Unlike many classic movies about World War 2, "Casablanca" was made during the war. The film was released in 1942, just under a year after America entered the conflict, and is set a year earlier in the eponymous Moroccan city. Club owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) discovers that his old flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Heinrid), both Nazi resistance fighters, are in Casablanca and looking to escape to America.
The film shows Casablanca as a refugee hub, full of unique characters scattered to the winds by Nazi oppression of their homelands. Rick, the sole American in the cast, becomes an avatar of his country's role in the war; he's initially neutral but ultimately chooses the right side. Underlining this, the film is set mere days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which pushed America into the war.
"Casablanca" and its connection to contemporary events helped make it a hit.
The film shows Casablanca as a refugee hub, full of unique characters scattered to the winds by Nazi oppression of their homelands. Rick, the sole American in the cast, becomes an avatar of his country's role in the war; he's initially neutral but ultimately chooses the right side. Underlining this, the film is set mere days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which pushed America into the war.
"Casablanca" and its connection to contemporary events helped make it a hit.
- 9/4/2022
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
By the time of Humphrey Bogart's final film performance, in 1956's "The Harder They Fall," the movie star had fallen gravely ill. His years of smoking and drinking climaxed with what would become fatal esophageal cancer, which cast an unmissable pall on his performance. And yet, he still brings his star-making qualities: the toughness and bitterness, the anger and wry sarcasm.
Because "The Harder They Fall" is just one of many noir-era movies about the boxing underworld, it gets less respect than Bogart's many classics. He hadn't even wanted to be in the movie, focusing his remaining energy in vain on another movie with his wife Lauren Bacall, according to Stefan Kanfer's Bogart biography "Tough Without a Gun." He had many reasons for not being interested in the movie, but the cast was a big one.
"The Harder They Fall" is unromantic and cynical, with Bogart, reduced...
Because "The Harder They Fall" is just one of many noir-era movies about the boxing underworld, it gets less respect than Bogart's many classics. He hadn't even wanted to be in the movie, focusing his remaining energy in vain on another movie with his wife Lauren Bacall, according to Stefan Kanfer's Bogart biography "Tough Without a Gun." He had many reasons for not being interested in the movie, but the cast was a big one.
"The Harder They Fall" is unromantic and cynical, with Bogart, reduced...
- 9/4/2022
- by Anthony Crislip
- Slash Film
Looking back from the 21st century, it's hard to see Humphrey Bogart as anything less than a skilled, accomplished actor. With such a wide body of influential work, it's no surprise that Bogart has made a lasting impact and inspired the next generation of actors. But things didn't always look so good for the suave actor, especially when he was just starting out.
Despite the myriad of successes that Bogart would later experience on the big screen, the actor got his start on Broadway, working on plays like "Meet the Wife" and "Invitation to a Murder." Though he worked on a few films during this time, the majority of Bogart's early success came from stage work. However, the sudden onset of heavy debts would soon put the actor under considerable stress, significantly jeopardizing his career.
Bogart's father, Belmont Bogart, passed away in 1934, a very difficult situation under any circumstances. Unfortunately,...
Despite the myriad of successes that Bogart would later experience on the big screen, the actor got his start on Broadway, working on plays like "Meet the Wife" and "Invitation to a Murder." Though he worked on a few films during this time, the majority of Bogart's early success came from stage work. However, the sudden onset of heavy debts would soon put the actor under considerable stress, significantly jeopardizing his career.
Bogart's father, Belmont Bogart, passed away in 1934, a very difficult situation under any circumstances. Unfortunately,...
- 8/29/2022
- by Demetra Nikolakakis
- Slash Film
In the pantheon of great director-actor pairings, it is hard to match the six-film run of John Huston and Humphrey Bogart. The blustery filmmaker and his brutally handsome star confidently segued from the world-weary noir of "The Maltese Falcon" to the caustically funny misadventure of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and on to the rambunctiously romantic banter of "The African Queen." Over their first five films, Huston's style is refreshingly unfussy. He's not trying to knock the viewer out with bravura coups de cinema. Rather, he reads the emotion of his characters, and, if he's cast well, the camera always ends up in the right place, while every cut and transition flows mellifluously through to the final reel.
Huston made a lot of movies, and more than his share of stinkers, but he never misfired when collaborating with Bogie -- that is, until 1953, when they came together for the garishly cynical "Beat the Devil.
Huston made a lot of movies, and more than his share of stinkers, but he never misfired when collaborating with Bogie -- that is, until 1953, when they came together for the garishly cynical "Beat the Devil.
- 8/24/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
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