“Here’s looking at you kid.”

            Kim and Cary’s Movies Revisited is finally back. Our apologies if you have missed us. The line above is one of MANY famous taglines in this film.

            I (Cary) want to work back through some older classic movies, but I don’t think Kim does. The black-and-white format is not enticing to my dear wife. That said, she was a trooper and stayed awake throughout the film. She noted early on, “I don’t think I’ve ever watched it.”

            If you go to your local or nearby multiplex, you are going to see many more action films than dramas. Why? Simple. Money. They and the movie studios make more from Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 47 than my two favorite films of his,Born on the Fourth of July and Collateral. I am only half joking when I said that today, Casablanca might go direct to streaming or debut on Netflix, Apple, or the like.

            The American Film Institute ranks this film either second or third on its list of the greatest American movies of all time. That alone should be enough to pique your curiosity. It is set in December of 1941, starts slowly, and did I say it’s in black and white? No cars blow up, there are few guns, and it’s going to make you think. Sorry.

            Casablanca is a city in northwest Africa. World War II is in its third year in Europe, and the city has become a haven for many European refugees trying to escape to the Americas. That is explained in the 1940s-style introduction if you put your phone down, sarcasm emphasized. Because the world is at war, you just cannot travel wherever you want; you need the appropriate papers. They are more valuable than gold or diamonds.

            Many of the scenes are set in Rick’s Cafe American, a nightclub owned by a mysterious Yankee named Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart in a white tuxedo jacket. We enter the establishment with Sam singing It Had to Be You while playing piano. Kim interjects, “Is this the one with ‘Play it Again Sam?” Yes dear. Bogart NEVER said that in the film, though. Two other “Bogey” anecdotes. First, he was a badass leading man but was only 5’8 wearing lifts in his shoes. Camera angles are often shot upwards, so he appeared taller. Secondly, he often smokes throughout the film. In 1957, he died at the age of just fifty-seven of esophageal cancer.

            Peter Lorre, who has a very distinct voice, plays Ugrate, but not for long. Claude Rains is Captain Louis Renault, a captain who calls his city “Unoccupied France,” even when greeting menacing German Major Strasser, who arrives by plane. Finally, a (freedom fighter?) named Victor Lazlo arrives with Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) on his arm. The term “she’s hot” may have originated when someone saw her on screen. Lazlo has escaped from a concentration camp, and he wants out of town more than anyone. Strasser would love to capture him, but only under the right circumstances.

            Ilsa recognizes Sam from Paris; they go way back. She asks him to play a song, and he plays dumb, feigning ignorance. She does say “Play it Sam,” and we get As Time Goes By. Hearing it from another room, Rick barges into the bar. His eyes meet Ilsa’s. They have a history. Is it a love story? Find out. Kim remembered, “I think you tried to get me to watch this before.” I did.

            There are scenes of them as a couple, a couple of years earlier, in love. The part where they are in a car with a movie background behind is terrible special effects, even for back then.

            The longer these reviews get, the more likely I am to have a Spoiler Alert, even for a movie eight decades old. Cryptic “Letters of Transit” are about, but no one can discover who possesses them. We know.

            If Kim made it through this that should be reason enough to check it out. This movie is great, if you love terrific acting, old school, a steadily developing plot and a very surprising ending. If not, “We’ll always have Paris.”