How do you describe the best movie ever made? Sure it's easy to explain what makes the worst movie bad or the saddest film sad, but how can a person tell another person the sheer power of the ultimate film.
The answer is simple: you can't.
But I'll try.
Made in 1942 from Warner Bros. Pictures and director Michael Curtiz, Casablanca taking it's place among the elite films of Hollywood(or anything) was an accident. For the odds were against them in numerous ways. The cast couldn't be assembled, the sets were short of spectacular, and the film was shot with a script being finished as they went; but despite all of the meant-to-be textbook failings, the power of Casablanca still could not be dulled.
The casting was perfect: leading man Humphrey Bogart in the prime of his career, Ingrid Bergman perfect as always in every way, Claud Rains still everpresent in almost every timeless classic film, and Paul Henried sealing the deal. Their collective delivery of the most quotable ( directly from the film, from pop-culture and just adopted everyday phrases) script ever written could not have been more flawless if the film was retouched by airbrushers. But the true heart of what makes Casablanca what it is, is the story.
It takes place in the town of Casablanca where people trying to escape the horrors of the Nazis during the Second World War, wait as if in limbo, to see if they can earn an exit visa or any other means to somehow travel to Lisbon and then the United States. Amidst all of this is Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, a man who owns the most popular cafe in Casablanca, and the shaking up of his life quite symbollically reflected by the consequent state of the world, when the love of his life, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) returns with her husband, a freedom fighter Victor Lazlo (Paul Henried) who is the target of every pair of German eyes in Casablanca. The story of war, love, loss and friendship is not only immortalized by the Nazi-era surroundings but by just that: it's a story of war, love, loss and friendship-human emotion that will never grow obsolete.
Sixty-seven years after it's release Casablanca is still as fresh as it was post-release and continues to be that way upon every viewing.
Despite efforts to explain and convince it is impossible to make one understand why Casablanca is the masterpiece of all masterpieces, without viewing it yourself. Still, in all honesty never has there been another film that moves you, in every way, the way that it does. Watching it you are back in the War, in times of extreme peril and chaos, and never will there be another beautiful friendship like that between Casablanca and film history because it will forever be perfect--no matter how much time goes by.
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