re: Casablanca

Well that's what I figured. Only somebody who hasn't seen very many would make a blanket statement that they are all overacted and all filmed the same way.


There were no different type of actors? All the legendary film director didn't have their own unique style? They all had the same cinematography and same visuals?


There's really no difference between say a Sam Fuller Noir and a Douglas Sirk Melodrama? Come on now.

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Well that's what I figured. Only somebody who hasn't seen very many would make a blanket statement that they are all overacted and all filmed the same way.

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Why don't you read what I wrote again. I didn't say all of them are over acted or shot in the same way did I?

I've made it a point to watch a lot of "classics" from the 30's, 40's and 50's. And most of them are shot in what is basically a 2 dimensional style, and the actors would be considered over acting by today's movie standards. It reminds me of watching a play. Also, the dialogue is much more like a play. Today's actors are much more in tune to their body language and subtlties and facial expressions.

I didn't mean it to be a blanket statement, but for the most part it is true.

One of my favorite exchanges in the movie:

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Yvonne: Where were you last night?
Rick: That's so long ago, I don't remember.
Yvonne: Will I see you tonight?
Rick: I never make plans that far ahead.

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I often try to use Rick's philosophy here, but real life never sets me up as perfectly as the movies...

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ames Cagney would blow any modern actor out of the water in that regard.

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The original movie poster for Casablanca shows rick with a gun, he never held a gun in the entire movie

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He did when he shot Major Strasser.

ETA: And when he had Louis fill out the letters of transit. He said "This gun is pointed right at your heart". Louis' response was "That's my least vulnerable place".

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Claude Rains is the man in that movie.

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On of my favorite characters/performances of all time.

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There is a degree of adjustment many must make to appreciate older films. I always remind people that many were filmed on budgets (even accounting inflation) that would be surpassed by modern indie productions. A great lot were filmed in weeks or minimal months. Number of takes, production values, and editing all were handicapped compared to today.

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Very true. Also remember that Casablanca was released in the midst of WW2. The movie was rushed into distribution to take advantage of the publicity of the Allies making headway in North Africa.

From an earlier post:

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I learned a long time ago not to look at older movies like a movie, but more like a play on a stage. Because for the most part, that is what they looked like up until the 60's or so. They are all filmed the same way, the actors over act like in theater, just like watching a play.

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That's not true for all pre 1960s movies. Look at films like Gone With the Wind and Wizard of Oz - I don't think those can be lumped into any type of generalization about movies made in that era. One thing to remember though is that many movies in the "classics" era were drawn from plays that had been done on the stage before being moved to film. Kazan's film version of Streetcar not only was drawn directly from the stageplay but starred actors who had performed in it on stage (Brandon, Malden and Hunter on Broadway; Leigh in London). Casablanca was also drawn from a play - it had never been staged, but at the heart it is a play moved to film.

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He refuses to watch a movie without female frontal nudity

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If he ever finds Ingrid Bergman's nude outtakes, let me know.

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He refuses to watch a movie without female frontal nudity

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Sounds like he has a porn addiction.