As one of the screenwriters put it, this is corny as hell but when corn works it works like nothing else and few movies work as well as Casablanca with its magical combination of war, romance, honour, comedy, Warner Bros handling, Hollywood's greatest line up of character actors, music, third world backlot recreation and stars.
I've seen this many times - the most recent in 2013, when I was struck by several new things. It's a surprising tribute to France - France, which, as exemplified by Claude Rains' Rene and Madeleine LeBeau's Yvonne, is corrupt, egotistical, lecherous, whorish... but which ultimately comes through in the end: Yvonne sings the Marseilles in what remains probably my favourite film scene of all time, and Rains helps Bogie/Rick get away at the finale, one of the greatest endings of all time.
It's very adult. Rick is clearly sleeping with Yvonne, and had a sexual relationship with Ilsa, Rene sleeps with women in exchange for visas, roulette wheels are rigged, people are shot without trial, the police are corrupt, America are isolationists, life is rough for refugees.
It also has one of the best casts you can think of. Everyone knows Bogart was a perfect Rick - tough, bitter, brave romantic (others could have played the role - Alan Ladd did okay on radio - but no one as effectively), and that Berman was stunningly beautiful (who else could make adultery seem so innocent), and Claude Rains astonishing, and Paul Henreid wasn't up any of them but had a handsome dull presence and was effective; the skill of Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet and Dooley Wilson is also well known. But the depth of it continues to astound - Curt Bois as a pickpocket, Leonid Kinskey as a happy go lucky barman, Dan Seymour as the doorman, Joy Page as a young Bulgarian woman (her scene with Bogie made me tear up... I can't believe she didn't have more of a career) and Helmut Dantine as her husband; LeBeau as the touching Yvonne; John Qualen as a resistance contact; the cute old couple excited about going to America. Many of the cast were real life refugees giving this incredible verisimilitude.
I will nitpick for the sheer hell of it - it made me laugh that Rick puts the transit visas in the piano in full view of his entire cafe, the choreography of what happened in the cafe sometimes got plain darn confusing and Bergman's character is, to be frank, a ninny (she's required to be for plot purposes admittedly, so Rick can make the big sacrifice).
But it all works - the story, cast, setting, themes, atmosphere. And so much of it is magical: Page asking Bogart is she should sleep with Rains, the Marseilles, the surprise when Rains saves Bogart at the end, walking off into the sunset.
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