Casablanca Close-Up (“Enemy Arriving” Sequence)

Overview:

This scene begins with a restaurant goer being pickpocketed by an unassuming foreigner, who ironically warns him of there being “vultures everywhere” in Casablanca, further showing the lawlessness of the location. The scene then introduces us to the main antagonist, a Nazi officer, who arrives via plane in Casablanca. He is greeted by the French Chief of Police, who informs him, and the audience, through exposition, that the murderer of the two German Couriers with important exit documents will be arrested at Rick’s cafe later that evening.

Key Elements:

Cinematography –

The opening shot of this sequence is a wide shot in deep focus to make the background, and the lavish, expansive set, more visible to the audience, further boasting and utilising the Warner Bros. Set design and immersing the audience in the environment. The actors are blocked perfectly to be in frame, no one in the way of the camera view of another, so that all of them can be seen talking, but also so that the events they are reacting to in the background contextualise their dialogue and can be witnessed by the audience as they hear the dialogue. We cut to more shots of the usual suspects being herded into the police station to further contextualise their conversation. We then cut back to a two shot of the pickpocket explaining the nature of Casablanca to the unsuspecting victim. As the pickpocket stand up to speak to the lady, the camera pedestals up and dolly’s back to become a three shot, once again making everyone in the conversation visible to the audience without making unnecessary or distracting cuts. This is also true when the victim stands, so that he is still in frame, and the waiter that walks on screen is stood in the exact spot where he is visible stood between the man and the woman.

The shot of the plane landing is framed by an archway, Warner Bros. Still making the most of their set as this exotic arch farmers a plane landing and an imposing, foreign lighthouse in the background, focusing our attention, alongside the precise blocking of the guards to bring our eyes to the landing plane and the lighthouse beyond it. As is typical of classical Hollywood style, this long shot cuts to a wide shot of the plane to make the change in location more seamless. This frame is also composed by the blocking of the extras to bring our attention to the planes door, where the villain is exiting, as the extras are lined up and facing said door. This then cuts to a close up of the main Nazi officer approaching a lesser officer, and then an over the shoulder shot reveals the official much closer to the camera to signify his importance, as-well as his height over the other officers. The exact same thing happens to show the French Chief of Police’s importance, an over the shoulder shot showing his importance to the plot, but he is much shorter than the Nazi officer, showing a power dynamic. We then cut to a wide shot that tracks the movement of the characters, crabbing, to avoid making cuts. A close up two shot shows the two men talking, then a cut to a three shot shows the third officers input, stating there until the end of the sequence.

Editing –

Regular shot reverse shots between the crowds of people looking hopefully up and the plane coming in to land show their desire to escape Casablanca, and the rarity of a plane in the air in the city. Fade cuts make the editing more seamless as fast the scene feel like one larger take, as seen when the plane lands and the transition follows its movement to cut to the framed shot of the airfield.

Sound –

The diegetic sound of the plane landing rises in the sound mix when the camera is nearer to it, immersing the audience, and lowers so that we can hear the peoples dialogue.

Mise-En-Scen –

The architecture is exotic and Eastern, immersing the audience in this new and foreign, interesting environment and further contextualising the story in every new shot, another example of efficiency of storytelling.

Performance –

The actors all play stereotypical caricatures of their characters ethnicity. The English man is pompous and patronising, the French man fats speaking and amusing, the German upright and smug, the Italian rapidly moving and speaking with exaggerated hand gestures.

Context:

The film makes deliberate efforts to expose its large and impressive sets, with exotic architecture, large amounts of extras, deep focus, long shots and precise actor blocking to draw the audiences attention to the most impressive, life-like parts of the environment, immersing and impressing them, making most value out of these large and expensive sets.

Jack Warner wanted this film to be a pro-interventionist piece of media, so likely made sure that the Nazis were presented as emotionless, greedy and bland villains. The director, Michael Curtiz, also likely affected their presentation, as he was Hungarian himself and usually presented beaten down characters against larger, more imposing powers, here, Nazi Germany.

Representation and Aesthetics:

The men at the restaurant are stereotypes of their nationalist it’s, the Englishman being a gullible, naive and unassuming victim, the French man being a sly, nimble and smart trickster.

The Nazi officers in this scene are caricatures of the typical American perception of them at the time. Their uniforms are neat and straight, and they move stiffly, almost robotically, displaying an obsession with efficiency and authority. On the other hand, the French Chief of Police seems overly optimistic and care free. A comedic moment is also made out of the stereotypically needy Italian officer desperately trying to gain the attention of the Nazi officer, who almost completely ignores him, causing the Italian man to become confrontational with other officers, speaking fast and making exaggerated hand gestures.

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