Ricky, I’m going to miss you. Apparently, you’re the only one in Casablanca with less scruples than I.
Today on the Classic Movie Review Podcast, we are taking on one of the greatest movies ever made and a truly great love story with Casablanca (1942). This movie has everything, great actors and actresses, black and white film, damn Nazis, people struggling to breathe free, and love. This movie has a special place in my heart. After the Army, I went to university, and one weekend they showed Casablanca (1942) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) on the side of the stadium. I thought, hey, this college stuff is going to be a lot better than the Army.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, by the Japanese, America was drawn into World War II. Warner Bros. went looking for something patriotic that could be put out quickly. They found an unproduced play, “Everybody Comes to Rick’s” written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.
The film was directed by the versatile Michael Curtiz and in many ways is the quintessential American film. I will have more thoughts about this during the summary.
This film has a strong 8.5[1] on IMDB.com. This film has a 98[2] percent rating on the Tomatometer and 95 percent audience approval on rottentomato.com. This movie is included in ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die 7th Edition’ edited by Ian Haydn Smith and Steven Jay Schneider. It is also number 3 on the great film critic Roger Ebert’s ‘Great Movies’ list[3]. This film is currently 2nd on the AFI.com 100 Years…100 Movies list, behind Citizen Kane (1941) and ahead of The Godfather (1972)[4][5].
New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther wrote: “The Warners … have a picture which makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap.”[6] Film critic Roger Ebert said Casablanca (1941) makes more lists because it is beloved, while Citizen Kane (1941) is considered to be a better film. Ebert continued that while individual elements of the film can be criticized, he has never seen a negative review of the film[7].
This film was nominated for eight Oscars, winning three in 1944. They are:
Nominated
Best Actor in a Leading Role – Humphrey Bogart
Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Claude Rains
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White – Arthur Edeson
Best Film Editing – Owen Marks
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture – Max Steiner
Winner
Best Picture
Best Director – Michael Curtiz
Best Writing, Screenplay – Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch
So, let’s get to the actors, many of which are returning.
Actors – Casablanca (1942)
Returning
Humphrey Bogart led the show as American expatriate Rick Blaine. The great Humphrey Bogart was covered Sahara (1943).
Paul Henreid was very good as Resistance leader Victor Laszlo. He was covered early in his career in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).
Claude Rains was one of the high points of the movie as Captain Louis Renault. This versatile actor was first covered in The Wolf Man (1941).
Sydney Greenstreet as Signor Ferrari and Peter Lorre as Ugarte were both covered in The Maltese Falcon (1941).
John Qualen played Resistance man Berger. Qualen was covered in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962).
New
Ingrid Bergman is amazing in this film, she fits in well as Ilsa Lund playing a refuge from the Nazis and a woman that is torn between two men. Bergman was born in Sweden in 1915, as a half Swede/half German. By the time she was 12, both her parents were dead, and she was sent to live with an uncle.
Around the time she finished school, she became interested in acting and had an uncredited, non-speaking role in Landskamp (1932). Around the age of 18, she began studying at the Royal Dramatic Theatre School in Stockholm but soon decided she did not want to act on the stage. Three years later, in 1935, she got her next acting role. She continued in several more movies before appearing in Intermezzo (1936). This film was seen by David O. Selznick, and it was not long until she signed a contract with United Artists. Intermezzo (1936) was remade as Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939), and Bergman was on her way to stardom. She made a couple of more films in Sweden before returning to the US. She made three movies that were released in 1941, including a version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941). However, it was the World War II quickie that made her a star, with Casablanca (1942) with Humphrey Bogart and Paul Henreid and that made the public love her.
Her career was a model path from then on out. She received an Oscar nomination for For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), she was in Gaslight (1944), a movie title that was added to the English language, and for which she received a best actress Oscar, she made Spellbound (1945), and The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945) that latter of which gave her a third Oscar nomination. She was in the Alfred Hitchcock directed Notorious (1946), fighting Nazis in South America and co-starring with Carey Grant and Claude Rains. In played Joan in Joan of Arc (1948) and received a fourth Oscar nomination.
In 1949, while in Italy working on Stromboli (1950) she met and fell in love with Roberto Rossellini. She left her husband, and the scandal hurt her career in the US, but only for a short time. In 1956, she starred in Anastasia (1956) as the last survivor of the Russian Czars. She continued to make films during the 1960s and 1970s which gave us Autumn Sonata (1978) where she was again nominated for an Oscar. She did an amazing job playing Golda Meir in the television mini-series “A Woman Called Golda” 1982 for which she won an Emmy. However, she passed away before the show aired. She died in 1982, at the age of 67.
Conrad Veidt was very well cast as Nazi Major Heinrich Strasser. Veidt was born in Berlin in 1893. He finished his education in 1912. He began making films in Germany in 1917 and became a star when he played the murdering noctambulist Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). Since his third wife was Jewish, he began citing his ethnicity as such on required work forms. With the rise of the damn Nazis, Veidt fled Germany in 1933. He changed his citizenship to British in 1939. Although he had 119 film and television credits, his most well-known roles are in Dr. Caligari mentioned above and in this film, Casablanca (1942). He died early in 1943 at the age of 50.
S.Z. Sakall played the German bartender Carl. He was another European that had to flee because of those damn Nazis. He was generally cast in comedic roles, and two of his best were Casablanca (1942) and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) with James Cagney. Sakall died in 1955.
Arthur ‘Dooley’ Wilson played the role of Sam, the piano player, as in a line, never said “Play it again, Sam.” Wilson was born in Texas in probably 1886. He began working in minstrel shows by the age of 12 and by 1908 he was working in black theaters in Chicago and New York. At the Pekin Theatre in Chicago, he would play the Irish song “Mr. Dooley” in whiteface. Was that wrong?
Wilson worked in bands and vaudeville in Europe and America. Wilson began working in films in 1939, and he was often on Broadway. He also received work from the Federal Theater Project. As a result of this work, he became a contract player for Paramount Pictures. However, they were only using him in subservient roles, and he was getting ready to abandon Hollywood. That was before he was lent out to Warner Bros. for Casablanca (1942).
Wilson remained successful in movies, on Broadway, television, and especially working on movie soundtracks. Wilson died in 1953 at the age of 67.
Joy Page had a small but important role as Annina Brandel. Page was the daughter of a silent-era star, Don Alvarado. When her parents got divorced, her actress mother Ann Boyar remarried Jack L. Warner, the chief of Warner Bros. Starting with one of the best movies ever does not leave much headroom. Page had 22 film and television credits. Nothing came close to her first role in Casablanca (1942) which included fare like Kismet (1944), Man-Eater of Kumaon (1948), the not too bad Bullfighter and the Lady (1951), and Disney’s Tonka (1958). She died in 2008 at the age of 83. It’s important to have talent, but it’s better to related to the head of the studio.
Story – Casablanca (1942)
Pre-Movie Information
The damn Nazis overran France from May 10 – 25 June 1940. The German mainly took over the northern part of France. In the south, a Vichy government was set up. They ruled the south from the town of Vichy and controlled Morocco, Algiers, and Tunisia. They “collaborated with Nazi Germany from November 1942 onwards” and “many more had participated in the deportation of Jews for internment in Nazi concentration camps, abuses of prisoners, and severe acts against members of the Resistance.[8]” One of the routes of escape for Jews and other refugees was through southern France into northern Africa.
Movie
Narration tells of how World War II led to people fleeing towards America. This put many on a path that leads to the city of Casablanca in French Morocco. From Casablanca, if they could get a letter of transit, a completely made-up plot device, they could travel to Lisbon, Portugal, and then to England or America. Of course, it only works if you don’t run out of money or get arrested by the local police. This left a large group of refugees in Casablanca waiting.
A Vichy radio operator tells that two German couriers were murdered on a train and some important documents were stolen. They believe the murderer or murderers are on the way to Casablanca. The police are ordered to round-up all suspicious people and search them. A city-wide crackdown is roughly carried out. They gun down one man when he flees. He is found to be carrying a flyer for the Free French which has the symbol of the Cross of Lorraine. The cross represents an area of France that had been annexed by Germany. It is also the same design that was on the team rings worn by Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck), T.C., (Robert Mosley), and Orville ‘Rick’ Wright (Larry Manetti)[9], as well as other members of the Vietnam combat team in “Magnum, P.I.” 1980-1988. Other wears of the ring include a role played by Robert Loggia and Magnum’s wife Michelle Hue played by Marta DuBois. Rick for a time on the show ran a bar called “Rick’s Place” and was affiliated with a gangster named ‘Ice Pick’ played by Elisha Cook, Jr. So long story short, this was all done as an homage to this film.
The riffraff are herded into a police station, and a waiter tells that a few beautiful women are arrested for Captain Louis Renault. When a plane flies over all the refugees stop to look. The plane passes over ‘Rick’s Café Americain.” On the incoming plane is Nazi Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt). He is introduced to Captain Renault (Claude Rains) police prefect of Casablanca. Louis takes a dig at the Nazi, welcoming him to Free France. Strasser is worried about the stolen letters of transit. Louis says the killer will be a Rick’s tonight as ‘everybody comes to Rick’s.’ This phrase being the title of the play that the movie is based on.
That night, a great mix of people are pouring into Rick’s where Sam (Arthur “Dooley” Wilson) is signing and playing the piano. People are bored, plotting, and selling valuables, under the noes of the Nazis and French. There are gambling tables being run in the back room. A lady asks bartender Carl (S.Z. Sakall), who may have been a college professor before becoming a refugee if Rick will have a drink with them. Carl says that Rick never drinks with the customers.
The hand of Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is shown signing a check. The date is December 2, 1941. Rick is concerned with a chessboard he is studying, but he has to nod approvals and disapprovals for potential gamblers. Rick is dealing with an unsavory character when Ugarte (Peter Lorre) slips in the door. Ugarte is very nervous when he talks to Rick. Ugarte sells exit visas as does Louis. Ugarte shows Rick the stolen letters of transit. He asks Rick to keep the documents for a short time. Ugarte expects to make the sale in Rick’s place later in the night.
Out front, Sam leads a sing-along of “Knock on Wood.” Rick cool as ever drops the letters of transit inside of the piano top while the whole crowd is watching. Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet) comes in and sits will fellow Arabs. Ferrari owns the Blue Parrot. He offers to buy Rick’s, but Rick is not interested. He also offers to hire Sam at double his rate. Sam is not interested.
At the bar, Sascha (Leonid Kinskey) is serving Yvonne (Madeleine Lebeau). Yvonne has a resting bitch face on. When Rick comes over, she questions him about his wear about the previous night and if she will see him this evening. Rick gives her a hard brush off. He then cuts her drinks off and sends her home in a cab.
Rick is on the front patio of the club smoking when Louis, who is sitting in the shadows, says Rick should not be discarding women so easily as one day they may be scarce. Louis says he will call on her and try to catch the rebound. Rick tells him that when it comes to women, he is a true democrat. The two men see a plane leave for Lisbon. Louis questions Rick about why he doesn’t go back to America.
A man from the casino comes to tell Rick that they need more money because someone has won. As they walk through the bar, Louis says there will be some excitement because they are making a big arrest in the bar that night. He also says don’t try and warn him. Rick gives out his philosophy – “I stick my neck out for nobody.”
Louis says Major Strasser will be in the bar to watch the arrest. Rick asks why the Nazi is really here, and Louis tells him that Victor Laszlo is coming to Casablanca. Rick is impressed because Laszlo has escaped from the Nazis and is important to the Resistance. Louis says the man is traveling with a woman and will be looking for two exit visas and that he must not be allowed to leave Casablanca. Rick has never engaged in the visa business although many are sold in his bar. Louis thinks Rick is a sentimentalist because he has fought on the losing sides of two struggles for freedom and would like to help Laszlo.
Louis post guards at the door and goes to join Major Strasser. Two French police go to the roulette table to arrest Ugarte. They allow him to cash in his chips. He makes a break and shoots a couple of French policemen. Ugarte runs to Rick and begs for help, but there is nothing that can be done. The police drag Ugarte away.
Louis invites Rick to sit down. In response to the Nazis, Louis says he takes what comes. Strasser questions Rick about his background. Rick is evasive. They mention that Rick cannot return to America for some reason.
Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) enter the bar and are seated. Sam looks at Ilsa and has a distressed look on his face. Berger (John Qualen) who is at the bar perks up when he sees Laszlo. Laszlo is looking for Ugarte so they can buy the letters of transit and Ilsa is very nervous. Berger comes to the table, pretending to sell a ring. However, the ring has the Cross of Lorraine meaning Berger is with the Resistance.
Louis comes to introduce himself to Laszlo and Ilsa. Ilsa asks about Sam, and Louis tells her that he came from Paris with Rick. Strasser comes over and has a hostile conversation. Laszlo only recognizes Louis’ authority.
Laszlo goes to talk to Berger while Strasser and Louis watch. Berger tells that Ugarte has been arrested. He also tells that there is a Resistance meeting the next night. Ilsa asks that Sam be brought to her table. Ilsa is happy to see him, but she is very tentative. Ilsa asks for some old song and Sam begins playing while they talk. Finally, Sam says to leave Rick alone because she is bad luck for him. She says play it for me for old-time sake Sam. He demurs. She then utters the 28th ranked line according to AFI.com; Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By.’ She finally starts humming the tune. Sam begins playing and singing. Ilsa is remembering a past time as she listens to the song.
Rick hears the song playing and says, “Sam, I thought I told you to never play…” Sam nodes his head towards Ilsa and Rick looks like someone hit him with a bat.
Louis starts introducing Rick to Laszlo and Ilsa when she says I already know Rick. Laszlo asks Rick to join them for drinks, and Louis says Rick never, but then Rick says I will. Louis is amazed. Rick and Laszlo respect each other very much. Ilsa asks Rick if he remembers the last time they met. He does and says it was on the day the Germans marched into Paris. He says he remembers every detail, “the German’s wore Gray, and you wore blue” which I consider one of the greatest digs ever even though it is not on the AFI.com list. Ilsa says she put the blue dress away and will wear it again when the German’s march out of Paris. Laszlo says it is late and they must go. Rick picks up the tab and Louis is still impressed. On her way out Ilsa talks about how well Sam can play “As Time Goes By.” Louis puts Laszlo and Ilsa in a cab. He stands in the dark smoking and thinking. Just a thought, did Louis concoct his plan at this early stage?
That night Rick gets drunk out of his mind. Sam comes in to check on him, but Rick is cranky. Rick says he knows she’s coming back. A little shadowing of the future as Rick talks about it being December 1941 and people all over America are asleep. As in, asleep to the coming threat. Rick utters the 67 greatest movie lines according to AFI.com; “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
Rick tells Sam, “…You know what I want to hear. You played it for her, you can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can, play it!” Sam has tried not to play the song but finally does. As Rick listens, he remembers Pair in June 1940, before those damn Nazis got there. He and Ilsa are happy and in love. They have agreed not to ask each other about their pasts. When making a toast, Rick utters the 5th greatest line in movies according to AFI.com; “Here’s looking at you, kid.” This line was ad-libbed for this movie, but it was used in an earlier movie by Bogart, Midnight (1934). At one point, Ilsa tells him that the man she was involved with has died.
Those damn Nazis begin closing in on Paris. Rick hears the news and knows it will be less than a week before they take the city. In Paris, Sam is playing ‘As Time goes by” while Ilsa and Rick drink. Realizing that the Germans are coming, the three decide to take a train south away from the Nazis. Ilsa is acting strange and is a little misty. She says she will meet him before the 5:00 PM train.
Rick and Sam are waiting until the last minute to get on the train. Ilsa is a no-show. Sam brings a message from Ilsa that was left at the hotel. She says she cannot go with him or ever see him again, but she loves him. Sam guides the broken Rick onto the train.
In the current time, Rick is still drinking when Ilsa comes in as he knew she would. Rick is fairly hostile. She asks to tell a story. She says she came to Paris and met a very important man. She continues, and Rick interrupts with the second greatest disc line “I’ve heard a lot of stories in my time. They went along with the sound of a tinny piano in the parlor downstairs. ‘Mister, I met a man once when I was only a kid,’ they’d always begin.” Rick asks Ilsa if there were other men and their order. She quickly walks out.
The next morning, Strasser tells Louis that Rick has the letters. Louis says if he does, he is much too clever to let them be found in a search. Strasser says Rick seems like another blundering American. Louis responds with be careful, I was with them when they blundered into Berlin in 1918. Louis’ reference to the Great War is incorrect as the allied forces didn’t conquer German territory before the Armistice was signed.
Laszlo and Ilsa show up at the police station. Strasser is snotty. Ilsa is wearing the greatest hat and dress ever. Strasser said in exchange for the names of the resistance leaders in each country, he can go free. Of course, he refuses. Strasser tells that Ugarte is dead. When Laszlo and Ilsa came in there was a young couple Annina Brandel (Joy Page) and her husband trying to get a visa. Because she is beautiful, her case is brought to Louis.
Later that morning, Rick goes to the Blue Parrot to see Ferrari. The Brandel’s are there too still looking for a visa. Ferrari and Rick sit down and begin to talk about Urgate and the letters of transit. Ferrari thinks Rick has the letters and wants to broker a deal. Laszlo comes in to see Ferrari. Elsa is shopping in the street and Rick goes to talk to her. Ilsa says Rick has changed and she will not tell him the story now. He invites her to his apartment above his bar. She tells Rick that she is married to Laszlo and was when they knew each other in Paris. Ferrari thinks he can get a single visa for Ilsa to get out. She refuses. Ferrari, in a moment of kindness, tells them that he believes Rick has the two stolen letters of transit.
That night at Rick’s a pack of Nazis, known collectively as an assortment of assholes, come into the bar. The bar has been searched, and Louis says they were very destructive as it impresses the Germans. Louis asks about the letters of transit and Rick asks him if he is Free French or Vichy.
Yvonne comes in with a German officer on her arm. A French officer has words with Yvonne about being with a German and a small fight breaks out between the men. Rick breaks it up and says leave the politics outside. Strasser asks Louis which side he is on. Louis says he blows with the prevailing wind.
Annina Brandel comes out of the gambling room. Her husband has tried to win the money they need at the gambling tables and is losing badly. She tells her problem to Rick and asks if Louis would keep his word. They have been married for 8-weeks. Louis will give them exit visas in exchange for sex. Rick verified that Louis has always kept his word. She says she is willing to do it because she loves her husband so much. Rick comments that no one ever loved him that much. She then asks Rick about ethics. Rick beats a hasty retreat.
Rick meets Laszlo and Ilsa coming in the door. Ilsa is pretty cold to Rick. He has Sam play ‘As Time Goes By.’ Rick goes into the gambling room and tells Annina’s husband to bet on 22. He wins big, and Rick says to let it ride. He wins again, and Rick tells him to cash in and not come back. Carl and Sasha are proud of Rick, Annina kisses him, and Louis is shocked at the loss of the woman.
Annina and her husband try to pay Louis for the visa in the bar. He tells them to come to the police station in the morning. The man says he will be there at 6 and Louis says “I’ll be there at 10” in another great line. Louis then calls Rick a rank sentimentalist. Louis says he will be in the next night with a beautiful blonde and he will be very happy if she loses.
Laszlo comes to Rick and asks to talk in private. Laszlo tries to appeal to Rick’s patriotic nature, and it doesn’t work. Laszlo offers two-hundred thousand francs, and Rick says he wouldn’t sell the letters of transit to him for three million francs. When Laszlo asks why Rick tells him to ask his wife.
They are interrupted by some loud Nazis, including Strasser playing Sam’s piano and singing ‘The Watch on the Rhine.’ Louis and Rick exchange a long glance. Laszlo goes down to the orchestra and asks them to play ‘La Marseillaise’ which was written in 1792 about another war between France and Germany and the original translation of the name was ‘War Song for the Rhine Army.”
Now, I will go on a little aside. I like to make predictions, and I am fairly accurate. However, one of the biggest misses was saying that when those two Germanys’ got back together in 1990, it wouldn’t be long until they attacked France and captured Pair. Alas, I was wrong.
The band leader looks at Rick and Rick gives the nod, letting politics into the bar. After filming concluded, Humphrey Bogart was called back and was shot standing in the middle of the bar and nodding. He didn’t know why at the time, but it turned out to be for this scene.
The Nazis are drowned out by the more up-tempo song, losing what is possibly the first international rap battle. Strasser is mad as a wet hen and orders Louis to shut down the bar. Louis orders the bar closed. When Rick asks why, in another great line Louis says “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.” The roulette dealer brings Louis his winnings.
Ilsa and Laszlo go back to the room and are still being followed. Laszlo decides to go to the Resistance meeting anyway. Laszlo tells Ilsa that Rick said to ask her why he won’t sell. She says she has nothing to tell her husband.
Ilsa leaves right after her husband and goes to Rick’s apartment. Rick goes over the books with Carl before going upstairs. Rick is surprised to find Ilsa in his room. Rick cannot be persuaded to sell the letters of transit. Ilsa pulls a gun and demands the letters. Rick calls her bluff, but she won’t shoot. Ilsa falls into Rick’s arms and says she is still in love with him.
It cuts to Ilsa telling the story of how she was married to Laszlo when he was captured and sent to a Nazi concentration camp for his Resistance work. She got a message that Laszlo was killed trying to escape. Just as she and Rick were getting ready to leave Paris, she received word that Laszlo was still alive. That is why she did not meet Rick at the train station. Ilsa says she is so confused that Rick will have to do the thinking for all three of them. So Ilsa believes she will stay behind with Rick and Laszlo will leave Casablanca.
Apparently, the Resistance meeting was raided, and the men scattered. Rick hears Carl and Laszlo come into the bar below his room. Rick brings Carl upstairs to take Ilsa home. Rick goes down to talk to Laszlo. Laszlo psycho-analyzes Rick and tells him he is aware of Rick and Ilsa’s love affair. Laszlo asks Rick to take Ilsa away. The police break in the front door and arrest Laszlo.
Rick goes to see Louis about getting Laszlo out of jail. Louis says he believes Rick has the letters. Finally, Rick says he has them and will be leaving on the last plane that night with Ilsa. Rick says he is worried that they may be illegally detained. He then proposes that he let Laszlo out and arrest him again that night trying to obtain the letters which would be a much greater charge. Louis is ecstatic saying another great line, “Ricky, I’m going to miss you. Apparently, you are the only one in Casablanca that has even less scruples than I.”
Rick goes to Blue Parrot and sells his bar to Farrier. Rick takes care of Sam, Carl, and Sasha.
That night, at the bar, Rick has the letters of transit. Louis shows up first. He tells Louis that the letters were hidden in the piano, even during the rap battle. Louis goes to Rick’s office to wait. Ilsa is confused because Laszlo still thinks she is leaving with him. Rick says they will tell him at the airport.
Rick refuses to take the money from Laszlo. Louis comes out and is feeling pretty well until Rick pulls a gun on him. He has Louis call the airport and says he has his gun pointed right at his heart. In another great line, Louis says, “that is my least vulnerable spot.” Louis dials the number for Strasser and pretends to be talking to the airport. Strasser gets the clue and orders men to meet him at the airport.
Rick and company arrive first. Rick makes Louis fill in the names of Laszlo and Ilsa. She doesn’t want to get on the plane.
Rick utters another great line that is not on the AFI.com list: “If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.” When Ilsa asks what about us, Rick replies with the 43rd most popular film line according to AFI.com, “We’ll always have Paris.” He also drops the line “The problem of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” He gives Laszlo and Ilsa the letters and Laszlo welcomes Rick back to the fight. They get on the plane.
Louie says he will have to arrest Rick. Strasser arrives at the airport. Strasser goes for the phone, but Rick shoots him in a close draw situation. The other police arrive. Louis says “Major Strasser has been shot.” After some tense glances back and forth Louis says “round up the usual suspects” which is the 32nd greatest movie line according to AFI.com.
Louis throws a bottle of Vichy water into the trash, and the plane leaves. He says to Rick there is a Free-French garrison they can reach and the 10,000 franc Louis owes him will cover their expenses. As they walk away across the fog-covered airport, Rick says “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” which is the 20th greatest movie line according to AFI.com.
The end.
We have all quoted the line “What we have here is a failure to communicate” from Cool Hand Luke (1967). In actuality, the line is “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.[10]” We have all misquoted “Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!” The line is actually “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges![11]” With that said, how did we get “Play in again, Sam” when it’s not in the movie? The two lines are Ilsa saying “Play it, Sam” and Rick saying “If she can take it, I can take it so Play it!
Jack Benny parodied the movie on his radio show in 1943. Benny, as Ricky Bogart says to Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson as Sam “Sam, Sam, play that song for me again, will you?”[12] Many believe this is the origin of the error. The movie had comedy spoofs as early as A Night in Casablanca (1946) with the Marx Brothers and as recently as Play It Again, Sam (1972) with Woody Allen, perv.
I’ll be right back with conclusions and the World-Famous Short Summary following a word from our sponsors.
Summary of Casablanca (1942)
Earlier I said this may be the most American of movies. It shows our unwillingness to fight, but when drawn in we are in it to win it. It is interesting to note that only three American-born actors were in the film: Humphrey Bogart, Dooley Wilson, and Joy Page.
In this very patriotic movie, Warner Bros. decided to not use ‘Das Horst Wessel Lied’[13] AKA ‘The Horst Wessel Song,’ which was the Nazi Party anthem, in the bar sing-off because it was copyrighted. They were afraid they wouldn’t make money in the neutral countries or would be sued by the Nazis. So, for maximum profitability, the song was changed to “Die Wacht am Rhein” AKA ‘The Watch on the Rhine.’ Horst Wessel was a Nazi Brownshirt and wrote the song to provoke the Communists into attacking. Nice people.
During the singing of ‘La Marseillaise,’ many of the actors can be seen with tears in their eyes. This is not only good acting; it is true emotions. So many people, especially Jewish people, had fled the Nazis and a great number of them ended up in Hollywood working in movies. So, many of the actors, including some that played Nazis were, in fact, Jewish refugees.
The Epstein’s finished their draft of the script three days before filming began. Co-writer Kotch finished his part two weeks after filming started. All three were called upon during the entire shoot for rewrites and changes. An unfinished script most often dooms a movie, see Major Dundee (1965). Casey Robinson worked on the script for three weeks but declined to have his name added to the list. As a result, he missed out on getting an Oscar.
Paul Henreid who had just finished Now Voyager (1942), wherein he lit two cigarettes and handed one to Bette Davis, thought he was destined to be a leading man. He wanted nothing to do with a film where he was third billed behind Bogart and Bergman.
Bergman did not want to be in the film, thinking it was a fluff piece compared to the movies she wanted to do, such as For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). Geraldine Fitzgerald said that during lunches with Bogart and Bergman, they both often spoke of how to get out of the project.
George Raft was the top acting tough guy around this time. Raft turned down three roles that would go to Bogart. This had the effect of derailing Raft’s career and propelling Bogart to stardom and lasting fame. These roles are Earle in High Sierra (1941), Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Rick in today’s film (1942).
The part of the film that follows Louis saying “Major Strasser has been shot” is some of the most intense drama in any film. As the director cuts from face to face, the tension builds until Louis resolves it with “round up the usual suspects.” Around 2003, a silent clip of the scene was discovered in the Warner Bros. storage[14]. They did not pause, and there is no glancing around. Had this not been cut, there would have been a much different movie.
World-Famous Short Summary – Let sleeping dogs lie
Beware the moors
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/
[2] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003707_casablanca
[3] https://www.rogerebert.com/great-movies
[4] Ebert, Roger. Commentary to Casablanca (Two-Disc Special Edition DVD).
[5] https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movies/
[6] https://www.nytimes.com/1942/11/27/archives/casablanca-with-humphrey-bogart-and-ingrid-bergman-at-hollywood.html
[7] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_(film)
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France
[9] http://magnum-mania.com/Articles/The_Team_Ring.html
[10] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/star-wars-jaws-22-films-are-famously-misquoted-1002147/item/22-misquoted-films-cool-hand-luke-1002173
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_badges
[12] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/
[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst-Wessel-Lied
[14] https://nypost.com/2003/07/31/you-cant-remember-this-lost-casablanca-scenes-on-new-dvd-version-of-the-classic/
