I watched this for the first time last week and I was surprised that the plot has remained pretty novel. It's one thing to watch an old movie and recognize it for first producing a certain story (or at least capturing it on film) but I can't think of a similar story to Casablanca and that impressed me.
It was also neat to see the film shot just like a play where there are very particular sets each scene. I wish I could have the scene the original play once.
A few things I didn't like though was the flashback. There was no subtlety and poor writing. They could have started the film with their time in France. The real plot point wasn't that the two characters knew each other but _why_ she left him.
And it was also odd to me that the general was in his headquarters when he learned about the escape attempt but then showed up at the airport... without any men.
Anyway, I did enjoy the movie and am grateful to it for introducing As Time Goes By.
I had a film professor who always thought that Casablanca should be number 1 on AFIs Top 100. I tend to agree with him. I think Citizen Kane is a cinematic masterpiece, but Casablanca has a much better and more coherent story.
To me, the `La Marseillaise` scene[1] is incredibly powerful. The crowd trying to out-sing the German soldiers with the French national anthem, and the sheer raw emotion of the scene. Amazing character moments from Ricky, Victor, and Illsa.
I haven't looked into the veracity, but the legend around the scene is that most of the extras in the bar were French refuges - and the emotion of the scene was very much present on set. Casablanca was filmed during the height of WW2, and came out in 1942, so it does seem plausible.
Louis's brief "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" - Handed a pile of his winnings by the croupier - "Oh, thank you very much." exchange [2] is also a fantastically memorable comedic exchange.
Apart from anything else, it's rammed with highly quotable and widely quoted dialogue. Anybody watching it for the first time will probably find themselves thinking "Ah - so that's where that comes from" at least a few times.
The stand-out moment for me is when somebody shows Rick his ID (a passport?) and his reaction is just "are my eyes really brown?". I can't explain why I like that bit of characterization so much.
