Rear window

This was my first Hitchcock movie ever- and it was a positive disappointment. Koppány was suffering like hell beside me at the beginning of the movie, complaining how slow and pointless it was (just like usually), but personally, it was one of the things I liked most about it. The opening scene of slowly approaching the window and then giving an insight (or rather outsight) to the view and lives of neighbors was a great idea, and perfectly placed the spectator in the place of the narrator/ leading role. I didn’t mind either the first part being sustained and leisurely, it gave us time to catch up with the happenings around the flat: get to know the faces and habits, and sense if something is out of order. 

Another like was in the film Grace Kelly, of whom I’ve heard a lot, like she later became Princess of Monaco and died in a car accident, but I thought she must have been a second-rate actress married by the Prince only because of her charm. But according to my experience so-far, I was wrong. I felt that her character was out of place all the time: as she was like a dress-stand, always acting and speaking as an aristocrat, but still, she was essential to the atmosphere of the film. She made a sharp contrast with the protagonist on the outside, but testified such bravery that would leave any man in shame. I missed her a lot from the novel, just like I missed the other portrayed lives which can be seen on screen.

The story, compared to the film version, seemed very short and plain: I prefer the film adaptation because the action is more delayed: it was interesting that his friend, the detective didn’t believe him first, whereas in the story the detective keeps thinking abut the case even after opening the truck of the missed women. An other interesting thing was that in the story the man has only a black ‘servant’, Sam, while in the film there are two additional female characters: Lisa and the nurse.

The story was good, but I preferred the film this time: the tension was greatly sustained, and the ending was funny. (both legs broken)

Casablanca

The first time I heard about Casablanca was in 2004, when Sziget festival used the line „This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” as a slogan, and achieved a great success. Interestingly, none of my classmates knew where it came from, so I turned to my ultimate source of information, my Mom. (back then we didn’t have internet access at home). Next I met some allusions to it in the Serbian indie-movie, “Black cat, white cat”, and decided to watch the original one. Since then, I made a good acquaintance with the film, and know not only one line from it. (I also know “Look at you, kid”, and that in the original screenplay there was only “look at you”, and Humphrey Bogart added “kid”, which gave an absolutely new feature to the relationship between Ilsa and Rick.)

The film became a cult-movie, and beside the awesome acting of Bogart and Bergman, I can’t really figure out why. Naturally it has an anti-war atmosphere, and a good love story with self-sacrificing and action, but still, there is something more behind the plot.

The love triangle of Ilsa, Rick and Lazlo seems to be the main motif, but without some supporting character the film wouldn’t have been of the same success. The key supporting character is lieutenant Louis Renault, a comic figure who moves between the German commander representing power, and Rick, whom he like and share interests with. An other is Sam, who brings black music to Rick’s bar being an attraction, and brings old memories to Ilsa and Rick – he, like the song “Time goes by” is a particle of the summer in Paris and the lost love.
I’d like to mention that the Hungarian dubbing is great, which cannot be told in the case of every contemporary film. 

All in all it is a good film, I liked it.