"Casablanca:" Why it’s Still Beloved and Pertinent Today
"Aside from Bogart and Bergman pumping up the romance alongside third wheel Paul Henreid, the story is one of desperation in a world gone mad."
By Alan Herrmann
Film Critic
“Who got trouble? We got trouble!”
-from “Knock on Wood” sung by Dooley Wilson
One of the most appealing things about Casablanca is the sizeable cast of characters. What’s less widely known is that many of the actors who portray those characters share similar backgrounds with the characters themselves.
When American audiences first saw the film in 1943, while World War II was raging, it gave them a sense of what the U.S. was fighting for: freedom from tyranny. It’s not a stretch to say that around the world, including America, we are still witnessing this struggle.
The fact that Casablanca became such a successful movie is remarkable, considering the headaches that plagued production. Initially, this was to be an ordinary film of love, adventure, and patriotism produced by Warner Bros. to help promote the war effort as America entered the conflict after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
The original play, Everybody Comes to Rick’s, penned by Joan Alison and Murray Burnett, was sold to Warner Bros. who enlisted a team of writers – most notably Julius and Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch – to turn it into a romance-adventure drama.
The film took several months to shoot and, even with directorial duties by the great Michael Curtiz, the mood on set was troubled. Stars Humphrey Bogart (Rick Blaine), Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa Lund), Paul Henreid (Victor Laszlo), and Claude Rains (Captain Renault), didn’t always get along, drawing concerns that their on-screen chemistry would reveal resentment.
Last minute re-writes and a last-minute added ending could have ruined the film. As it turned out, Casablanca was a major hit, earning eight Academy Award nominations and winning three: best picture, best director, and best screenplay. Many consider it to be the greatest American film ever made and it probably has more memorable quotes than any other Hollywood movie.
Aside from Bogart and Bergman pumping up the romance alongside third wheel Paul Henreid, the story is one of desperation in a world gone mad. It’s a tale of refugees trying to escape war-torn Europe for the safety of America. One of the major routes was through the city of Casablanca in Morocco, and for the right price or proper letters of transit, a refugee could board a plane for Lisbon, where they could eventually escape to America and freedom.
What is particularly stunning about Casablanca is how many members of the cast were not only foreign-born, but fled Europe for their safety much like many characters in the film. It’s noteworthy how many of these actors had successful careers in Europe before they came to America.
Paul Henreid was successful in theater and film before leaving Vienna, Austria because he refused to join a Nazi actors guild. His Hollywood career was equally successful, particularly his romantic roles. Unfortunately, he was blacklisted in Hollywood because he protested against the House Un-American Activities Committee and lost his star status, but he regained some respect as a director in television. His classic line as Victor Laszlo: “Welcome to the fight. This time I know our side will win.”
Conrad Veidt was a well-known German Jewish actor for a variety of romantic and
historical roles, but his creepy roles in the silent films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Man Who Laughs became legendary. Veidt was one of Germany’s biggest stars, but fled Germany for England, then America, after Hitler took power in the thirties. Ironically, Veidt played several evil Nazis in Hollywood, where the roles were plentiful. His most famous Hollywood role would be as Major Strasser in Casablanca. One of his most chilling quotes refers to the desperation of refugees and of French Resistance: “My dear, perhaps you have already observed that in Casablanca human life is cheap.”
Peter Lorre was a Slovakian Austrian whose parents were Jewish. He carved out a
successful career in Germany where he gained fame as the child murderer in director Friz Lang’s M. He left Germany in 1933 for fear his Jewish heritage would endanger his life. Warner Bros. often teamed him up with Sydney Greenstreet who also appeared in Casablanca.
S.Z. Sakall was born in Hungary but went to Germany, where theater and filmmaking were very vibrant in the twenties. He left Germany for the United States in 1940 as Hitler’s conquest of Europe was ramping up. Sakall’s role was Carl, Rick’s good-natured right-hand man who fosters the customers’ admiration of Rick.
Leonid Kinskey was primarily a comic actor who often played foreign characters, especially Russians due to his heritage. His genial Sacha nearly steals the few scenes he has in Casablanca. Kinsky left his homeland after the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Curt Bois was a German Jewish actor who fled the Nazis in 1937. He spent the war years in Hollywood, but returned to Germany in 1950 when he felt it was safe. His small but comical role as a pickpocket in Casablanca is memorable.
Madeleine Lebeau was a French actress who fled Nazi-occupied France not long before she was cast as Yvette in Casablanca at the age of nineteen. Yvette stands out in one of the film’s most iconic scenes where “La Marseillaise” is sung in protest to the Germans loudly singing a tune from the Fatherland. We see a close-up of her, singing proudly as real tears run down her face. Many others shed real tears as well, but it is Yvette’s face that grabs our attention the most. Earlier on, she is rebuffed by Rick. Then in her search for love and comfort, she enters Rick’s place with a German officer on her arm. But this all changes with the singing of “La Marseillaise” when she realizes how she loves her country above all else.
I wonder how many of us, who have loved this film for years and still hold it in high regard today, understand its significance in our current troubled world. When I think about how unsettled the world is today, a world controlled by fear, extraordinary wealth limited to very few, and absolute power spreading like cancer—even in America—I see parallels with the characters in Casablanca.
People leave their homelands to escape authoritarian rule, extreme violence, and abject poverty to find the freedom to speak their mind. Others find themselves capitulating to authoritarianism like in Vichy France—a puppet government set up to cooperate with and help enforce the laws of the Nazi occupiers. Still others resist, defying unjust laws and practices.
Europe is still concerned with totalitarianism and fear that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could spread to other nations. Israel, a nation formed from the ashes of World War II, has a leader who has openly flouted international law and killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Meanwhile, the U.S. president plays the role of friend to dictators and autocrats while too many business leaders, law firms, and a majority of Republicans have surrendered to his strong-arm tactics or worse, welcomed them. Seems a bit like Vichy to me.
So, in our present predicament, which Casablanca quote will we embrace: Victor Laszlo’s or Major Strasser’s?
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