film directed by Michael Curtiz and based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison's un-produced

stage play Everybody Comes to Rick's. The film stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman,

and Paul Henreid; and features Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre,

and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in the words

of one character, "love and virtue". He must choose between his love for a woman and helping

her Czech Resistance leader husband escape the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca

to continue his fight against the Nazis. Story editor Irene Diamond convinced producer

Hal Wallis to purchase the film rights to the play in January 1942. Brothers Julius

J. and Philip G. Epstein were initially assigned to write the script. However, despite studio

resistance, they left after the attack on Pearl Harbor to work on Frank Capra's Why

We Fight series. Howard Koch was assigned to the screenplay until the Epsteins returned.

Casey Robinson assisted with three weeks of rewrites, but his work would later go uncredited.

Wallis chose Curtiz to direct the film after his first choice, William Wyler, became unavailable.

Filming began on May 25, 1942, and ended on August 3, and was shot entirely at Warner

Bros. Studios in Burbank, with the exception of one sequence at Van Nuys Airport in Van

Nuys. Although Casablanca was an A-list film with

established stars and first-rate writers, no one involved with its production expected

it to be anything out of the ordinary. It was just one of hundreds of pictures produced

by Hollywood every year. Casablanca had its world premiere on November 26, 1942 in New

York City, and was released on January 23, 1943, in the United States. The film was a

solid if unspectacular success in its initial run, rushed into release to take advantage

of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier. Despite

a changing assortment of screenwriters adapting an unstaged play, barely keeping ahead of

production, and Bogart attempting his first romantic leading role, Casablanca won three

Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Its lead character, memorable lines, and pervasive

theme song have all become iconic. The film has consistently ranked near the top of lists

of the greatest films of all time. Plot

It is early December 1941. American expatriate Rick Blaine is the proprietor of an upscale

nightclub and gambling den in Casablanca. "Rick's Café Américain" attracts a varied

clientele: Vichy French, Italian, and German officials; refugees desperate to reach the

still neutral United States; and those who prey on them. Although Rick professes to be

neutral in all matters, it is later revealed he ran guns to Ethiopia during its war with

Italy and fought on the Loyalist side against the fascist Nationalists in the Spanish Civil

War. Petty crook Ugarte shows up and boasts to

Rick of "letters of transit" obtained by murdering two German couriers. The papers allow the

bearer to travel freely around German-controlled Europe and to neutral Portugal, and are thus

almost priceless to the refugees stranded in Casablanca. Ugarte plans to sell them at

the club later that night. Before he can, however, he is arrested by the local police

under the command of Vichy Captain Louis Renault, an unabashedly corrupt official. Ugarte dies

in custody without revealing that he had entrusted the letters to Rick.

At this point, the reason for Rick's bitterness—his former lover, Norwegian Ilsa Lund—walks

into his establishment. Upon spotting Rick's friend and house pianist, Sam, Ilsa implores

him to play "As Time Goes By". Rick storms over, furious that Sam has disobeyed his order

never to perform that song, and is stunned to see Ilsa. She is accompanied by her husband,

Victor Laszlo, a renowned fugitive Czech Resistance leader. They need the letters to escape to

America, where he can continue his work. German Major Strasser has come to Casablanca to see

that Laszlo does not succeed. When Laszlo makes inquiries, Ferrari, a major

underworld figure and Rick's friendly business rival, divulges his suspicion that Rick has

the letters. In private, Rick refuses to sell at any price, telling Laszlo to ask his wife

the reason. They are interrupted when Strasser leads a group of officers in singing "Die

Wacht am Rhein". Laszlo orders the house band to defiantly play "La Marseillaise". When

the band looks to Rick, he nods his head. Laszlo starts singing, alone at first, then

patriotic fervor grips the crowd and everyone joins in, drowning out the Germans. In retaliation,

Strasser has Renault close the club. That night, Ilsa confronts Rick in the deserted

café. When he refuses to give her the letters, she threatens him with a gun, but then confesses

that she still loves him. She explains that when they first met and fell in love in Paris

in 1940, she believed that her husband had been killed attempting to escape from a concentration

camp. Later, while preparing to flee with Rick from the imminent fall of the city to

the German army, she learned that Laszlo was alive and in hiding. She left Rick without

explanation to tend her ill husband. Rick's bitterness dissolves. He agrees to

help, leading her to believe that she will stay with him when Laszlo leaves. When Laszlo

unexpectedly shows up, having narrowly escaped a police raid on a Resistance meeting, Rick

has waiter Carl spirit Ilsa away. Laszlo, aware of Rick's love for Ilsa, tries to persuade

him to use the letters to take her to safety. When the police arrest Laszlo on a minor,

trumped-up charge, Rick convinces Renault to release him by promising to set him up

for a much more serious crime: possession of the letters of transit. To allay Renault's

suspicions, Rick explains he and Ilsa will be leaving for America. When Renault tries

to arrest Laszlo as arranged, Rick forces him at gunpoint to assist in their escape.

At the last moment, Rick makes Ilsa board the plane to Lisbon with her husband, telling

her she would regret it if she stayed - "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and

for the rest of your life." Strasser, tipped off by Renault, drives up

alone. Rick kills him when he tries to intervene. When the police arrive, Renault pauses, then

tells them to "round up the usual suspects." Renault suggests to Rick that they join the

Free French in Brazzaville. As they walk away into the fog, Rick says, "Louis, I think this

is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Cast

The play's cast consisted of 16 speaking parts and several extras; the film script enlarged

it to 22 speaking parts and hundreds of extras. The cast is notably international: only three

of the credited actors were born in the United States. The top-billed actors are:

Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine. Rick was his first truly romantic role.

Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund. Bergman's official website calls Ilsa her "most famous and enduring

role". The Swedish actress's Hollywood debut in Intermezzo had been well received, but

her subsequent films were not major successes until Casablanca. Film critic Roger Ebert

called her "luminous", and commented on the chemistry between her and Bogart: "she paints

his face with her eyes". Other actresses considered for the role of Ilsa included Ann Sheridan,

Hedy Lamarr and Michèle Morgan. Wallis obtained the services of Bergman, who was contracted

to David O. Selznick, by lending Olivia de Havilland in exchange.

Paul Henreid as Victor Laszlo. Henreid, an Austrian actor who had emigrated in 1935,

was reluctant to take the role (it "set as a stiff forever", according to Pauline Kael),

until he was promised top billing along with Bogart and Bergman. Henreid did not get on

well with his fellow actors; he considered Bogart "a mediocre actor." Bergman called

Henreid a "prima donna". The second-billed actors are:

Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault. Rains was an English actor born in London. He had

previously worked with Michael Curtiz on The Adventures of Robin Hood. He later played

in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious with Ingrid Bergman.

Conrad Veidt as Major Heinrich Strasser. He was a German actor who had appeared in The

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. He fled the Nazis, but in the United States was frequently cast

as a Nazi in American films related to the war.

Sydney Greenstreet as Signor Ferrari, a rival nightclub owner. Another Englishman, Greenstreet

had previously starred with Lorre and Bogart in his film debut in The Maltese Falcon.

Peter Lorre as Signor Ugarte. Lorre, who was born in Austria-Hungary, had left Germany

in 1933. He had previously appeared with Bogart and Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon.

Also credited are: Curt Bois as the pickpocket. Bois was a German-Jewish

actor and refugee. He had one of the longest careers in film, making his first appearance

in 1907 and his last in 1987. Leonid Kinskey as Sascha, the Russian bartender

infatuated with Yvonne. He was born into a Jewish family in Russia and had immigrated

to the US. Madeleine Lebeau as Yvonne, Rick's soon-discarded

girlfriend. The French actress was married to Marcel Dalio until their divorce in 1942.

Joy Page as Annina Brandel, the young Bulgarian refugee. The third credited American, she

was the stepdaughter of Jack Warner, the studio head.

John Qualen as Berger, Laszlo's Resistance contact. He was born in Canada, but grew up

in America. He appeared in many of John Ford's movies.

S. Z. Sakall (credited as S. K. Sakall) as Carl, the waiter. He was a Jewish-Hungarian

actor who fled from Germany in 1939. His three sisters later died in a concentration camp.

Dooley Wilson as Sam. He was one of the few American members of the cast. A drummer, he

could not play the piano. Even after shooting had been completed, Wallis considered dubbing

over Wilson's voice for the songs. Producer Wallis considered changing the character to

a woman and thought of casting singers Hazel Scott or Ella Fitzgerald.

Notable uncredited actors are: Leon Belasco as a dealer in Rick's Cafe. A

Russian-American character actor, he appeared in 13 films the year Casablanca was released.

Marcel Dalio as Emil the croupier. He had been a star in French cinema, appearing in

Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion and La Regle de Jeu. After he fled the fall of France and

went to America, he was reduced to bit parts in Hollywood. He had a key role in another

of Bogart's films, To Have and Have Not. Helmut Dantine as Jan Brandel, the Bulgarian

roulette player married to Annina Brandel. Another Austrian, he had spent time in a concentration

camp after the Anschluss but left Europe after being freed.

William Edmunds as a contact man at Rick's. He usually played characters with heavy accents,

such as Martini in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Gregory Gaye as the German banker who is refused

entry to the casino by Rick. Gaye was a Russian-born actor who went to the United States in 1917

after the Russian Revolution. Torben Meyer as the Dutch banker who runs

"the second largest banking house in Amsterdam". Meyer was a Danish actor.

George London, one of those who sing "La Marseillaise". London was a Montreal-born bass-baritone opera

singer. Georges Renavent as a conspirator.

Corinna Mura as the guitar player who sings "Tango Delle Rose" while Laszlo is consulting

with Berger, and later accompanies the crowd on "La Marsaillaise".

Dan Seymour as Abdul the doorman. He was an American actor who often played villains,

including the principal one in To Have and Have Not, and one of the secondary ones in

Key Largo, both opposite Bogart. Norma Varden as the Englishwoman whose husband

has his wallet stolen. She was a famous English character actress.

Jean Del Val as the French police radio announcer who (following the opening montage sequence)

reports the news of the murder of the two German couriers.

Leo White as the waiter Emile (not to be confused with the croupier Emil), from whom Renault

orders a drink when he sits down with the Laszlos. White was a familiar face in many

Charlie Chaplin two-reelers in the 1910s, usually playing an upper-class antagonist.

Much of the emotional impact of the film has been attributed to the large proportion of

European exiles and refugees who were extras or played minor roles. A witness to the filming

of the "duel of the anthems" sequence said he saw many of the actors crying and "realized

that they were all real refugees". Harmetz argues that they "brought to a dozen small

roles in Casablanca an understanding and a desperation that could never have come from

Central Casting". The German citizens among them had to keep curfew, as they were classified

by the US as enemy aliens and under restrictions. They were frequently cast as Nazis in war

films, even though many were Jewish. Some of the refugee actors are:

Louis V. Arco as a refugee in Rick's. Born Lutz Altschul in Austria, he moved to America

shortly after the Anschluss because he was Jewish and changed his name.