2. Casablanca

dir. Michael Curtiz

Casablanca is perhaps the height of studio-era filmmaking. It is much more a collaborative film then an auteur’s masterpiece, but it maintains a singularity of tone and style that is unmistakable. The Epstein brothers gave this cast some of the strongest and snappiest dialogue that American cinema has ever seen. Humphrey Bogart oozes cool, but still beautifully portrays the pain behind Rick’s devil-may-care façade. Ingrid Bergman gives the performance of her career as the conflicted Ilsa. In a wonderful twist of irony, a film about patriotism takes place in a setting where no one is really at home. Casablanca is an in between place, where no one can really ever have a solid footing. Both a gripping war intrigue and a dramatic love story, Casablanca is a timeless classic.