Casablanca (1942)

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Julius J. Epstein (screenplay) and
Philip G. Epstein (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

23 January 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

They had a date with fate in Casablanca!

Plot:

Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

Plot Keywords:

Casablanca | German | Police | American Expatriate | Nightclub

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Rick Blaine
Ingrid Bergman	...	Ilsa Lund
Paul Henreid	...	Victor Laszlo
Claude Rains	...	Captain Renault
Conrad Veidt	...	Major Strasser
Sydney Greenstreet	...	Signor Ferrari
Peter Lorre	...	Ugarte
S.Z. Sakall	...	Carl (as S.K. Sakall)
Madeleine Lebeau	...	Yvonne
Dooley Wilson	...	Sam
Joy Page	...	Annina Brandel
John Qualen	...	Berger
Leonid Kinskey	...	Sascha
Curt Bois	...	Pickpocket
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Enrique Acosta	...	Guest at Rick's (uncredited)
Ed Agresti	...	Bar Patron (uncredited)
Louis V. Arco	...	Refugee at Rick's (uncredited)
Frank Arnold	...	Overseer (uncredited)
Leon Belasco	...	Dealer at Rick's (uncredited)
Nino Bellini	...	Gendarme (uncredited)
Trude Berliner	...	Baccarat Player at Rick's (uncredited)
Oliver Blake	...	Waiter at the Blue Parrot (uncredited)
Monte Blue	...	American (uncredited)
Dick Botiller	...	Native Officer (uncredited)
Maurice Brierre	...	Baccarat Dealer at Ricjk's (uncredited)
Anita Camargo	...	Woman Companion (uncredited)
George M. Carleton	...	American (uncredited)
Melie Chang	...	Oriental at Rick's (uncredited)
Spencer Chan	...	Guest at Rick's (uncredited)
Gino Corrado	...	Waiter at Rick's (uncredited)
Franco Corsaro	...	French Police Officer (uncredited)
Marcel Dalio	...	Emil - Croupier at Rick's (uncredited)
Adrienne D'Ambricourt	...	Concierge (uncredited)
Helmut Dantine	...	Jan Brandel (uncredited)
Jean De Briac	...	Orderly (uncredited)
George Dee	...	Lieutenant Casselle (uncredited)
Jean Del Val	...	Police Officer (uncredited)
Joseph DeVillard	...	Moroccan (uncredited)
Arthur Dulac	...	News Vendor (uncredited)
William Edmunds	...	Second Contact Man at Rick's (uncredited)
Herbert Evans	...	Englishman Questioning Casino's Honesty (uncredited)
Fred Farrell	...	Singing Frenchman (uncredited)
Adolph Faylauer	...	Gambler at Rick's (uncredited)
O.K. Ford	...	Conspirator (uncredited)
Martin Garralaga	...	Headwaiter at Rick's (uncredited)
Gregory Gaye	...	German Banker Refused by Rick (uncredited)
Gregory Golubeff	...	Cashier at Rick's (uncredited)
Ilka Grüning	...	Mrs. Leuchtag - Carl's Immigrating Friend (uncredited)
Creighton Hale	...	Customer (uncredited)
Winifred Harris	...	Englishwoman (uncredited)
Jamiel Hasson	...	Muezzini (uncredited)
Arthur Stuart Hull	...	Elderly Admirer (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten	...	Pickpocketed Prosperous Man (uncredited)
Paul Irving	...	Prosperous Tourist (uncredited)
Charles La Torre	...	Italian Officer Tonnelli (uncredited)
George J. Lewis	...	Haggling Arab Monkey Seller (uncredited)
Max Linder	...	Elegant Gambler (uncredited)
Manuel Lopez	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Jacques Lory	...	Moor Buying Diamonds (uncredited)
Lou Marcelle	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Michael Mark	...	Vendor (uncredited)
Tony Martelli	...	Bartender (uncredited)
George Meeker	...	Rick's Friend (uncredited)
Lal Chand Mehra	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Louis Mercier	...	Conspirator (uncredited)
Torben Meyer	...	Dutch Banker at Cafe Table (uncredited)
Alberto Morin	...	French Officer Insulting Yvonne (uncredited)
Leo Mostovoy	...	Fydor (uncredited)
Corinna Mura	...	Singer with Guitar (uncredited)
Barry Norton	...	Gambler at Rick's (uncredited)
Lotte Palfi Andor	...	Woman Selling Her Diamonds (uncredited)
Paul Panzer	...	Paul - Waiter at Rick's (uncredited)
Manuel París	...	Guest at Rick's (uncredited)
Alexander Pollard	...	Croupier (uncredited)
Paul Porcasi	...	Native Introducing Ferrari (uncredited)
Frank Puglia	...	Arab Vendor (uncredited)
Georges Renavent	...	Conspirator (uncredited)
Dewey Robinson	...	Bouncer at Rick's (uncredited)
Henry Rowland	...	German Officer (uncredited)
Richard Ryen	...	Colonel Heinz -, Strasser's Aide (uncredited)
Dan Seymour	...	Abdul (uncredited)
Lester Sharpe	...	Refugee (uncredited)
Dina Smirnova	...	Woman Customer (uncredited)
Gerald Oliver Smith	...	Pickpocketed Englishman (uncredited)
George Sorel	...	Native Officer (uncredited)
Geoffrey Steele	...	Customer (uncredited)
Ludwig Stössel	...	Mr. Leuchtag (uncredited)
Mike Tellegen	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Jacques Vanaire	...	Frenchman (uncredited)
Ellinor Vanderveer	...	Woman Gambler at Rick's Next to Croupier (uncredited)
Norma Varden	...	Wife of Pickpocketed Englishman (uncredited)
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski	...	German Officer with Yvonne (uncredited)
Leo White	...	Emile - Waiter (uncredited)
Jack Wise	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Wolfgang Zilzer	...	Man with Expired Papers (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Curtiz

Writing credits
Julius J. Epstein		(screenplay) (as Julius J.) and
Philip G. Epstein		(screenplay) and
Howard Koch		(screenplay)
Murray Burnett		(play "Everybody Comes to Rick's") and
Joan Alison		(play "Everybody Comes to Rick's")
Casey Robinson		uncredited

Produced by
Hal B. Wallis	....	producer
Jack L. Warner	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
Arthur Edeson		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Owen Marks

Art Direction by
Carl Jules Weyl

Set Decoration by
George James Hopkins

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Al Alleborn	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lee Katz	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Harper Goff	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Francis J. Scheid	....	sound
Edward Ullman	....	sound recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Lawrence W. Butler	....	special effects director (as Lawrence Butler)
Willard Van Enger	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Chris Crowell	....	digital compositor (restored version) (uncredited)

Stunts
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Anthony Gasbarri	....	tailor: Mr. Bogart's tuxedo (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Hugo Friedhofer	....	music arranger: orchestral arrangements
M.K. Jerome	....	songs
Jack Scholl	....	songs
Elliot Carpenter	....	musician: piano, dubbed Dooley Wilson's playing (uncredited)

Other crew
Robert Aisner	....	technical advisor
James Leicester	....	montages
Hugh MacMullan	....	dialogue director
Don Siegel	....	montages
Bob Williams	....	unit publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures (A Warner Bros.-First National Picture)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (1991) (Germany) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1992) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (1992) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1995) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Steeplechase Entertainment (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Rhino Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Creative Design (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Neue Visionen Filmverleih (2002) (Germany) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Warner Home Vídeo (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Park Circus (2007) (UK) (theatrical)
• Sociedade Importadora de Filmes (SIF) (1945) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• CBS/Fox (????) (USA) (VHS)
• CBS/Fox (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Varus Video (????) (Russia) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Lowry Digital Images  digital restoration (2003 re-release)

Also Known As:

Everybody Comes to Rick's (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild violence.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Spain:T | USA:Approved (certificate #8457) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Brazil:12 | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Chile:TE | Denmark:A | Finland:S | Germany:6 | Norway:10 (re-rating) (1992) | Norway:11 (re-rating) (2002) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | Sweden:7 (re-release) | UK:U | USA:PG (new rating) (1992)

Filming Locations:

Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The Paris train station set was recycled from Now, Voyager (1942).

Goofs:

Continuity: The Venetian blinds in Victor's and Ilsa's hotel room.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the great embarkation point. But, not everybody could get to Lisbon directly, and so a tortuous, roundabout refugee trail sprang up - Paris to Marseilles...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tais-toi quand tu parles! (1981)

Soundtrack:

Die Wacht Am Rhein

Of all the classics in all the films in all the world, this is the best!

This is a film that MUST belong in every video collection in the U.S. is not in the world. The stories about it's making are legendary from the constant rewrites to the apocrypha of casting stories.

What is amazing to me, and the reason I believe it holds audiences almost spellbound in successive viewings, is the connection with the horrors of World War II was almost every single cast member. Sidney Greenstreet had lost a son in combat, and a number of the cast members fled Europe to escape the ravages of a Hitler regime. Even the evil Nazi character Major Strasser (played with relish by Conrad Veidt) had left Nazi Germany to escape almost sure internment and possible death in a concentration camp. Here was a man who was a legend in German film history as the murdering somnambulist (a possible warning about the Nazi soldiers to come?) and because of the vicious anti-Semitism and racism of the Germany of the '30s and '40s, we in America and in Hollywood were given a great gift.

Everyone in this film is fabulous, but it is the chemistry of Rick (Bogart) and Ilsa (Bergman) been truly holds the film together. When I saw this film almost frame by frame in the limited book series of classic films that were produced in the late 1960s, I was stunned by the subtlety of facial expressions that conveyed so much of Rick Blaine's character by a marvelous actor Humphrey Bogart. There is a reason why he was named the actor of the century.

While every person in the film becomes a real flesh and blood presence, the story of Rick and Ilsa is the center of this cinema feast.

I must confess that I have seen this picture so many times that I can recite every single line in the movie to the consternation of my wife who can't watch it with me anymore.

The line that sticks out the most for me, and which against cheers from New Yorkers whenever it plays in the theater. It is when Bogart says to the Nazis seated at his table, "There are parts of New York I wouldn't advise you to invade." And what makes this line so memorable is that Humphrey Bogart did indeed star in another motion picture for Warner Brothers where that very thing formed the basis for the script. That movie was "All Through The Night." I love this movie too, and I'm not even a New Yorker.

There have been many attempts to revisit "Casablanca," but only the original makes you really feel what it was like to live through "The Good War" in a faraway place like Casablanca in French Morocco.

Even though such trickery as midget airport workers, fog machines and cardboard cutout airplanes were utilized, this film convinces through its beautiful story with many layers, and characters that are so well realized.

If you've never seen this movie before, shame on you and see it immediately. If you only seen it once, I believe you will come back to it more than once. This is just about the most perfect film ever made and it is a miracle that that is so considering that there were so many hands in the pie. (Excuse me for my mixing my metaphors. It's late, and I get emotional just thinking about this classic film masterpiece.)

Play it again and again and again and again, Sam.