Michael Curtiz directed more than a hundred features, first in Hungary and then at Warner Bros, where he became the studio’s most reliable craftsman across every genre it produced. Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Angels with Dirty Faces, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce and Casablanca are all his.
He is the standard example of the studio-system director whose personality is hard to locate because he was assigned material instead of choosing it. What is consistent is the pace and the lighting: Curtiz films move, and the shadows in them are doing dramatic work instead of decorative work.
Casablanca was made as ordinary programme filler with a script being rewritten during shooting, and nobody involved expected it to matter. It won Best Picture and Curtiz won Best Director.
