Of course they slept together, or at least came damn close. That’s the only reason for the cutaway at that point – it’s the classic Hayes Code-era obfuscation. Gives the screenwriters plausible deniability to the censors, but most adults watching would’ve known sexytimes just occured.
As far as the letters of transit are concerned, Weygand or De Galle, it really doesn’t matter – General McGuffin’s the one who’s behind those things. The film works 'cause it’s a story about redemption and a passionate yet selfless love (Strangers on a Train’s perpetual one-man crusade against Ilsa notwithstanding :D) laced with suspense, witty comedy, and inspiring (but never too rah-rah) wartime patriotism. And though I know it’s not the cool POV, I say proudly: I love Victor Laszlo.
Anyone who’s not moved by that scene is dead inside. Totally dead. (Or just doesn’t know their history.) Vive la France! Vive Casablanca!
I … am not sure why you’re breaking out the rolleyes for me. All I said was I love Victor, an oft-dismissed character. That doesn’t mean I don’t love Rick, too. (Not to mention that surely Inigo is a closer analog to Rick – dissolute guy who redeems himself and returns to the Good Fight.)
It doesn’t hurt that Paul Henreid is incredibly sexy. If you haven’t seen Now, Voyager, you should. (Speaking of stories with very roundaboutly implied sex…)
All I remember is Groucho writing confusing letters to Warner Brothers about the title, and his line form the movie when the bad guys flee in an aircraft, “Anybody got a P-38 on you?”
“Even if you plan on releasing your picture, I am sure that the average movie fan could learn in time to distinguish between Ingrid Bergman and Harpo.”
Dear G-d, thank you! I read it years ago when I worked at a library.
This is one of my all time favorite movies. I’m fine with those who don’t like it, but I don’t get the vehemence. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Seems simple enough.
I didn’t think the movie made a lot of sense when I first saw it, and pretty much thought Ilsa was just out for herself. Stranger’s deconstruction just confirms my initial feeling. I guess it depends on how you view the movie, I just thought there was a lot of stuff unsaid, and it wasn’t pleasant. But if you take it at face value, that’s fine, the movie is in the eye of the beholder.
Yeesh. Stranger, this is an interesting analysis, but does it ultimately answer the OP?
Don’t you know that Victor Laszlo was a homosexual, the gay lover of Major Strasser? Rick couldn’t sleep with Ilsa because Ilsa was Rick’s daughter. Rick showed Ilsa how to drive a stick shift in Paris, which she enjoyed immensely (as could be seen in the scenes of them in the car together).
After Ilsa left Rick that night, Laszlo came by and made the moves on Rick. He was bitch-slapped around, sent on his way, and that was that. No sex happened that night. Except for Sasha and Yvonne (he didn’t come right back).
To get back to the OP: Sex was forbidden to be on film in the '40s. So to imply the characters had sex, the writers always had to do something else. I’m not sure there is a '40s film that did not allude to at least one set of characters having sex.
