(Had they stayed in Casablanca)? Capt. Renault (after the death of Major Strasser):
“this isn’t going to be very pleasant for either of us”.
Had a court determined that Rick murdered major Strasser, would Capt. Renault have been arrested as well?
Suppose they did flees to the Free French area of North Africa; what would have happened to them?
Cannon fodder at El Alamein.
I guess the question is… how mercenary would the replacement German “liason” be?
Would they take the Captain’s word that “our investigation reveals that the suspect escaped on a waiting plane and is now out of the jurisdiction”? Would they settle for “round up the usual suspects”? Would they find it simpler not to rock the boat? Take out the local administration and you end up having to run the show yourself. Did the Nazis have a deep desire to micromanage the Vichy regime? A red armband does not guarantee laser-focus competence and dedication any more than a French gendarme uniform does.
Speculation about fictional characters is better suited to Cafe Society than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Whether or not Rick gets charged with killing Strasser, by December 11th Germany will declare war on the U.S. and Rick would be considered an enemy alien on German-controlled territory. I’m honestly not sure how strict Vichy France was about this sort of thing, but Strasser’s replacement could easily order (or at least strongly insist, which puts Renault in an awkward position) Rick’s arrest or expulsion on that basis.
In case you’re wondering what happened:
As Time Goes By (novel) - Wikipedia)
This is at least semi-canonical.
And I really liked it, though some people hate it.
I haven’t read it, but I’m not thrilled by the plot synopsis. I object to any follow-up that brings Rick and Ilsa back together. Most of the power of Casablanca’s ending comes from the fact that we know these two people are never going to see each other again.
The overall balance of power that existed between Germany and Vichy France would have still existed. The Vichy regime would have sent a new police commandant to replace Renault and the new man would have been ordered to be more cooperative with the Germans. So he would have arrested Rick and Louis and turned them over.
Shrug. Didn’t bother me at all.
More likely working behind the lines in Operation TORCH.
I listened to the audiobook and liked it too, some good gangster action in flashbacks.
America was one of the regimes that maintained full diplomatic relations with Vichy, and recognised it as legitimate successor to the Third Republic ( it was in fact the real Fourth Republic ), therefore normal diplomatic protocol would occur. In the case of war, ‘Rick’ would have been either interned or returned. But before war he would probably been declared persona non grata and sent to a neutral country.
It would not have been in France’s interests to cause a diplomatic breach with America over some scallywag. For petty crimes no doubt any country can just send foreigners to their jails; but crimes for which the criminal can drag in the Embassy, not so much.
The USSR and others of the Allies also recognised Vichy; but there was a problem for Britain since we had treacherously destroyed the French Navy after the armistice. Always a temptation.
Here’s more on what happened in Casablanca in November 1942 during TORCH: Operation Torch - Wikipedia