As Time Goes By: Seeing Casablanca On The Big Screen

Casablanca or Citizen Kane?

That’s the great debate among film geeks and historians. Which film is truly the greatest? Each film has it’s own specific merits. Citizen Kane was a game changer for the art of filmmaking. Throughout it’s 2 hour run time Orson Welles broke so many rules and developed countless camera techniques that are still utilized damn near 80 years later. However for me the vote always goes to Casablanca. Today I got to see it on the big screen in a sold out theater. My vote remains the same.

I’m not going waste too much energy discussing why this movie is a masterpiece or why you should see it. The fact is the movie is 75 years old this month and you’re either (a) a film geek and have made it a point to see this film or (b) you haven’t seen it yet and thus probably never will see it.

What I will say is this, Casablanca is the kind of film that exemplifies every great element of the Golden Age of Cinema. You have an incredible cast putting in top notch performances, a script that balances drama, romance and comedy in a beautiful mixture and captivating sets and camera work.

Seeing it with an audience only makes the strengths even clearer. Every joke lands, the rapid fire dialogue is still insanely fresh and the ending of the film is still as powerful and uplifting (while heartbreaking at the same time) as it was in 1942. There will be another screening of Casablanca through Fathom Events on Wednesday November 15th. If you can get to a theater to see this masterpiece, it is worth the two hours of your time. I’m genuinely consider going again.