Casablanca's Casablanca

On every greatest movies hit list, it is hard to get past number five without seeing Casablanca somewhere in there. Many of us born after the Korean War ask why is this movie so great? It does not have any special effects, there was no one scene that is extremely highly regarded, and the plot of a love triangle is one that has been done numerous times even previous to Casablanca. The answer is simple; Casablanca is everything that a movie should be. The plot was extremely well executed. The main character, Rick was given a background even before he was introduced which allowed the audience some insight to what the character had achieved. It also explained the significance of Casablanca in the war and why people had fled there. Within the
The camera often looked up at Rick, showing him as an empowering figure. This was made even more impressive by the fact that when standing next to someone else, Rick looked around 5'5. The camera also zoomed in on the conversations and especially arguments between people and looked at them from a head on angle which gave the viewer a feeling of closeness within the story. Some of the shots were also amazingly coordinated with the music to the movie, which added a lot of effect. A scene that jumps out is when Rick is in his office and he sees Ilsa come in the window. The music jumps as the camera zooms in on Ilsa. It gives the audience the same feeling of surprise that was trying to be portrayed with Rick. The camera also used fades to show a flashback coming. This made it clear to the viewer what was going on, which is often an issue in other movies, even today. The camera also used things happening in the background to fade to a new scene. This happened in a scene in the bar when Rick was smoking a cigarette and the camera used the smoke to fade to a flashback. The use of shots gave the movie a sense of dramatic effect that would not have been there with the basic