I watched the movie Casablanca, for the first time, on video last night. I’m a little bit puzzled on one point: If the German Major Strassner could order Rick’s saloon closed (after the patrons sang “La Marseillase”), why couldn’t he have arrested Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid?) the moment they met?
Because it would have cut short the film? 
The Scots - never trust a race whose national dress includes a concealed knife.
I think the major is treading a fine line in Vichy territory. He doesn’t have the power to arrest anybody, but he is an army from a more or less allied power (allied not Allied), so I suppose he has some authority to help keep the peace. Ordering the bar shut down could be done with some pretext of snuffing out subversive activities.
Hopefully, I can convince you to accept “hopefully” as a disjunct adverb.
Frankly, I would be lying if I said I were confident.
Perhaps this subject is simply too complex for me to explain.
Unfortunately, I would be lucky to explain my way out of a paper bag.
I wish I could wipe my memory and sit down and watch it for the first time again.
I’m actually quite jealous .
It’s best not to look to deep into this film thought because it’s full of holes , much better to just sit back and enjoy Bogie and Bergman spouting some of the best( and chesseyist) lines ever written.
I wonder if “pretense” would be a better word here than “pretext.” 
And, to Yojimbo: What are some of the holes? Please elaborate. 
[quote]
Originally posted by dougie_monty:
**
Why would the Germans give a toss about anything sighted by DeGaulle . Marshall Petain ( forgive the spelling ) was the leader of Vichy France . Thus a travell document signed by DeGaulle would be absolutly useless .
Go on…
Dougie , I’m not dodging the question but give me 15mins my manager just started to hassle me . talk to you soon .
Sure.
Aahh I hate work .
Anyway as I was saying the transit papers of no value .
After all the hastle with the papers they are not asked to produce them in the airport .
Why lazlo wasn’t arrseted at first sight which was your original point .
I also seem to remember something about the route the courier took to get to Casablanca .
Ok maybe not full of holes as I stated .
Anyway did you enjoy the film . Did it mount to more than a hill of beans in your opinion?
I thought Pierre Laval was the leader of Vichy France.
As for the OP, Major Stroesser had Louie close the place down. The reason they didn’t arrest Lazlo immediately was probably because they were waiting for a reason to, thinking he was going to be in Casablanca for a while. I’m guessing that if they used a pretext as flimsy as the one for closing Rick’s, the Vichy government wouldn’t have allowed the Germans to take him away.
Casablanca is one of my favorite movies because they manage to get every little detail to work together. I have yet to find any specific thing they could have done to make the movie better. Bogart and Bergman are absolutely perfect for their roles, and have some of the best chemistry I have ever seen. And the movie is chock full of some of the most memorable lines ever uttered on the silver screen.
The answer is covered amply in the screenplay.
-
Major Strasser has no official powers in Casablanca.
-
Captain Renaud is willing to cooperate with the Germans. He is also willing to arrest Lazlo – if Lazlo breaks the law. Since Casablanca is independent of Nazi Germany, though, Renaud has to be able to charge Lazlo with something.
-
When Strasser tells him to shut down Rick’s (note – it’s not technically an order), Renaud is willing to go along because he does have a reason and because he wants to cooperate. Shutting it down is also within his powers, whereas arresting Lazlo would only put Lazlo in front of a judge who could release him.
An interesting point – if Strasser had bribed Renaud to arrest Lazlo, it probably would have happened.
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.
One of the interesting things about the movie is that it’s a WWII film with no Allies in it. The U.S. wasn’t in the war yet and France had already been knocked out. So Rick and the Frenchmen are independent actors. Technically, they are subserviant to Vichy. But as Rick reveals with his unanswered question “Are you pro-Vichy or Free French”, the real loyalties of a French person, especially a proud officer far from metropolitan France, could lie anywhere. Some of them probably would have throttled De Gaulle with their own hands, given the chance. Some would have died for him. Louis, though an arrogant, lecherous man, is clearly sympathetic to the remaining Allies, or at least he wants to discomfit the Germans. Other Morocco-based soldiers probably shared his feelings.
So I think it is perfectly plausible that De Gaulle’s signature would carry some wait with otherwise indifferent French troops.
From www.m-w.com/ :
Main Entry: pre·text
Function: noun
: a purpose or motive alleged or an appearance assumed in order to cloak the real intention or state of affairs
Casablanca is without doubt one of the finest films ever made. It manages to be be an enduring war story, a love story, and a buddy movie, all without special effects, nudity, or gore - accomplished merely thru the skill of the actors and the writers. Can anyone imagine such a movie being produced today?
No such thing as a “Letter of Transit,” whether signed by DeGaulle or anyone else. The letters were a device invented for the film. No problem there. That’s how films are made. But I agree with the DeGaulle bit. Why should the German (or Vichy) authorities care about anything signed by DeGaulle? Never understood the logic behind that.
The specific impetus I had to watch Casablanca involved a piano I saw a week or so before. It was elaborate, perhaps something you might see appraised on The Antiques Roadshow. Someone told me it was the one Dooley Wilson sat at in the movie. Unlike that piano, however, this one was varnished, had elaborate designs on it (more so than the one in Rick’s place), and had sort of a “cupola” on the top. I looked over carefully the piano in the movie–including when Rick slipped Ugarte’s transit papers into it–and it didn’t resemble the piano I saw last week, at all.
As far as the letters of transit go I had always interpreted them as being needed at the Lisbon end of the trip. If they did not have permission to enter Portugal they would be sent back or interned for the duration of the war. That is what I always thought.
CASABLANCA II: INTERNED IN PORTUGAL! With Ben Stiller and Minnie Driver! Featuring Pauly Shore as “Rick!” Coming in August!
didn’t the studio plan on a “Return to Casablanca”, but it fell through?
Thanks for doing your bit to advance the cause of human knowledge.
– Cecil Adams
waterj,
Pétain was the head of the Vichy government, Laval served as his deputy and prime minister (1942-40)
Thanks for doing your bit to advance the cause of human knowledge.
– Cecil Adams