Casablanca or Citizen Kane?
Thoughts?
shareBoth are great movies, but honestly if I were to choose one to throw in the player right now it would be Casablanca.
share
MovieChat Forums > Casablanca (1943) Discussion > Casablanca or Citizen Kane?
(Marks his ballot "Kane")
Reason(s): Citizen Kane was a powerful allegory, that deftly merged both real-life and fiction, as well as new and effective movie-making techniques.
"Casablanca" is about a love affair that essentially ended before the movie began. Instead of the "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back before the closing credits" dynamic, what we have here is "Boy HAS ALREADY lost girl, girl briefly returns - but with devoted husband in tow, boy loses girl AGAIN." What's missing there? It should be clear. Virtually all love stories show at least TWO of the crucial stages of the affair - beginning, middle, and/or end. Consider "Romeo and Juliet", "Annie Hall". and "Titanic", all of which show the entire lifespan of the central relationship.
Seems though in Citizen Kane you talk about the cinematic prowess.
Leaving aside the flashbacks that do at least fill in the gaps of your chief complaints, when talking about Casablanca you turn to the problems you have with the storyline.
And hey -- I like Thai food but you couldn't drag me to a Texas BBQ place (although would be willing to consider a Carolina one). Point being it is a matter of taste and perspective.
These are valid points, jstang, now here is my rebuttal.
There is little in the way of 'cinematic prowess' (i.e. film-making technique) in "Casablanca" - it didn't show us any new techniques, like the legendary deep-focus photography of "Kane". Even the most die-hard fans of "Casblanca" seldom call it a 'ground-breaking' or 'innovative' movie.
Yes, the flashbacks in "Casablanca" did help fill in the storyline gaps - to a degree. But in this movie, they only give us fleeting, partial glimpses at the real 'heart' of the storyline - the affair between Bogart and Bergman. If the entire movie had been about this affair, chronicling it's beginning, middle, and end, then I would have liked it more.
The food analogy isn't clear, since we are talking movies here. But I am not going to give you a hard time for liking "Casablanca", it's obviously a popular movie.
wylierichardson -- will repeat what I said in my first post on the thread; and think it directly relates to why you hit the button for Kane and me for Casablanca.
Citizen Kane was revolutionary, a break through....but it had no heart.Food analogy was basically "different strokes for different folk."
Casablanca is just an extraordinarily fine and engaging movie.....perfection within the existing dynamic.
Which one is better depends on the eye (and cinematic historical perspective) of the beholder.
No doubt in my mind which one I'd rather watch for a second or fourteenth time though.
And I will be the first to admit that I've watched a lot of movies that hit me as fantastic (2001 or Clockwork Orange falls in there, guess Kubrick is a key suspect) that I wouldn't buy for the multiple watch. Kane falls in that category as well.
Casablanca is my most watched movie ever. And this WWII book reader likes not just the love story but the allegory of Rick as America. Think the dialogue and acting fantastic as well, especially on the cast of lesser characters. share
Exactly. "Casablanca" is absolutely no less derivative than "Chinatown", for instance, and absolutely in no way has superior filmmaking than "Chinatown".
So the next time film critics or fans want to call "Chinatown" an homage to film noir or a film noir pastiche, they should be reminded that "Casablanca" is an imitation of "Pepe Le Moko" and "Algiers".
[deleted]
Casablanca by a mile.
shareAesthetically and technically undoubtedly Citizen Kane is superior. However, in terms of story, the characters, actors and enjoyment it has to be Casablanca, which is why I prefer it to Citizen Kane.
shareCasablanca - I always watch it several times over the year and enjoy it, greatly, each and every time.
shareBoth movies truly suck! I had to struggle to get through both of them.
shareCasablanca. I could watch it once a month and never tire of it. And I've seen it at least 28 times....
share