FAQ for
Casablanca (1942) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

No. A single press release from Warner Bros. attached Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan to the project, but it was likely just a filler piece, designed to keep studio contract players in the press. On that basis, it has become an oft-repeated trivia piece, but there was no basis to it. For a longer discussion, see here.

For the plot of the movie, they're specialized documents that allow the bearer to travel anywhere in the world, including from Nazi-occupied countries. The letters are actually a "MacGuffin" - a term director Alfred Hitchcock and writer Angus MacPhail coined to describe a plot point that is deliberately left vague so as not to draw too much emphasis away from the real story but still is a driving factor in propelling the story itself. The letters themselves are entirely fictional.