ISP Blog #2: Casablanca

Casablanca has been critically acclaimed as one of the best love movies ever made. As such, some of the strongest points of the script are the interactions between the characters. The conflict between Ilsa, Rick, and Victor is enhanced by strong, yet simple dialogue. None of the characters try to be too eloquent in their dialogue, and strangely enough for a love story, this seems to work in their favour. The dialogue is crisp and blunt, which also helps to set the mood for the screenplay, since it is set in a dark period of human history. Rick's developement as a character is especially strong. At the beginning of the screenplay, he is a cynical, pessimistic person who, in his own words, "sticks his neck out for nobody." Helping Victor and Ilsa escape, however, reawakens the Another strong point in the screenplay is its use of dialogue directions. This helps the actors set the scene and read the dialogue the way the screenwriters imagined it to be read. Without many of these dialogue directions, the screenplay might have been interpreted differently by the actors, which in turn might have lead to some scenes being rendered less effective.
One criticism that I have of Casablanca was that I would have like to have seen more conflict between Strasser and Victor. Near the beginning of the screenplay Strasser and Victor have a heated conversation about Czechoslovakia, which has been occupied by Nazi Germany. I expected more conflict between these two characters, yet suprisingly, they interact very little after their first meeting. It just seems like a missed opportunity, since the two characters naturally oppose each other. Despite my criticism, I still feel that Casablanca has more good literary qualities than bad ones. It is a very good model for the character development and interaction that I hope to have in my screenplay.