Casablanca- le Marseillaise

Kveto from Prague · Post by **Kveto from Prague** » Wed February 29th, 2012, 9:44 pm

Still one of the most powerful scenes in film history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-E2H1ChJM

I can't watch that without tearing up.

I just posted this because I recently learnt another reason it's so moving. The "actors" there were real war refugees who had fled France during the war. It was shot in 1941. The woman with wet eyes there is not acting at all. It's something more than acting, it's totally transcendent. Her spontaneous "Viev le France! Vive le liberte!".

bevgray · Post by **bevgray** » Thu March 1st, 2012, 1:06 pm

There are several films that have that effect on me. The scene in CASABLANCA is definitely one of them for the despair and courage that mingle throughout the scene.

Another for me is the final scene in GUNGA DIN. Chokes me every time. Din, the Indian regimental water boy, has died heroically and been given the status of a soldier which was his life-long ambition. The actor who portrays Kipling reads the poem while the pipes and drums provide the background.

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Thu March 1st, 2012, 8:06 pm

Interesting backstory about Casablanca. I guess the antithesis of that would be the scene of the German boy singing in the beer garden of Carbaret. Quite chilling!

SGM · Post by **SGM** » Thu March 1st, 2012, 9:13 pm

I think Les Enfants du Paradis has a similar story, although I do not know if it is really true -- that many of the cast were involved in the resistance and their activities delayed shooting the film. They managed to delay the end of filming until Paris had been relieved. But it may be a myth and I don't have time to look it up.