Casting. The other reviews here have explained it beautifully-- this movie scores seven out of ten because it's such a wonderful example of how casting makes or breaks a picture. Of course, it's tough to make a movie LIKE Casablanca without looking silly.
I mean, you know, CASABLANCA.
But Hollywood loves to make movies based on dumb ideas so this is really a typical film in that regard-- typical and almost boring. What makes it interesting is how far great talent can be stretched to the make the breaking point-- twisting James Stewart into Humphrey Bogart and making Spencer Tracy-- Spencer Tracy for god's sake-- play a character that would have been a much better fit for about a dozen other actors. Hell, Sterling Hayden would have done a better job. What's remarkable is not how bad Tracy is in the role-- it's how good he is in it even though it's thoroughly unbelievable. What an actor! He can sell just about anything.
It's true the film lacks any real "suspense" and some parts are so bad they resemble a 1930's "Buck Rogers" serial... but hey--that's it! What this movie really needed was Buster Crabbe!
A peculiar example of post-war tom-foolery. Not as bad, nor as good, as it might have been.
I mean, you know, CASABLANCA.
But Hollywood loves to make movies based on dumb ideas so this is really a typical film in that regard-- typical and almost boring. What makes it interesting is how far great talent can be stretched to the make the breaking point-- twisting James Stewart into Humphrey Bogart and making Spencer Tracy-- Spencer Tracy for god's sake-- play a character that would have been a much better fit for about a dozen other actors. Hell, Sterling Hayden would have done a better job. What's remarkable is not how bad Tracy is in the role-- it's how good he is in it even though it's thoroughly unbelievable. What an actor! He can sell just about anything.
It's true the film lacks any real "suspense" and some parts are so bad they resemble a 1930's "Buck Rogers" serial... but hey--that's it! What this movie really needed was Buster Crabbe!
A peculiar example of post-war tom-foolery. Not as bad, nor as good, as it might have been.