American Cinematographer - March 1999 - 114

films Frankenstein,

The Invisible
Falcon, his

Man and The Maltese

Karloff,
Sydney
Greenstreet, respectively, to enhance

camera

Claude

peers up at Boris
Rains
and

their size. In Casablanca, Peter Lorre

gets the opposite treatment as he
wriggles through a crowd like a
worm
crawling out of an apple.
Edeson also made Humphrey
Bogart (who wasn't tall) seem bigger
than Ingrid Bergman (who was)
and just as tall as his rival, Henreid.
With deft lighting and the careful
use of camera angles, he added
menace
to
Veidt's
sculptured
features, and helped Claude Rains
sustain his characterization of

a

dapper, skirt-chasing little rogue.
Most of the picture takes
place in Rick's Cafe Americain,
Bogart's chronically crowded lounge
and gambling joint. The camera
initially moves through this hot spot
to

reveal

a

bar,

roulette wheel,

a

tables filled with extras, the famous
Sam

Casablanca

and

singing at his upright piano,
of interesting characters.

a mass

Bits of conversation
camera

Arthur Edeson, ASC

Most of the

remembers

the Nazis. The veteran cine¬
matographer, who earned his spurs
in 1914, had a recognizable style of
his own that was always evident,
even
though it was sublimated to
the varying demands of every imag¬
inable kind of movie. The Thief of
Bagdad, All Quiet on the Western
Front, The Footloose Heiress, Mutiny
on the
Bounty, Gold Diggers of 1937
and Wings of the Navy all benefitted
from the Edeson touch. Although he
was a
giant in his profession, he was
physically diminutive. On the set, he
escape

suspense are three reasons
the enduring popularity

for
of

Romance, intrigue and
Casablanca,

more

film that

was

originally intended to be little
than a timely World War II

drama. Another
cast,

a

reason

is the great

which included Humphrey

Bogart,

Ingrid

Bergman,

Paul

Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad
Veidt,
Peter
Lorre,
Sydney
Despite their
proximity

close

to

Captain

Renault

(Claude

Rains) and
Victor Laszlo

(Paul Henreid),
(Humphrey
Bogart) and lisa
Rick

(Ingrid

Bergman) risk a
glance fraught
with romantic

undertones.

112 March 1999

Greenstreet and

Dooley Wilson.
script, by Julius J. and Philip B.
Epstein and Howard Koch, crackles
with great dialogue, and Max
Steiner's music points up the heart¬
The

breaks of wartime love.
The

distinctive

cameraman

contributes

displaced

Arthur

touch

Edeson

persons

crowded into a
while trying to

neutral African port

heard

the

as

scenes

are

more

everybody
intimate:

Bogart drunk and brooding about
Bergman in the dark and empty
cafe, telling Sam to "play it"; the
bittersweet flashback
and lost love; the

to

war

heartwrenching

when the lovers

scenes

Paris,
are

almost

reunited. Most memorable of all

are

the climactic, fogbound night scenes
at the airport, where Bogart helps

Bergman and Henreid to

escape,

almost guns

down Veidt (reluc¬
tantly), and brightens as Rains tells
his men to "round up the usual

suspects."

demanding of perfection that

The

closing shot, with Bogart

he earned the nickname "Little

and Rains

planning to join the Free

Napoleon."

French

was so

What Edeson is most noted

of

greatly to this tale of

are

(and mike boom) go by.

for

are

films with unusual characters

in colorful
knack for

bigger

or

surroundings. He had

a

making his players look
smaller than life. In the

as

into the

they walk away and vanish
fog, provides an upbeat

ending for a picture that has admin¬
istered a strong dose of danger and
heartbreak.
-G.T.
American Cinematographer - March 1999

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 1999
