Maybe I haven’t seen enough old films but the knowing and somewhat world weary sarcastic attitudes of the supporting characters like the police chief and the market trader played by Claude Rains and Sidney Greenstreet in Casablanca are the among first times I recall seeing this distinctly (to me) modern sense of humor in an older film. Citizen Kane would be the other.
Is Casablanca somewhat unique or pioneering in this fashion or am I just lacking knowledge of film history?
Sigh…PIMF
Would a kindly mod please move this to the Cafe.
Good lord—watch some of the bitter, cynical, wise-cracking pre-Code films of 1929–34! Very modern. Hell, some of them are already postmodern!
I forgot to out my other question in the OP.
Some of the reviews I have read say that the Claude Raines as the police chief is playing it somewhat swishy (I didn’t get that vibe), but (and maybe I have the story confused it here) I thought the minor character of the slightly innocent, pretty young thing trying to get approvals for her and her young hubby to leave was (or had) done the deed (or something funky) with the Police Chief to get the papers she needed. Right… or not?
Casablanca Review
Not bashing, really, but it’s not clear what you mean by “truly modern sense of humor” and can’t think of anything that you could mean that remotely begs such a question. Excepting some of the fashion and the running time, there is nothing in Casablanca that is more modern than, oh, and half-dozen films from the turn of the century.
I agree it was poorly phrased and I suppose I’m grasping to convey the seemingly modern and corruptible sophistication of the “I’m shocked, shocked etc…” wry, knowing sarcasm of the film. Like I said I’m not a film student, but Casablanca seems to be to have a distinctly different tone to it’s overall feel than other films of the period and it’s Claude Raines performance as the police chief that (to me) mainly makes that difference.
Well, you could call it film noir, and that can be a trait of film noir…but even so, Casablanca was hardly the first film noir out there.
wholeheartedly agreed, but dont dismiss the rest of the 30s and 40s. I especially think The Lady Eve was very good a being cynical and funny while staying one step ahead of the code.
I was reminded the other day* of a classic line in a Marx Brothers movie (Horsefeathers, 1932) when Chico said to a woman he was trying to con, “Who are you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes?”
Maybe that’s the watershed.
*it was mentioned in a N.Y. Times column on the former Iraqi Information Minister.
No, that’s correct. The vibe you’re referring to is his interaction with Rick (“Ricky is the sort of man who if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick.”) If this were Star Trek, I would call it “slashy.”
“I thought the minor character of the slightly innocent, pretty young thing trying to get approvals for her and her young hubby to leave was (or had) done the deed (or something funky) with the Police Chief to get the papers she needed. Right… or not?”
No, she was going to, but Rick ruined Renault’s fun by letting her husband win at the rigged roulette wheel, so she could pay with money instead.
>> as the subtly homosexual police chief
WTF ?? The guy is pretty much raping women and he is a homosexual? Is it because he’s French? I don’t get this.
The “subtly homosexual police chief” idea comes, I believe, from the scene where Louis is describing Rick, and says something along the lines of “if I were a woman, I would be in love with Rick.” A stretch, I think, but movie critics have never been known for their intellectual prowess.
Well, that and the honeyed looks at “I’m going to miss you, Ricky,” and “This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” and various other junctures.
And of course you realize liking da boys and liking da girls aren’t mutually exclusive possibilities.
>> Ricky is the sort of man who if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick."
I cannot see any hint of homosexuality in there. He says “if I were a woman” and “if I were not around”. In other words, if he were still around as a man he would want the woman to go for him. The idea that there is any homosexuality there is ludicrous.
[Moderator Hat ON]
To the Cafe.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
Back to the OP. I’m amazed that Eve managed not to blow a gasket over this. Nice restraint on her part. 
As some have already said, you can think that Casablanca is the first with this type of humor only if you’ve never seen a movie made earlier than 1942. For pete’s sake, Bogart made The Maltese Falcon the year before. Doesn’t that have the same attitude as Casablanca except more so?
C’mon, Eve, pull out the film history books and give the OP both barrels. 
In my recollection of the Maltese Falcon it surely is as edgy and “film noirish” as it gets, but that’s not really what I’m talking about, Casablanca is playfully corrupt and that’s different.
In retrospect it appears clear to me I’m doing a poor job articulating a notion that appears to be singular to me with respect to the uniqueness of Casablanca’s overall sensibility, and that tells me I’m probably wrong about it.
Hat-check girl, looking at Mae West’s jewelry: Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!
West: Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.
That was Mae West’s first movie line, from Night After Night, 1932. The line is over seventy years old and it still cracks me up.
Damn you, Hays!