The Best Scene in "Casablanca" Involves a Song, But It's Not "As Time Goes By"

I would bet that the scene audiences like most in "Casablanca" is the scene involving the singing of "As Time Goes By." It's a scene many adore and cherish, justifiably so; the American Film Institute even ranked it second in their list of the best songs in American films, second only to "Over the Rainbow." As much as I like that scene, I think there's a better scene in the film involving a song. The scene I'm referring to involves "Le Marseillaise." If you have forgotten about the scene, here's basically the gist of it, as well as my thoughts on why the scene is so wonderful:

Just before the scene begins, Rick (Humphrey Bogart) is revealed to be a "rank sentimentalist" when he helps a young man win loads of money (by cheating in a gambling game) so that he and the young man's lover can escape Casablanca. But Rick is not a sentimentalist; he's a bitter man who's been burned by a lover of his own (Elsa, played by Ingrid Bergman). Rick meets with Victor Lazlo (Paul Heinreid), a freedom fighter against the Nazis, and Elsa's current lover. Lazlo desperately needs help to keep up the fight, and he knows of Rick's reputation for "being on the side of the underdog," helping to fight fascists in Spain and Ethiopia. But Rick politely yet somewhat tersely claims that he's not interested in politics, and that if Lazlo really insists on knowing why he won't help, he should ask his wife. The reason for Rick not wanting to help Lazlo is more than obvious to the viewer, as all of this information has been shown earlier in the film.

The meeting ends, and then "Casablanca" gets even more interesting. Rick and Lazlo's conversation concludes when the Germans arrive in Rick's cafe and proudly sing "Die Wacht am Rein." The camera pans in to Bergman as her eyes follow Lazlo, who approaches the band and orders them to play "Le Marseillaise." They look at Rick; he nods, and then they play. The non-Germans join in, and they are so loud that the Germans cannot match them, no matter how hard they try. It gets a bit overly sentimental here, but Bergman's deep breathing is likely similar to what the audience experiences upon first watching the scene. The Germans, and especially their leader, Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt), are enraged, and Strasser orders Captain Louis Renault (Claude Raines), the Vichy leader, to close the cafe. "But I have no excuse to close it," he insists. "Find one!" is the stern reply. Renault follows his orders. Rick is angry now, too, and demands an explanation, to which Raines replies with one of the many oft-quoted lines in the movie: "I'm shocked--shocked--to find out that gambling is going on here," just before receiving his winnings of the evening.

Why is the scene so good? Much of it is because of Bogart. In the 1960s, in an article for "Esquire," Peter Bogdonavich quoted writer Nathanial Benchley who claimed to have met a Harvard student "who believed in only two things: the superiority of Harvard and the immortality of Humphrey Bogart." In those days, there was a cult of Bogart, and it's sad to realize that today most college students probably have never heard of him. But regardless, Bogart adds weight to the scene, as does the audience's appreciation of the character. As mentioned already, Rick is revealed twice in just the span of a few minutes in "Casablanca" to be a sentimentalist who likes sticking his neck out for the underdog, no matter how loudly he protests that it isn't true.

But beyond the weight he brings as an icon, it's his acting (and his director) that further make the scene excel. David Mamet has a good explanation. In his book "On Directing Film," he authoritatively states that "most actors are, unfortunately, not good actors." The reason? There are many, he claims, but the main reason is that the theater has fallen apart. It used to be, he writes, that actors would have spent their entire acting careers on stage by the time they reached thirty, but not anymore. Bogart started on the stage, earning his share of good and bad reviews. According to Mamet, Bogart claimed that to make the scene work, "Michael Curtiz, the director, said, 'stand on the balcony over there, and when I say action take a beat and nod,'" and that's what Bogart did. Mamet: "That's great acting. Why? What more could he possibly have done? He was required to nod, he nodded. There you have it. The audience is terribly moved by his simply restraint in an emotional situation--and that is the essence of good theater: good theater is people doing extraordinarily moving tasks as simply as possible." Contemporary theater and film, according to Mamet, tend to offer the audience the reverse, in that characters perform predictable actions in an overblown way. Mamet again: "The good actor performs his tasks as simply and as unemotionally as possible. This lets the audience 'get the idea'--just as the juxtaposition of uninflected images in service of a third idea creates the play in the mind of the audience"

It's an exceptional scene in an exceptional film. I've seen "Casablanca" several times, and the scene is by far my favorite (and there are many, many great scenes in the movie). "Casablanca" is probably also a great film to watch as our French friends celebrate Bastille Day. Our two nations have had a strong relationship (with some bumps along the way) since the beginning of our republic, and I hope it stays that way. In the meantime, enjoy "Casablanca" and the continuation of our two nations' beautiful relationship.