As Laszlo and Ilsa arrive and the police chief prepares to arrest them the whole plot is turned on its head. The music changes to a more dramatic tone and Rick draws a gun. There is tense music and a feeling of mystery, Rick orders Louis not to arrest Laszlo and Ilsa and they move on to the airport. This is where Rick’s actions become completely unclear.
As they move onto the airport scene. The first thing your attention is drawn to in this scene is the weather conditions. It is raining and foggy, the fog is perhaps symbolic of the mystery surrounding Rick’s actions. The whole airport scene is a sustained sequence which suspense, comedy and romance as is rarely combined together on the screen. Through all of this Rick manages to contrive a situation whereby Ilsa and Laszlo escape together.
At the beginning of this scene Rick reveals his plan, he orders Laszlo’s luggage to be loaded onto the plane, as Laszlo leaves to do so an emotional conversation between Rick and Ilsa is prompted. The music changes to the by now familiar ‘As Time Goes By’ and close up camera shots are used to emphasize the emotion felt by the two actors. Ilsa’s tone of voice suggests shock and confusion, even a sense of panic while, as ever Rick is the calm control and leading character. As I said earlier the film is essentially propaganda, Rick is representing the calm, controlled Americans and Ilsa the panicked and confused French. Here Rick utters the memorable line ‘Here’s looking at you kid’, suggesting Rick’s control of the situation as in Americas control of the war.
As Laszlo returns, the scene develops yet further. In another emotional scene, which uses camera angle, shadow and light and dark to great effect, Rick justifies his actions. The music changes to a more dramatic and tense tone; after all throughout all of this the German major is fast on his way to foil their escape. Again close up shots are used to emphasize the emotion of the scene but also the use of shadows in this scene is particularly notable. As Ilsa looks to Rick there is a dark shadow across her face, this is symbolizing the feeling between them, they are not going together, the bad emotions. On the other hand as Ilsa looks to Laszlo, the shadow disappears and light is cast across her face, this is symbolic of the love between them, the good emotions. Rick and Ilsa have sacrificed their love for the higher purpose of the war effort, a clear piece of propaganda, suggesting the war effort is of top importance. Also symbolic here is Laszlo’s goodbye to Rick ‘welcome back to the fight’, explicitly welcoming Rick’s Help, implicitly welcoming America’s involvement in the war.
All the time Louis, the police chief stands by, Rick still clutching the gun, the sense of mystery and tension remains. Laszlo and Ilsa leave for the plane, but the German general, major Strasse is coming. The German is of course and rather distasteful and evil character, he has to be portrayed that way. The plane is preparing to take off, into the fog, again symbolic of mystery, as the General arrives. Of course as the general is an evil character he immediately demands the plane is halted, and begins calling the cockpit. As loud dramatic music sounds out, Rick warns him once, warns him twice, and warns him three times, to no avail, Rick shoots the German general, a crime punishable with death in a concentration camp. Rick is a patriot, obviously not wanting to kill, but willing to for the greater good.
The scene, which follows between Louis and Rick, combines both friendship and patriotism. Showing intense emotion shown on both a personal and international level. Again the political symbolism shines through, Victor Laszlo, representing the French resistance and Ilsa the French people escape to fight another fight. The German has been killed by the American, Rick, a clear and obvious message that America will come through victorious. Louis is a strange character in this symbolism; he seems to representative of the French government, he often follows the Germans orders without argument.
In this final closing scene, Louis changes. Firstly as he drinks the German wine after the shooting he throws it away. As the French police arrive to see the dead German general, he lets Rick off with murder, linking with the beginning of the movie he orders the policemen to ‘round up the usual suspects’. Rick clearly saved by Louis, and as the film draws to a close the final shot of the final scene, as Rick and Louis walk off into the mist, the final line spoke is clearly patriotic and political, the American says to the Frenchman ‘I think this is the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship’.
Throughout the film the strong links built with characters are of upper most importance in making the film as popular as it is. Ilsa Lund’s role is basically that of a lover and helpmate to a great man; the movies real question is, which great man should she be in love with? There is actually no reason why Laszlo cannot get on the plane alone and leave Ilsa in Casablanca with Rick, and indeed this is one of the endings that was briefly considered. But it would all be wrong; the ‘happy’ ending would be tarnished by self interest, while the ending we have allows Rick to be larger, to approach nobility (‘it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world’). And it allows us, vicariously experiencing all of these things in the cinema, to warm in the glow of his heroism.
