As Time Goes By

Art forms or cinema either go vintage wherein they loose their context or they go outdated when none cares anymore. But there always are exceptions. And that romantic classic by the name of Casablanca was an exception. It still is.

A timeless beauty, a man who defined and defied conventions, a nigger's voice which made everyone stop in their tracks, a gripping human tale woven around trade lands of morocco and the way Bogart looked into Ingrid Bergmann's eyes and said "Here is looking at you kid". Casablanca is all this and much more. Set in the backdrop of Nazi pervasion of Vichy's french settlements and eager migrants hoping against hope to cross over to safer lands, this eternally romantic movie is a viewer's delight. There has not been a better protrayal of love and lovers' desires torn apart by circumstances than this one. you live an entire lifetime sitting two and half hours through this masterpiece. you get lost in it. and when it ends you are still thinking about Illsa Lund's beautiful vulnerable smile or Rick blaine's terse manners, the only way he knew it.

Directed by Michael Curtiz in 1942 it starred Humphrey Bogart (what a man!) and Ingrid Bergmann( priceless beautiful pair of eyes) in the lead role of rick and Illsa Lund. Their onscreen chemistry started a cult back then which continues even today. They together defined "love" all over again. Their inner tussles and conflicts arising out of call for duty and their endless love for each other was finely printed all across. Rick looking at her, she walking unannounced into his gin joint, they going out for a drive, she promising him to return back never to fulfill that promise, Sam singing for them. All this had romance etched on. The last scene when Rick asks her to fly out with Laslow is painfully sweet. Even while she is drifting towards the plane, she is looking continuously at Bogart. Her eyes full of tear and him aware of the fact that he will never see her again. They keep moving away, she trying to hold on to him till everything gets lost in the mist. A purr of plane engine and Love of his life is gone. For ever. He is sad. But he does not show it. The conformist and rebel that he was in real life and onscreen, he hides his emotions well. He walks out with Captain Louis as if nothing happened. But he knows it from within that he has lost her and lost it all.

Claude Rains as captain Louis and Sydney Greenstreet as Ferrari were amazing. But my favourite show stealer was Dooley Wilson as Sam. I cant forget the way he sings for Bergmann when she comes to Rick's for the first time.

"...A kiss is still a kiss, A sigh is just a sigh.

The fundamental things apply, As time goes by..."

Bergmann almost on the verge of tears, seeing her long lost love. Her eyes meet Rick's and the world stops. Validating the fact that true love never ceases to breath full. And all this while, fully aware of what is happening around him, he plays non chalantly as if nothing happened. That was not acting. That was something real. And Dooley Wilson was unreal. Not more than ten minutes in all the frames cmbned together, he is etched in memories of Casablanca lovers forever.Like these people, everything abut movie was great without being grand. It was very basic, very simple but it touched you so many places. And you could watch it everytime you wanted to. The portrayal of human emotions, lovers' dilemma and uncertainties that surrounded those times will grip you. I would refrain from talking the finer details coz' there might be a few who are reading this blog right now and have been pure plain unlucky not to have watched this movie. And I dont want to be a culprit who steals this feeling of living Casablanca as long as you watch it.

All I can say about this movie is that things like this are rare. And artists like these coming together is rarer. Watch it or do it again to believe me. It is timeless and it does not grow old As time Goes By.