Post by marianne48 on Mar 26, 2020 15:44:12 GMT
Max Steiner's scores can sometimes be hard to take. Bette Davis complained about his score for Now, Voyager, saying it was obtrusive, and I have to agree--listening to those whining violins throughout that movie, especially when they nearly drown out the dialogue, can be irritating.
As for Casablanca, I remember seeing it for the first time as a kid after hearing that it was one of the greatest movies ever. My first viewing left me thinking it was just okay, but the beauty of this film was that it got better and better with age (mine) and I was able to see something new in it with each viewing. It's been my favorite movie for decades. The singing of "La Marseillaise" gets me teary-eyed every single time.
The movie shows the sophistication of audiences back then--they didn't have to have everything spelled out for them.
When Rick mentions the guy "playing a tinny piano in the parlor" while Ilsa tells her "Mister, I met a man" tale, audiences knew what he was talking about--nowadays, he would simply call her a whore to her face. I remember reading an article in the 1980s that asked coyly, "Did Rick and Ilsa 'do it'?" Well, yeah, the fade-out after Ilsa comes to Rick's apartment was automatically understood by 1940s audiences to be the signal for sex; a more modern film might find it necessary to include Rick and Ilsa peeling off their clothes for a soft-focus sex scene. Roger Ebert complained that Henreid was too wooden in the scene at the airport when Rick announces that Ilsa came to his apartment and tried "everything she could" to get the letters of transit. Henreid doesn't react more strongly because he's not naive--he's pretty much sensed everything that's happened between Ilsa and Rick from the start, and he's man enough to accept and forgive. Rick's remark to Annina about paying a visit to Renault's office/love shack and bringing her husband along--"Captain Renault's getting broad-minded!" is a line I missed countless times before I noticed it as the risque joke it was.
As for Casablanca, I remember seeing it for the first time as a kid after hearing that it was one of the greatest movies ever. My first viewing left me thinking it was just okay, but the beauty of this film was that it got better and better with age (mine) and I was able to see something new in it with each viewing. It's been my favorite movie for decades. The singing of "La Marseillaise" gets me teary-eyed every single time.
The movie shows the sophistication of audiences back then--they didn't have to have everything spelled out for them.
When Rick mentions the guy "playing a tinny piano in the parlor" while Ilsa tells her "Mister, I met a man" tale, audiences knew what he was talking about--nowadays, he would simply call her a whore to her face. I remember reading an article in the 1980s that asked coyly, "Did Rick and Ilsa 'do it'?" Well, yeah, the fade-out after Ilsa comes to Rick's apartment was automatically understood by 1940s audiences to be the signal for sex; a more modern film might find it necessary to include Rick and Ilsa peeling off their clothes for a soft-focus sex scene. Roger Ebert complained that Henreid was too wooden in the scene at the airport when Rick announces that Ilsa came to his apartment and tried "everything she could" to get the letters of transit. Henreid doesn't react more strongly because he's not naive--he's pretty much sensed everything that's happened between Ilsa and Rick from the start, and he's man enough to accept and forgive. Rick's remark to Annina about paying a visit to Renault's office/love shack and bringing her husband along--"Captain Renault's getting broad-minded!" is a line I missed countless times before I noticed it as the risque joke it was.