Agreed and historically significant. The Allies had just liberated Casablanca at the time of the movie and FDR and Churchill met there while the whole world held it's Breath
The most wonderful thing about this scene is the reality of it. This movie was made in 1942 and the war was still raging. Almost all the extras used in this scene are real French refugees who escaped to the US. The girl playing the minor role of the character Yvonne shown crying is the famed French Actress Madeleine LeBeau, who was forced to flee Europe to the US with her Jewish Husband. Per interviews about this scene long after the movie it was said after the song finished and the people cheered there was not a dry eye on the set.
I love this film. Conrad Veidt also fled the Nazis, he had a Jewish wife and he played a very good part as Major Strasser (of The Third Reich) - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HXuBnz6vtuI.html
@@dr.apeman4906 The best part was looking at the audience and their own reactions to hearing the La Marseillaise, from the dapper gentleman almost jumping when he heard the first few bars, his lady companion looking afraid but singing passionately by the end, the moustached elderly guy looking around surprised, to the uniformed officers in their Kepis instinctively in attention hearing their old anthem.
The raw emotional power that’s invoked just in this scene alone cannot be overstated. It becomes even more powerful when one realizes that Mr. Curtiz used real European refugees as extras in this here. All the nuances packed into a three minute scene; Rick’s aloof detachment melts away into focused action with one simple nod, the defiance of Victor, putting life and freedom on the line to show the Nazi’s that he and in fact the world, will not acquiesce to the forces of evil. One could write an entire dissertation on this scene alone. It’s no wonder this movie is credited with aiding in the slow swing of the pendulum of the American consciousness from isolationism to “No more”. Brilliant, even so 75 years later.
not to mention this was filmed DURING ww2. there wasn't a guarantee that the Allies were going to win or that France would be liberated from Germany. This truly was an act of defiance
@@janebruce3939 Yeah, the Australian armies and air forces were to the east, fighting west towards Tunisia. That said I’d be shocked if a few individual Australians weren’t involved in the landings towards western North Africa, either with the Americans or the British.
It's also beautiful watching Ilsa's reaction to the song. You can see her pride in Victor in her face. She's been caught up in her unresolved emotions for Rick, but here you see her remembering why she fell in love with Victor.
And symbolic of the USA's entry into the war just over a year before the film's release. For another great example of a rallying scene for another Allied power, watch Lawrence Olivier's Henry V.
I think Victor reminded Rick of who he used to be. And the more Rick interacted with Victor, the more he realized Victor is the real deal. He has a Patriot and believes in the cause he’s fighting for. Rick had forgotten how to be that person. And when Victor was willing to take a stand and didn’t care what it would’ve been for him, he definitely won ricks respect.
This scene still brings tears to my eyes. It so perfectly captures the spirit of those who stood in defiance of Fascism and tyranny. France didn't surrender; it's government did. The French people kept fighting, alongside Allied soldiers, in back alleys, on rail lines, in cafes with talkative soldiers, in fields, and on the streets. They, along with other Resistance fighters in all of the Occupied Nations, fought the invaders, until they were driven out.
Some fought. Many - likely, most, the facts are fiercely debated by historians - collaborated or used the war to appropriate properties from its victims; I’m talking about art dealers, people like CoCo Chanel, and many others.
@@WilliamViets Absolute blatant lie and false. There were many resistants in France, mostly passive but also active ones. They were very few collaborators but they had the power and the german soldiers to support or lead them. Then theyre were a vast majority of French crushed by the oppression and the risk to death. You are talking about a thing that non only you have no clue about but that you based on your foreigner eyes which hasn't known this era by the inside. I am from Limousin (region of Oradour sur Glane), grand son of a basque spanish refugee... My small village in Creuse (a departement in Limousin) known the first resistant attack on rail, in july 1940 ! .. .the train of marshal Pétain was targetted, but unfortunately, the visit in Guéret took more time than expected, and the bombs exploded few minutes before the train arrived. it obliged Pétain, furious, to take a car to finish his race to Limoges for a speech. After that, Pétain ordered to install a squadron of 120 GMR (auxiliary military force) in the small village of 500 souls... Limousin has always been a socialist region with lots of socialists and communists. In Guéret, the 14th of July, there were many men who sang the marseillaise, many were arrested and some will later be arrested and deported a couple of years later without any other facts than having sang this famous 14th july 1940. can you imagine what it was to live iunder german and nazis boots ? Saying most french were collaborators is a crime and shame on you for making circulate those sort of dishonourablous lie. French like all other europeans occupied countries weren't quietly dreaming in their beds at the other side of the Atlantic. The war was a reality, visible every time, every second, not in the newspaper like most of Americans knowing about. Partisans song :
I love the look on Elsa’s face. At first she’s frightened for Victor’s safety. But then the expression changes to where she’s very proud of him; that even after everything he’s been through, he still has the courage to stand up for what he believes in. And he would gladly die for his beloved France.
The sight of Madeleine Lebeau singing it in tears & crying out "Vive la France!"...that's what still gets me every time. She'd been a Nazi refugee herself. Those tears WERE REAL, NO ACTING there
This scene has everything ... Drama Comedy Suspense Love Watch the characters body language. They pass the scene from one to another by making eye-contact. This is the best 3 minutes that ever came out of Hollywood.
@@gonzaklo Nah, the anthems of tyrannical regimes who let millions of their own citizens die in concentration camps belong in the trash bin of history. No one would extol the virtues of the Horst-Wessel-Lied, and likewise no one should do so for the Soviet anthem.
I've commented before on this scene. It's a masterpiece of directing and cuts at the perfect time. Watch it carefully: Rick and Victor at the top of the stairs while the German's are singing their war song. Rick looks mildly annoyed but Victor looks outraged! As he walks briskly towards the band we see Isla anxiously watching him, then he demands they play La Marseillaise. The band looks to Rick and he nods. It's Rick finally getting off the fence! The band starts, the Germans try to drown them out, but then the entire cafe joins and the Germans sullenly sit down. Then the cut to Yvonne, the tears. Then a shot of Isla, she's looking down, knowing the danger. Then a close up on Victor, the passion and strength on his face! Then a cut back to Ilsa and now a look of absolute admiration (she loved Rick, she admired Victor). And then the camera is on the entire French crowd finishing the song. Just about the greatest scene in history. And BTW Bogie was told to show up for the scene and simply nod. Because it was not his scene, it was Victors. Supposedly Bogie didn't even know why he was just told to nod, nothing more. The final scene showed it all. Classic.
Perhaps one of the Best Films ever made. Magical and unique,great actors,papers,screenplay,music. Casablanca is an absolute Masterpiece,a treasure of the Cinema.
1:04, Ilse looks at Victor with the light of pure love and admiration in her eyes. Perhaps the one moment she spends in Casablanca that she’s not thinking about Rick.
The song the Germans are singing is "Die Wacht am Rhein," (Watch on the Rhine), which is about fighting off the French. Sort of an ignorant song to be singing in front of a French audience, but that was the point Major Strasser was making. It is important to note that while "La Marseillaise" is the French national anthem, its original title was "War Song of the Army of the Rhine," and the chorus which is sung particularly loudly at the end, beginning "Aux armes, citoyens!" is translated "To arms, citizens! Form your battalions! Let's march, let's march! The impure blood (of the foe) will water our fields!" A stirring call to battle not only for the French expatriate actors, but also for its American audience.
You can recognise something and not like it. I recognise the Mona Lisa, but I wouldn't give it house room. What puzzles me is why they clicked on it in the first place...
One of the great scenes in film history. All the tensions between the invader and the oppressed are playing out in a bar in Africa!! The arrogance of the Nazis led by Major Strasser. Played to pompous perfection by Conrad Veidt. The leader of the resistance Victor Laszlo, portrayed by the resolute Paul Henreid. Along with the Godfather, the two greatest films ever created. Including the two finest screenplays. A Masterpiece. Top Five in any list ever compiled on film classics.
this is exactly why casablanca can never be replicated. the lines between art and reality blurred in this movie. try as you might, you simply can't bottle that kind of lightning with actors who aren't living it. madeleine lebeau wasn't pretending to be moved. she WAS moved. to tears, to trembling. you cannot have that kind of emotion ex nihilo, no matter how good an actor you are.
This scene is even more impactful if you know what the words to La Marseillase actually mean- a call to arms, for the french people to rise up and take action against the oppressive upper class even if "our impure blood quenches their fields". It was written for the french revloution, but applies perfectly to this situation as well.
What makes this so amazing is that it was filmed on Warner Bros. backlot and all the sets were built for the film--probably the greatest studio film of all time
This scene is undoubtedly the best directed scene Michael Curtiz ever made, more so than any of the swashbuckling action scenes from The Adventures of Robin Hood or the patriotic musical numbers from Yankee Doodle Dandy. It’s clearly an illustration of what director dose and how to illicit an emotional response.
Conrad Veidt was a superb actor, to play a character like Major Strausser so believably, when he was the farthest thing from it. Too bad he died so soon after this movie. This scene is arguably the best movie scene ever.
I've watched the film at least 100 times over the last 40 years and the La Marseillaise scene gives me goosebumps.... Every. Single. Time. It's Paul Henreid's finest moment in film. And he pulls it off like a boss. Starting with that look of bloodthirsty killing rage on his face as the Nazis begin to sing Watch on the Rhine. And when the crowd goes into the second verse and he's standing there stoic, yet singing his heart out with unparalleled courage... Sublime. As a side note, the scene was originally written as having the Nazis singing the Horst Wessel Song, which was an exclusively Nazi tune (Watch on the Rhine was a German patriotic song which dated back to the 1850s). But it turns out that the rights to the Horst Wessel Song were directly owned by the Nazi Party, which would mean that Warner Brothers would have had to pay royalties to the Nazis. So the earlier song was substituted as it was in the public domain.
Just such a good scene. Rick and Lazlo were just arguing and hating on each other, and the Nazis having a good time was enough for them to set aside their differences to join forces to give a big ole FU to them.
My favorite scene of any scene in any film! "Play #LaMarseilles" Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) is trembling! I like to think THIS is when Rick (Bogart) becomes Richard..again as he nods YES to the band and sees Victor Laszlo's impact on the People!
Absolutely. Victor reminds Rick of who he used to be. And he realizes he can’t sit the war out. He realizes he was being a petty coward while men like Victor were putting their lives on the line.
The frogs don't know what they want, as usual, but at least they know what they don't want. Congratulations on maintaining complete and utter Frenchness, and here's to a hundred more years of disagreeing about everything except hating the fash.
The acting without lines is fabulous. At 0:00, Victor's face says, "Why, you mother EFFERS! We'll just see about that!" 0:12 Elsa's says "Uh-oh, where's this going?" 0:16 "I'm not asking; I'm TELLING YOU." 0:20 Rick's says, "Hmmmm, this could be interesting!" 0:55 Elsa hyperventilates with fear about how this might end. 1:00 "Take THAT, you b@st@rds!" 1:05 "No man could possibly make me prouder to call my husband."
Hermosa escena... significativa como pocas en el séptimo arte. cómo obviar que la patria no muere jamás. Armenia, Palestina, y los países que ayer eran parte de la URSS son ejemplos permanentes de ello.
A theater in the city where I'm from had a revival screening of this when I was in college. There were people in the AUDIENCE singing along during this scene!
Actually Watch on the Rhine is a fantastic song once played repeatedly by Gustav Mahler, it's so shameful that the Nazis abused the past patriotism of many Germans and and the rich German culture for their evil purposes.
Im English, even i feel the Passion of the song, especially during Rugby. But this is the embodiment of Patriotic Duty. I feel Rule of Brittania, or Land of hope and Glory, should be replace God save the Queen..........My grandfather's favourite film is this ~ Casablanca = Timeless
The song that the German officers sing is called "Die Wacht am Rhein"(The Watch on the Rhine) and was composed around 1840. Carl Wilhelm (* 1815 ; † 1873) is the composer, Max Schneckenburger,(*1819; †1849) wrote the text, of which several versions exist. It had the status of an unofficial national anthem in the German Empire. 1. Es braust ein Ruf wie Donnerhall, Wie Schwertgeklirr und Wogenprall: Zum Rhein, zum Rhein, zum deutschen Rhein! Wer will des Stromes Hüter sein? Refrain Lieb’ Vaterland, magst ruhig sein, Fest steht und treu die Wacht, die Wacht am Rhein! 2. Durch Hunderttausend zuckt es schnell, Und Aller Augen blitzen hell, Der deutsche Jüngling, fromm und stark, (Greef: Der Deutsche, bieder, fromm und stark,) Beschirmt die heil’ge Landesmark. 3. Er blickt hinauf in Himmelsau’n, Wo Heldengeister niederschau’n, (Greef: Wo Heldenväter niederschau’n) Und schwört mit stolzer Kampfeslust: „Du Rhein bleibst deutsch[3] wie meine Brust.“ 4. „Und ob mein Herz im Tode bricht, Wirst du doch drum ein Welscher nicht; Reich wie an Wasser deine Flut Ist Deutschland ja an Heldenblut.“ 5. „Solang ein Tropfen Blut noch glüht, Noch eine Faust den Degen zieht, Und noch ein Arm die Büchse spannt, Betritt kein Feind hier deinen Strand.“ 6. Der Schwur erschallt, die Woge rinnt, Die Fahnen flattern hoch im Wind: Zum Rhein, zum Rhein, zum deutschen Rhein! Wir Alle wollen Hüter sein! 7. So führe uns, Du bist bewährt; In Gottvertrau’n greif’ zu dem Schwert, Hoch Wilhelm! Nieder mit der Brut! Und tilg’ die Schmach mit Feindesblut! 1. A call roars like thunder, Like clash of swords and crash of waves: To the Rhine, to the Rhine, to the German Rhine! Who will be the guardian of the stream? Refrain Dear fatherland, may you be calm, Firm and true stands the watch, the watch on the Rhine! 2. Through a hundred thousand it twitches fast, And the eyes of all flash bright, The German youth, pious and strong, (Greef: The German, honest, pious and strong,) Protects the holy landmark. 3. He looks up into the heavens, Where heroic spirits look down, (Greef: Where heroic fathers look down) And swears with proud battle lust: "Thou Rhine remainest German[3] as my breast." 4. "Even if my heart breaks in death, Thou wilt not be a Welshman; Rich as the waters of thy flood Is Germany indeed in heroic blood." 5. "As long as a drop of blood still glows, Still a fist draws the sword, "And an arm that still draws a rifle, No foe shall tread upon thy shore." 6. The oath resounds, the wave runs, The flags flutter high in the wind: To the Rhine, to the Rhine, to the German Rhine! We all want to be guardians! 7. So lead us, you are tried and tested; In God's trust take up the sword, Up, William! Down with the brood! And wipe out the shame with the enemy's blood! P.S.: I like both songs.
Always loved this scene, and it's even more powerful with the lyrics for English speakers Aux armes, citoyens Formez vos bataillons Marchons Marchons Qu'un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons - Translated Grab your weapons, citizens! Form your battalions! Let us march! Let us march! May impure blood Water our fields!
No one ever gave credit to Paul Henreid! This scene makes the movie. Lisa finally shows true love. So emotional and you feel it through Paul. Great actor. He had already been through so much before coming to America.😢
