Nose slightly too big. Slight overbite. Cheekbones slightly too high. Imperfections that take her from “blandly gorgeous” to “achingly beautiful.”
Lebeau and Page, incidentally, are the only two cast members still living.
For me, it comes down to Rick having to choose between Ilsa and what is honorable. Rick has it in his power to take Ilsa away from Victor and away from Casablanca. He has enough money that they could go anywhere in the world to be safe from the war, but at the same time, Rick is an honorable man. He’s an ex-gunrunner (and possible murderer), but he didn’t sell weapons to just anybody. Nor did he participate in any of the illegal goings on in his bar, the only time he got involved was when Peter Lorrie appeared with the letters of transit. In the end, Rick realizes that were he to go away with Ilsa, any happiness they had would be fleeting and fragile. Neither of them would be able to forget what they had to give up in order to be together, and it would always be the drunken elephant lumbering around in the room. Having been forced to make the same choices as Rick more times than I care to think about, i totally identify with him.
One other thing about when the filmed opened in 1942. Casablanca was all over the news, having just fallen in the war. So people going to see the film could well imagine that it was capturing the last moments of freedom in that city.
Casablanca was probably the best B grade film ever made. I have seen it so often, and still love it- everything just gels. Sure there are holes in the plot- the most wanted man in Europe wandering around in a bright white suit and visas hich can’t be revoked (yeah right). Bergman to me is no great shakes as an actress- you need more than glacial looks. But there was chemistry between her and Bogart. But Claude Raines was IMHO the star.
Yeah, but instead of “As Time Goes By” they used “Rio” by Duran Duran! 
That it doesn’t end in a happy-ending clinch is, I think, one of the reasons why it resonates so strongly emotionally with many people. (Gone With the Wind too, BTW).
I am shocked, shocked that with all these posts about the great acting and the great music nobody has mentioned Dooley Wilson. His voice makes the music great. And let’s not forget another one of Rick’s great lines “I don’t deal in human beings.”
How many points for Page, I wonder? (I am so going to hell.)
She’s an 18 pointer.
You think you’re going to hell? I invented the game!
Sigh. This is the end of a beautiful relationship.
In the two-disk set I have, one of the Epsteins says in retrospective just that. Paraphrasing (I’m too lazy to drag it down and play it): You gotta remember, we were turning out fifty movies a year, a movie a week. Casablanca was simply that week’s movie. We had no idea it would be immortal when we were making it.
In the industry they speak of catching lightning in a bottle. You work on every project, doing the best you can, getting past the thousand troubles and woes preventing the story from getting to the screen. Once in a while the gods smile, everything comes together, and you wind up with a perfect little gem. In Casablanca they succeeded in catching lightning in a bottle.
My take on the movie is that Renault, not Rick, is the most interesting character. We all know that Rick’s cynical posturing is just that: posturing. He’s a man who’s been wounded in love and wants the world to know how little he cares for it. His cynicism is a cover. He claims he sticks his neck out for nobody, but he sticks his neck out for the young Polish couple and when he tells the band to play the Fench anthem in fromt of the Germans.
Renault is weak. He wants to do good, but is too small a man to take the risk. He looks to Rick for guidance, and when he sees Rick, the better man, be an amoral cynic, he figures he may as well be one too. Only when Rick makes the grand heroic gesture of abandoning Ilsa does Renault find it within himself to join the fight against evil.
I read somewhere that Claude Rains never saw a complete script and was surprised and pleased to see the change in his character as the film finished shooting.
Cyncial anti-heros are old hat now. Were there many in movies before Rick Blaine?
My favorite lines:
Captain Renault: What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.