Movie Magic, however conceptual a notion, offers an understanding of how motion pictures converge from multiple points of artistic influence under the sometimes chaotic circumstances of their creation.
Filmmaking remains one of the only collaborative artform where artists group together and combine their efforts to construct a single product. And though the director oftentimes receives sole credit for the final result of a film, the cast and crew contribute their individual influence into the harmonious gathering of technical and narrative composition.
Casablanca is perhaps the most memorable film that, given its infamously frenzied production and now iconic status in the annals of film history and popular culture, fulfills all the possibilities inherent to Movie Magic. Made to be another cookie-cutter product of The Dream Factory, the production amassed top Warner Bros.
That the film was ever completed is miraculous; writers rushed fresh pages to the set on the day they were being shot, while actors performed without knowing their motivations.
But any number of Hollywood films released during The Golden Age, an era whose arguable timeline exists from the mids and the mids, were assembled under similar conditions. And yet, only the timeless Casablanca has surpassed all precincts of era and story to gain status over the years, increase in popularity and enjoyment, and still inspire wonder even upon close reexamination.
