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“Play La Marseillaise. Play it!”
A few weeks ago, I was arguing with a friend about a movie. I was strongly in favor; she was apathetic, to say the least.
Some of you, like my friend, may not be fans. It’s possible you are offended by the many continuity gaffes. Perhaps you can’t get past the clunky, rather claustrophobic, sets. Maybe you’ve never liked Bogart, even in The African Queen. (Gosh. I hope that’s not it. Really.) Possibly, you can’t abide the fact that they used ¾-scale cardboard airplane models in the final airport scene and that they hired a gaggle of midgets in overalls to run around on the tarmac, to make the planes look bigger.
Or perhaps you consider yourself a fashion maven, and you simply despise that absurd flying-saucer hat thing that Ingrid Bergman wears on her visit to the market.
I forgive it all. And more.
Casablanca is my favorite movie of all time.
And it sports the only scene, in the entire world of moviedom, that makes me cry every single time I watch it (probably at least fifty times and counting).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTsg9i6lvqU
There’s no kissing. There are no promises of eternal love in the face of impending death. There’s no sex. There’s no violence. There’s no real action of any sort.
There’s hardly even any dialog. As with much good acting, most of it is done with the eyes.
And so we see first, Captain Renault’s knowing glance up to the balcony where Victor Lazlo stands, outraged, and where Rick is realizing, for the first time I think, that his days as a bystander in this particular fight are over. And as Lazlo stalks down the stairs and over to the musicians and orders them to strike up La Marseillaise in opposition to the Nazis singing of Die Wacht Am Rhein, and Rick permits it, we see Ilsa’s beautiful and troubled face, etched with worry, fear, and pride, as she contemplates the two men she loves in such very different ways.
Yes. It makes me sob every time.
Because, for me, in the simplest way, and without any special effects or action heroes, it’s the story of one man who understands the consequences, because he’s already lived them, standing up for what he believes in, against the odds and in the face of evil.
And, for the people he touches, he changes everything.
Paul Henreid, who played Victor Lazlo in Casablanca, died 25 years ago today, on March 29, 1992.
Published in General
Yeah, great movie and all, but it galls me that this movie and De Gaulle perpetuated the myth that the French were not on the other side during the war.
Let’s see:
As such, I really like the gist of the story, and Ingrid Bergman is a such a babe, but I really wish a more admirable people than the French were used to tell the story.
Who would you have suggested?
The Poles, the Danes, the Norwegians. None of them were perfect, of course, but the actions of the governments were a lot more noble than that of the French. That being said, the French people are not to blame (entirely) for the perfidiousness of their government.
Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.
Watched it, and I did cry! ( Despite all the disillusioning information I now know after reading the comments here, about how it was created. )
Now, see, THIS is what a national anthem is for!
Take heed, Frenchmen who now object to singing about an impure blood watering their fields, and Americans who object to singing about the rockets’ red glare.
In our country, some actually feel,that the soporific “America the Beautiful” should replace “The Star Spangled Banner”, I think because the former’s lyrics are full of self-chastisement: “May God thy gold refine”, “God mend thine every flaw”, etc.
well, that’s fine before a football game, but
you’re NOT gonna make a buncha Nazis sit down and shut up with that kinda twaddle!
I wonder, would the American Left be happier with these lyrics, to the same tune:
“O-oh, we’re not so great,
But we still need a song
To sing before games
O-of football and hockey.
So we’ll keep the same tune,
But we’re changing the words
‘Cause we don’t want to sound
Too aggressive and cocky!”
My favorite verse is the second:
Well, to be fair, both Napoleons were not exactly pro-Republic, were they? And what about the French Revolutionary wars before Nap I became so prominent? No, I see your interesting point, but I don’t think we should dis La Marseillaise!
I KNOW, right?! The minatory, finger-wagging tone of this poet just isn’t what you want to spur on troops fighting for national self-preservation! “Don’t get cocky”, that’s her message. She must be the schoolmarm in these parts…
Um, yuh! The Nazis put ’em in that rôle, after all! I’m familiar with the history @skyler is referencing: La Résistance was pretty tiny. (I read that DeGaulle’s greatest achievement was to give France back her self-esteem, convince the French that they had ALL acted as heroes! ) And I know, I know: the French Revolutionary Wars were followed by a period of reaction and oppression–still, you can’t discount the fact that 1789, and the heroic nationwide effort in support of the volunteers in 1792 truly changed the world: thrones toppled, altars desecrated. Le jour de gloire, indeed!
Thank God my ancestors bailed in the 1660s. Vive les Québécois!
They pretty much always lose. In the Hundred Years’ War their king was captured and held for ransom. After nearly bankrupting the treasury for many years the ransom was paid and the king resumed the throne, only to up and leave to live in England again. They only won when Napoleon was around, except he eventually lost — and he wasn’t French. He was Corsican. In WWI they refused to teach the army defensive tactics. In the run up to WWII they decided to rely solely on fixed defensive positions. Militarily they are millennial fools. They are really only successful in keeping serfs under the heel, colonies subjugated, and posturing.
My favorite movie, and I maintain, a Man’s movie. Magic happened to make it, all the bits came together. I have a whole essay on it in the back of my head, I keep meaning to make a post out of.
My favorite scene is when Rick has poured out his hurt, in anger and hate, and that was not how he wanted that meeting to go. Ilsa storms off, and Rick buries his face in his hands. Vunerable, hurt, alone. Strong emotions from an actor who played strong men. And yet, here he is, weakened, sad, and bereft. A full, real man.
Have you read Willa Cather’s Shadows on the Rock? Great book, required reading in Toad Hall’s Edith Stein Academy Ninth Grade American history and literature. (I like to make students compare’n’contrast this deeply beautiful book and its treatment of sin and brokenness with the twisted and deeply wrong Scarlet Letter.
Haven’t read it, but that book’s now on my list!
Thanks for this. I was, I admit, surprised that so many of the comments, especially the early ones, came from guys. I’ve always thought of it as a girl’s movie (probably because I are one–surprise!) but this makes much sense.
Please write your post.
She, I must say I’ve been thinking about Ilse’s huge hat since earlier this month when I saw the movie with family. My thought was how ridiculous it would be to be fleeing across Nazi Europe with quite so many hat boxes and trunks!
I do not think la Marsilliaise is a better anthem than ours.
It is possible to be inspiring without talking about defending yourself from your throat being cut. Maybe it sounds better in French. In addition, ours mention’s God in one verse. I don’t think the “Good Lord” counts as invoking the almighty.
Most importantly, our Revolution did not turn into a generation long bloodletting. Our Anthem is about a young Republic maintaining its Freedom and establishing itself in the world.
I’ll try to find some time this weekend. I appreciate that women like the movie. I think is speaks to what it means to be a man, in a world that has no idea anymore.
As a native of a country with the most anodyne national anthem ever, and one whose national anthem changes its words to meet the gender identity of its ruler (the twenty-first century implications of that boggle the mind), I strongly suggest the US keep its national anthem as is.
As for the Brits, well . . . .
That is not their national anthem. That is more like their version of “America the Beautiful”
God Save the Queen, is their Anthem.
Which, My Country, tis of Thee, uses the same music.
Much prefer Rule Britannia. Then again, I am not a subject of the Queen. As a conservative, if I was a Britt, my guess is, I would have a huge amount of affection for the Royals.
Oh, indeed I do. And, in terms of stories on Ricochet, I’ve barely scratched the surface.
We Brits love our eccentrics, and I was fortunate to be born into a family full of them. I took care, along the way, to acquire another family with its own share of memorable characters, and when I need to tell a tale, they rarely let me down.
And, although some of them are hard to top, on my own account, I occasionally rise to a level of eccentricity of which I hope they’d be proud.
I am a subject of the Queen. And, of course, Rule Britannia is not the UK national anthem. I was suggesting it as an alternative. Which I would greatly prefer.
“God Save the Queen” is the British national anthem only as long as there is a Queen. When, heaven help us, Charlie-Boy takes over, the words will change at once to “God Save the King.” That was the point I was making, in terms of it being a rather ridiculous song which takes its cue from the sex of the monarch, rather than from any intrinsic good in, or the accomplishments of, the nation. So far, regarding the sex of the monarch, it’s been, as they like to say, a ‘binary’ choice. How much longer that will be the case is anybody’s guess.
Yes, I like the fact that the country is ‘ruled’ by a monarch who can trace his/her lineage back to anywhere between the sixth and the eleventh century, depending on who you believe. I think that, even today, it gives most Brits a sense of perspective and history that can be lacking in younger, less-established countries.
Ooooh, don’t toy with us!
Heh. “Old” Around here means 1800’s. There would be more “Old” where I live, if Sherman had not burned it down.
Yes.
About fifteen years ago, Mr. She and I visited the UK and stopped for a few days in Ludlow, which is a lovely old town, with part of its original wall still standing, and a High Street crammed with ancient buildings.
The pub in Ludlow is called “The Rose and Crown” (fairly common pub name), and we noticed a sign on the wall which said that food and drink have been continuously served on these premises since, I can’t remember if it was 1377, or 1477.
And, at this remove, it probably doesn’t matter.
I still struggle with trying to understand what the phrase, “tis of thee” means.
“It is of you that I sing.”
Thanks for the post. The Humphrey Bogart Estate is holding a film festival this year at which Henreid’s daughter is scheduled to appear.
Quite a stunning performance. Rick in the flashbacks is not Rick in the present and Bogart makes us feel it.
Why I like “Hail to the Chief”. Change just one pronoun in the second line (“we salute HER, one and all!”) and you’re good to go!