Auteur Signature film form

• spotlight on Sam
• Genre shifts – musical, wartime, romance/comedy
• German expressionism – strong shadows (e.g. big shadows of objects on the walls)
• motivated lighting – lights off when Rick puts the transit papers under the piano, highlights Sam

Classical Hollywood film form

• 180 rule
• cinematic space – tracking shot gives sense that we’re in a room
• action reaction shots between Ferrari and Rick
• Protagonist with a clear moral code and Ferrari represents unmoral code (good and bad guys)
• protagonist has clear external (Ilsa) and internal motive
• Linear narrative (one flashback to explain protagonist motivation)

Production Context

• knock on wood is an old song that they used because it was cheaper – it was already owned by WB. However, it still relates to the context, the people in the cinema and in the film have trouble. The song is saying don’t worry about your problems and be happy as well as being about luck, it’s an optimistic song that could link with Casablanca being a propaganda film.
• Hollywood was allowed to use nitrate still (silver nitrate) while nitrate was a resource needed for bombs because the government recognised film can be used for sustaining morale (escapism) and propaganda

Themes and Motifs

• motif – the piano
• letters of transit
• search light
• refugee/refugee crisis – ‘I don’t buy or sell human beings’
• luck

Representation

• the way that women and men are represented – Rick is cold-hearted to women
• no youth/children
• gender – mostly men (in the scene) – women represented as sex objects, men are the motivators (entertainer, cafe owner etc) and the women are just there
• Cast is from all around the world (many languages)
• Sam is the only black actor (named) in the film – represented as bellow Rick despite being friends. He works for Rick, he is an entertainer and doesn’t need more money or have enough time to spend the money that he already has. At the time it was a positive representation for the time, but not now.

Political Context

• knock on wood – troubles in Europe
• Dec 2 1941 (seen on cheque in previous scene) – just before Pearl Harbour
• America – isolating themselves from military involvement but financially supported England and gave them materials because they lost so many soldiers in the first world war
• Rick won’t sell/trade human beings

More

• Rick waits until the lights go out to put the transit papers under the piano
• Rick has principles – won’t sell the cafe (?) or human beings