is a prime example of the Invisible Technique of the Hollywood Studio System, in which camerawork and lighting and editing are meant to subtly support the story rather than being abrasive or even noticed. So unlike Soviet Montage (The Battleship Potemkin), the edits and transitions are meant to be smooth and seamless. Unlike German Expressionism (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Sunrise), the design and lighting are meant to reflect reality, be it a stylized reality, rather than be an expression of an artists view of the world.

http://youtu.be/3bNlSYc-ZJU

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The Technical DimensionCasablanca is a prime example of the Invisible Technique of the Hollywood Studio System, in which camerawork and lighting and editing are meant to subtly support the story rather than being abrasive or even noticed. So unlike Soviet Montage (The Battleship Potemkin), the edits and transitions are meant to be smooth and seamless. Unlike German Expressionism (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Sunrise), the design and lighting are meant to reflect reality, be it a stylized reality, rather than be an expression of an artists view of the world.

http://youtu.be/KDxLyS9H47U

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The Technical DimensionThe Studio System - Stock Actors and Contract Players

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The Technical DimensionThe production design of Casablanca has come to represent the aesthetics of romantic longing. Its smoky casino, fog-shrouded runway, trench coats, potted palms and gruff-voiced pianist repeatedly surface in contemporary films, commercials, television programs and even restaurant decor as respects are paid to this quintessential Hollywood classic.Turner Classic Movies Website

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The Technical DimensionColorized

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The Technical DimensionThe Hollywood Montage as Exposition

http://youtu.be/CiWnFqW5akw

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective

http://youtu.be/70NVg_neYSM

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective Sunrise (1927) F.W. Murnau

http://youtu.be/G_zhCx7C4qs

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective Sunrise (1927) F.W. Murnau

http://youtu.be/LGPnUPE-mfY

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) Mel Stuart

http://youtu.be/bkPBCKPqC5A

(7:40 in)

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1993) Christopher Guest

http://youtu.be/htWY43bEYA4

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001) Peter Jackson

http://youtu.be/RMJj1ZmgxQE

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001) Peter Jackson

http://youtu.be/jDlxpnRxDJs

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Michel Gondry

http://youtu.be/II0er7TmkS8

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective - The Ames Room

http://youtu.be/vhoSqSHMIAc

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The Technical DimensionMiniatures and Forced Perspective The Magic of the Movies

http://youtu.be/htWY43bEYA4

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The Dramatic DimensionMelodrama A dramatic work that exaggerates plot, crises, and characters in order to appeal to or manipulate the emotions, and often depends on stock characters or stereotypes for effect, as opposed to realistic conflict and emotions.

A drama involves primarily a conflict of values within a man (as expressed in action); a melodrama involves only a conflict of man with other men.Ayn Rand

http://tinyurl.com/7gd6pjk

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The Dramatic DimensionExposition Setting the Stage http://youtu.be/ActId7BvIcw

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The Dramatic DimensionExposition Introductionshttp://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/475526/Casablanca-Movie-Clip-Letters-Of-Transit.html

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The Dramatic DimensionThe Flashback

http://youtu.be/xB_jKu6qWM8

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The Dramatic DimensionThe Flashback

http://youtu.be/iq7vZTO81Ro

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The Dramatic DimensionThe Flashback The Pawnbroker (1964) Sidney Lumet

http://youtu.be/OLtnOGTdLO4

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The Dramatic DimensionThe Flashback Jaws (1975) Stephen Spielberg

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The Dramatic DimensionThe Flashback Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) John Irvin

http://youtu.be/ezLTOK6dYPM

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The Dramatic DimensionThe Flashback Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) Tomas Alfredson

http://youtu.be/KfU7M3RU63I

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The Dramatic DimensionThe Flashback Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) Tomas Alfredson

http://youtu.be/bjoifOdIn_M

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The Dramatic DimensionThe Hollywood Montage as Exposition

http://youtu.be/CiWnFqW5akw

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The Dramatic DimensionThe Reluctant Hero

The hero may refuse the adventure or deny the ability to move beyond the status quo. The heralded event may even be ignored All of these constitute the Refusal of the Call.The use of magical intervention is then needed to plunge the hero into the unknown. The reluctant hero requires supernatural forces to urge him on, while the willing adventurer gathers amulets (magical items) and advice from the protector as aid for the journeyThe reluctant hero loses all desire to abandon his bliss, he does not want to take on the burdens of the world. Someone or thing may facilitate his miraculous return from apparent death. An overriding reason is necessary to bring the hero back to the world to save it.Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces

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The Dramatic DimensionFortuitous Circumstance and Coincidence

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The Dramatic DimensionDramatic Ellipses

http://youtu.be/diGOGZ2PYNE

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The Dramatic DimensionA May 21, 1942 letter from Joseph I. Breen, director of the Production Code Administration, to Warner Bros. executive Jack Warner objects to the portrayal of "Renault's" practice of seducing women in exchange for exit visas. The PCA also objected to the "suggestion that Ilsa was married all the time she was having her love affair with Rick in Paris." Later, Breen warned that the script should not imply that "Ilsa" slept with "Rick" when she comes to beg for the letters of transit.

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The Socio/Historical DimensionSamClassified X (1998) Mark Daniels, with Melvin Van Peebles

http://youtu.be/IXLKwXq6G98

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The Historical DimensionVichy

Germany occupied France from 1940 to 1944. The spa and resort town of Vichy, famous for its water, was the de facto capital of the collaborationist government.

The audience of 1943 knew the man pictured here. He was Marshal Henri Petain, the pro-German dictator of France, and Capt. Renauld's ultimate boss.http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/casablanca/bmp_report_casablanca.cfmhttp://www.riebel-roque.com/cas.html

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The Historical DimensionVichy

Morocco was a protectorate (colony) of France. The Nazi regime never occupied Morocco, but rather controlled the Vichy French who did.http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/casablanca/bmp_report_casablanca.cfmhttp://www.riebel-roque.com/cas.html

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The Historical DimensionPropaganda

Irene Lee, Warner Brothers West Coast Story Editor, submitted the script to producer Hal Wallis four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Warner Brothers ordered a hasty rewrite of "Across the Pacific" which involved a Japanese plot to blow up Pearl Harbor, changing the setting to the Panama Canal.

Hollywood had a history of supporting and being supported by Roosevelt and his administration.

The Warner Brothers had bucked the other studios, hesitant to alienate foreign markets, by releasing Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939.

In September of 1941, isolationist members of the U.S. Senate, calling Hollywood a raging volcano of war fever, launched an investigation into whether studio executives, many of whom were Jewish, were inserting interventionist messages into popular movies.http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/casablanca/bmp_report_casablanca.cfmhttp://www.riebel-roque.com/cas.html

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The Historical DimensionPropaganda

How does Casablanca act as propaganda during the U.S. involvement during World War II?

Is Rick Blaine, at first hesitant to get involved, eventually pushed to take action, a metaphor for the U.S. and its hesitation at the outset of World War !!?

Made in 1942 and released not long after the United States had seriously committed itself to fighting in World War II, the classic film Casablanca provides insight into popular attitudes early in the war. In addition, it lays out some of the arguments for U.S. involvement, tracing the transformation of U.S. policy from neutrality to non-belligerency to involvement. The character of Richard "Rick" Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, provided a heroic analogy for the historical process of U.S. involvement in the war

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/casablanca/bmp_report_casablanca.cfmhttp://www.riebel-roque.com/cas.html

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The Historical DimensionThe film premiered in New York City in November 1942, in what was called a pre-release engagement. This showing was rushed to theaters to capitalize on the recent events in North Africa, specifically the invasion of American troops into the real Casablanca.

It opened on Thanksgiving Day, following a parade up Fifth Avenue of Free French leaders, when the Free French flag was unfurled for the first time in the United States since the fall of Vichy.

Because this kind of free publicity happens only once in a blue moon, Warner Bros. rushed Casablanca to just one theater in New York. But it was not seen by the rest of the country until early 1943, including Los Angeles.

As luck would have it, the national release coincided with another Casablanca event, a summit meeting between President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin.

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The Historical DimensionPerhaps the greatest praise came from London, where General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French forces, requested a print of Casablanca for a special showing to his staff.

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Carrotblanca (1995) Douglas McCarthy http://youtu.be/CgsS-PKENM8

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Caboblanco (1980) J. Lee Thompsonhttp://youtu.be/9yjRgXGLCxU

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Barb Wire (1996) David Hoganhttp://youtu.be/eFs_YLy3Ld8

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The Good German (2006) Steven Soderbergh

http://youtu.be/0O6YPAv1Hx8

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Casablanca With Bunnies Angry Alien Productions

http://youtu.be/r2V-byGJV78

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