Casablanca (1942)

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Murray Burnett (play) and
Joan Alison (play) ...

Release Date:

23 January 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

They had a date with fate in Casablanca!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Pragmatist | Source Music | Military Officer | Place Name In Title | Lost Love

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 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

Also Known As:

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

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:

USA:Approved (original rating: PCA #6457) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Spain:T | Brazil:12 | Iceland:L | 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 (re-rating) (1992)

Filming Locations:

Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

S.Z. Sakall, who plays the maitre d' at Rick's Cafe, actually has more screen time than Peter Lorre or Sydney Greenstreet.

Goofs:

Continuity: A knight on the chessboard disappears momentarily in the opening chess game.

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:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Natural Born Kissers (#9.25)" (1998)

Soundtrack:

Dat's What Noah Done

I've loved this film for thirty years.

Casablanca is a film about the personal tragedy of occupation and war. It speaks to the oppression of the one side - and the heroism and self-deprecation of the other. From opportunists, to isolationists - from patriots to disenchanted lovers - the film has everything a man or woman would enjoy. Bravery, courage, intrigue, romance, beauty and love. Leading actors to please any appetite. Watching this film is to step back to a world that doesn't exist - yet to know it. It is to experience lives that have never been lived - but are "real to you." It is to know pain and joy, pride and pity for characters that are a fiction - yet are so real that you can't help but get lost in their story.

Amazing cast, memorable dialogue, unforgettable story. Through this film, Casablanca will always live in my heart and I will think of its characters as family.

Seeing it for the first time is truly the start of a romance with ideals that will live in you long after credits end.