Nobody’s ever loved me that much. 
Actually, it seems to have a climate that’s a lot like Los Angeles’s:
It’s on the windward side of the Atlas Mountains, so it must be less desert-like than the movie implies.
The events in the movie take place around the beginning of December, which is by far the wettest time of the year.
One thing that made Casablanca especially relevant to me is the underlying story of thousand of refugees fleeing a war-torn country, looking to the west hoping for freedom. Watch the opening scene where the narrator talks about a “torturous refugee trail”…remind you of anything going on today?
Never seen it. Its on my DVR. I just need to take the time to see it.
Many of the actors and actresses in the film had, in real life, recently fled from the Hitler Empire!
Although I was born in '49, that was close enough to feel connected to W.W. II — my father served in the Navy during the War; I’ve been reading WW II histories since I was old enough to read; and (like Rick!) I’m a sentimentalist!
Maybe that’s why young people are not impressed with this movie. The singing of La Marseillaise, for example, gives a visceral thrill to people familiar with W.W. II that might be missing if that War were just “ancient history.”
The only time I’ve seen it on the big screen was early 80’s in Paris. The French subtitles weren’t good, but “It was the day the Germans marched into Paris” became “C’était le 14 juin.” I guess that date must be like America’s “December 7.”
Most notably Peter Lorre, who had fled with his wife Celia Lovsky (T’Pau on Star Trek). Probably the only reason she wasn’t in the film as well was that Lorre didn’t want her to work while they were married.
Also worthy of special note is Sasha, the Bartender, played by Leonid Kinskey. He was born in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1903. While not a victim of Nazism, he did flee the Russian Revolution, ending up in the United States in 1924. He played POW Vladimir Minsk in the 1965 pilot of Hogan’s Heroes but decided against appearing in the series because he found the concept “offensive.” In his words, “Nazis were seldom dumb and never funny.”
That moment never fails to choke me up, too. If the story I heard (in an episode of NCIS, I think) is true, Bogart had already quit work for the day and was off having a drink when he was called back to the set to film the one shot they needed before he could go home: Rick giving his nod of assent when Laszlo orders the orchestra to play the Marsellaise.
Another item worthy of mention: The song the Germans sing is the patriotic anthem Die Wacht am Rhein (“The Watch on the Rhine”). They were originally supposed to sing the Nazi Party anthem Die Fahne Hoch (“Raise the Banner,” aka the Horst Wessel Lied), but it turned out to be copyrighted, meaning the studio would be legally bound to pay royalties. Watch was substituted at the last minute.
Oh, I dunno. I get a thrill when all those men stand up and say, “I am Spartacus!” and I wasn’t alive back when that happened.
The Marseillaise moment is a great one in a film of many great moments. I think I’ll watch it again tonight!
Damn, even just reading about it almost brings a tear to my eye. The shot of Yvonne singing is intense.
I did not see it until, I think, I was well into my 40s. I expected it was going to be all corny and shit, but it is an absolute joy to watch. I’ve probably seen it 5 times, start to finish. It just draws you in from the first moment.
The first time I saw it was on TV the winter of '73–'74, so I was 18 or 19 at the time. I immediately understood why it had such a great reputation. My mother asked me if I thought Ingrid Bergman was beautiful; she wasn’t sure someone of my generation would find her attractive. All I could say was “Oh, yeah!”
Since then, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen it. When I was teaching English as a foreign language, I would show it to my students at least once a year, and give them some background on WWII, Vichy France, and the Resistance movement.
I’ll never forget watching it together with my daughter for the first time a few years back. She loved it too.
One of my absolute favorites, I haven seen it in years though.
Citizen Kane is often exalted to be one of the best films of all time, but I would actually set Casablanca above it. The former was a sort of bioparody, while the latter was an entirely original story (AAUI, they were not even sure how they were going to end it). Also, the comic relief in Casablanca is almost overwhelming, while Citizen Kane is pretty darn leaden. Nicely filmed but darn depressing.
I used to go to late night showings in the early 70’s before it was rediscovered, it was like the scene in Play It Again, Sam with that smarmy bastard W. Allen mouthing the words to every scene, just a few nerdy guys watching, most of us nursing a heartbreak because Casablanca is above all a story of lost and found and lost love. Rick knocks over the empty bottle just as Ilsa walks in, “I saved my 1st drink to have with you”. Great stuff…Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Singin in the Rain, 1,2,3 best all time movies. Always be in love with young Judy Garland, Ingrid Bergman, and Gene Kelly, sigh…
Casablanca was released during WW2, in 1942. La Marseillaise was sung by actual French refugees who didn’t know if they’d ever see their beloved homeland again.
Omigod. I got goosebumps all over just reading that.
OH SHIT ! Casablanca was colorized ! Some people have no respect for classic movies ! I would loved to had seen it at a movie theater b/c is hard to find a theater that has CC for deaf and HOH people .
Yvonne, and her then husband, Emil the croupier, were both real refugees that had traveled with forged documents. That scene is some serious shit.
Here’s an interesting short read on the real refugees of Casablanca.
You will be shocked-- shocked!-- to find that most refugees did not spend their time drinking champagne cocktails.