太陽系は約46億年前、銀河系（天の川銀河）の中心から約26,000光年離れた、オリオン腕の中に位置。

 

カサブランカ (映画)

ウィキペディアから、無料の百科事典

ナビゲーションに移動検索に移動

「ここであなたを見ています、子供」はここにリダイレクトします。その他の用途については、「ここがあなたの子供を見ている」を参照してください。

カサブランカ
ビル・ゴールドによる劇場公開ポスター
監督	マイケル・カーティス
脚本	ジュリアスJ.エプスタイン フィリップG.エプスタイン ハワード・コッホ
に基づいて	誰もがリックの ところに来る マレー・バーネット ジョーン・アリソン
プロデュース	ハル・B・ウォリス
主演	ハンフリー・ボガート イングリッド・バーグマン ポール・ヘンレイド クロード・レインズ コンラッド・ファイト シドニーグリーンストリート ピーター・ロレ[1]
撮影	アーサー・エデソン
編集済み	オーウェンマークス
音楽	マックス・シュタイナー
制作 会社	ワーナーブラザースピクチャーズ
配布元	ワーナーブラザースピクチャーズ
発売日	1942年11月26日 (ハリウッド劇場) 1943年1月23日(米国)
上映時間	102分[2]
国	米国
言語	英語
予算	878,000ドル[3]–100万ドル[4][5]
切符売場	3.7ドル[6]–690万ドル[4]

カサブランカは、マイケルカーティス監督、ハンフリーボガート、イングリッドバーグマン、ポールヘンレイド主演の1942年のアメリカのロマンチックなドラマ映画です。第二次世界大戦中に撮影され、設定されたこの作品は、女性への愛(バーグマン)か、チェコのレジスタンスリーダーである夫(ヘンレイド)がヴィシー政権下の都市カサブランカから脱出してドイツ人との戦いを続けるのを手伝わなければならないアメリカ人駐在員(ボガート)に焦点を当てています。脚本は、マレー・バーネットとジョーン・アリソンによる未制作の舞台劇であるエブリバディ・カムズ・トゥ・リックに基づいています。サポートキャストには、クロードレインズ、コンラッドファイト、シドニーグリーンストリート、ピーターロア、ドゥーリーウィルソンが出演しています。

ワーナーブラザーズ。ストーリー編集者のアイリーン・ダイアモンドは、プロデューサーのハル・B・ウォリスに1942年1月に劇の映画化権を購入するよう説得しました。ジュリアス兄弟とフィリップG.エプスタイン兄弟は当初、脚本を書くように割り当てられました。しかし、スタジオの抵抗にもかかわらず、彼らは1942年の初めにフランクキャプラの「なぜ私たちは戦うのか」シリーズに取り組むために去りました。ハワード・コッホは、エプスタインが1か月後に戻るまで脚本に割り当てられました。主要撮影は1942年5月25日に始まり、8月3日に終わりました。この映画は、ロサンゼルスのヴァンナイズにあるヴァンナイズ空港での1つのシーケンスを除いて、カリフォルニア州バーバンクのワーナーブラザーススタジオで完全に撮影されました。

カサブランカは確立されたスターと一流の作家がいるAリストの映画でしたが、その制作に関わった人は誰も、ハリウッドが毎年制作する何百もの写真の中で目立つとは思っていませんでした。^[7]カサブランカは、数週間前の連合国の北アフリカ侵攻からの宣伝を利用するために急いで釈放された。^[8] 1942年11月26日にニューヨーク市で世界初演され、1943年1月23日に米国で全国的にリリースされました。この映画は、最初の実行では目立たないにしても堅実な成功を収めました。

予想を上回り、カサブランカはアカデミー作品賞を受賞し、カーティスは最優秀監督賞に選ばれ、エプスタインとコッホは最優秀脚本賞を受賞しました。その評判は徐々に高まり、主人公[9][10]、印象的なセリフ[11][12][¹³]、そして普及している主題歌[^14][15]はすべて象徴的になり、歴史上最も偉大な映画のリストのトップ近くに常にランクされています。1989年、米国議会図書館は、この映画を「文化的、歴史的、または美的に重要である」として国立フィルム登録簿に保存する最初の映画の1つとして選択しました。

内容

• 1陰謀
• 2キャスト
• 3生産
  • 3.1ライティング
  • 3.2方向
  • 3.3撮影
• 4サウンドトラック
• 5解放
  • 5.1アイルランドとドイツのカット
• 6レセプション
  • 6.1初期対応
  • 6.2不朽の人気
  • 6.3後の作品への影響
  • 6.4賞と栄誉
• 7解釈
• 8ホームメディア
• 9リメイクと未実現の続編
• 10適応
• 11色づけ
• 12不正確さと誤った引用
• 13筆記
• 14参照
• 15外部リンク

プロット[編集]

左から右へ:ヘンレイド、バーグマン、レインズ、ボガート

1941年12月、アメリカ人駐在員のリックブレインはカサブランカにナイトクラブとギャンブルの巣窟を所有しています。「リックのカフェアメリカ」は、ヴィシー政権のフランスとナチスのドイツの役人、中立の米国に到達しようと必死になっている難民、そして彼らを捕食する人々など、さまざまな顧客を魅了しています。リックはすべての問題で中立であると公言していますが、第二次イタリア・エチオピア戦争中にエチオピアに銃を走らせ、スペイン内戦で共和党側で戦った。無関心を装っているにもかかわらず、彼は難民の窮状に同情し、抑圧的なファシスト政権を軽蔑している。

ささいな詐欺師ウガルテは、2人のドイツ人宅配便業者を殺害することによって得られた「トランジットの手紙」をリックに自慢しています。書類は、持ち主がドイツ占領下のヨーロッパを自由に旅行し、中立のポルトガルに旅行することを可能にします。彼らはカサブランカで立ち往生している難民にとってかけがえのないものです。ウガルテはクラブでそれらを売ることを計画し、リックにそれらを保持するように説得します。彼が彼の連絡先に会うことができる前に、ウガルテは恥ずかしがらずに腐敗した警察の知事であるルイ・ルノー大尉の下で地元の警察に逮捕されます。ウガルテはリックが手紙を持っていることを明らかにせずに拘留中に死ぬ。

その後、リックの冷笑的な性質の理由—元恋人のイルサ・ランド—が彼の施設に入ります。リックの友人でハウスピアニストのサムを見つけ、イルサは彼に「アズ・タイム・ゴーズ・バイ」を演奏するように頼みます。リックは、サムがその曲を二度と演奏しないという彼の命令に従わなかったことに激怒し、イルザを見て唖然とします。彼女には、有名な逃亡中のチェコレジスタンスのリーダーである夫のビクター・ラズロが同行しています。ドイツのストラッサー少佐がラズロを逮捕するためにカサブランカに来たので、二人はアメリカに逃げるために手紙を必要としています。

ラズロが問い合わせをすると、暗黒街の人物であり、リックの友好的なビジネスライバルであるシニョールフェラーリは、リックがトランジットの手紙を持っているという彼の疑いを明かします。その夜、ラズロはリックのカフェに戻り、手紙を買おうとします。リックは販売を拒否し、ラズロに妻に理由を尋ねるように言います。シュトラッサーがドイツの将校のグループを率いて「Die Wacht am Rhein」を歌ったとき、彼らは中断されます。ラズロはハウスバンドに「ラマルセイエーズ」を演奏するように命じます。バンドリーダーがリックに目を向けると、リックはうなずき、ラズロは誇らしげに反抗してバンドを率いています。愛国的な熱意が群衆を捕らえ、誰もが参加してドイツ人をかき消します。ラズロが鼓舞できる精神を恐れて、ストラッサーはルノーにクラブを閉鎖するよう要求します。

ボガートとバーグマン

その後、イルザは人けのないカフェでリックと対峙します。彼が彼女に手紙を渡すことを拒否したとき、彼女は銃で彼を脅しますが、それから彼女はまだ彼を愛していると告白します。彼女は、1940年にパリで出会い、恋に落ちたとき、強制収容所から脱出しようとしたときに夫が殺されたと信じていたと説明しています。フランスの戦いの間に街からリックと一緒に逃げる準備をしている間、イルザはラズロが生きていて隠れていることを知りました。彼女は病気の夫を看護するための説明なしにリックを去った。リックの苦味が溶ける。彼は助けることに同意し、ラズロが去ったときに彼女が彼と一緒にいると彼女に信じさせます。レジスタンスの会議での警察の襲撃をかろうじて逃れたラズロが予期せず現れたとき、リックはウェイターのカールにイルザを元気づけさせます。リックのイルザへの愛に気づいたラズロは、手紙を使って彼女を安全に連れて行くように彼を説得しようとします。

警察がでっち上げの容疑でラズロを逮捕したとき、リックはルノーに彼をはるかに深刻な犯罪、つまり手紙の所持に設定することを約束して彼を釈放するよう説得します。ルノーの疑惑を和らげるために、リックは彼とイルザがアメリカに向けて出発すると説明します。ルノーが手配どおりにラズロを逮捕しようとすると、リックは彼らの脱出を支援するために銃を突きつけて彼を強制します。最後の瞬間、リックはイルザをラズロと一緒にリスボン行きの飛行機に乗せ、「今日ではないかもしれないし、明日ではないかもしれないが、すぐにそしてあなたの人生の残りのために」ととどまると後悔するだろうと彼女に言います。ルノーにひっくり返されたストラッサーは、一人で運転します。ストラッサーがリックの警告を無視して飛行機を止めようとすると、リックは彼を射殺します。警官が到着すると、ルノーは一時停止し、「通常の容疑者を切り上げる」ように命じます。彼はリックに、彼らがブラザビルの自由フランス人に加わることを提案します。彼らが霧の中を歩き去るとき、リックは「ルイ、これは美しい友情の始まりだと思います」と言います。

キャスト[編集]

グリーンストリートとボガート

劇のキャストは、16の話す部分といくつかのエキストラで構成されていました。映画の脚本はそれを22の話す部分と数百のエキストラに拡大しました。^[16]キャストは特に国際的です:クレジットされた俳優のうち3人だけが米国で生まれました(ボガート、ドゥーリーウィルソン、ジョイページ)。上位請求された俳優は以下の通り^[17]。

• ハンフリー・ボガート: リック・ブレイン
• イングリッド・バーグマン イルザ・ランドとして。バーグマンの公式ウェブサイトは、イルザを彼女の「最も有名で永続的な役割」と呼んでいます。^[18]間奏曲でのスウェーデンの女優のハリウッドデビューは好評を博していたが、彼女のその後の映画はカサブランカまで大きな成功ではなかった。映画評論家のロジャー・イーバートは彼女を「明るい」と呼び、彼女とボガートの間の化学についてコメントしました:「彼女は彼女の目で彼の顔を描きます」。^[19]イルザの役割を検討した他の女優には、アン・シェリダン、ヘディ・ラマー、ルイーズ・レイナー、ミシェル・モーガンが含まれていた。プロデューサーのハル・ウォリスは、デビッド・O・セルズニックと契約していたバーグマンのサービスを受け、オリビア・デ・ハビランドと引き換えに貸し出しました。^[20]
• ポール・ヘンレイド(ビクター・ラズロ役)1935年に移住したオーストリアの俳優ヘンレイドは、ボガートとバーグマンと一緒に最高の請求を約束されるまで、その役割を引き受けることに消極的でした(ポーリン・ケール[²¹]によると、「それは[彼を]永遠に堅く設定しました」。ヘンレイドは彼の仲間の俳優とうまくやっていませんでした。彼はボガートを「平凡な俳優」と見なした。バーグマンはヘンレイドを「プリマドンナ」と呼んだ。^[22]

2番目に請求されるアクターは次のとおりです。

• クロード・レインズ(ルイ・ルノー大尉)
• ハインリッヒ・ストラッサー少佐としてのコンラッド・ファイト。ファイトは、ユダヤ人の妻と一緒にナチスから逃れた難民のドイツ人俳優でしたが、アメリカ映画でナチスを演じることが多かったです。彼は2回目の請求にもかかわらず、キャストの中で最も高給のメンバーでした。^[23]
• シニョールフェラーリとしてのシドニーグリーンストリート
• ピーター・ロレ(シニョール・ウガルテ)

また、クレジットされています:

• カート・ボアがスリ役。ボアは、80年以上にわたる映画界で最も長いキャリアの1つを持っていました。
• レオニード・キンスキー イボンヌに夢中になったロシアのバーテンダー、サシャとして。キンスキーは、『いつもの容疑者を丸める:カサブランカのメイキング』の著者であるアルジャン・ハーメッツに、ボガートの飲み仲間だったのでキャストされたと語った。^[24]彼はその役割の最初の選択肢ではなかった。彼は十分に面白くないと見なされたレオ・モストボイに取って代わった。^[24]
• マドレーヌ・ルボー リックのすぐに捨てられたガールフレンドであるイボンヌとして。ルボーは、カサブランカのパフォーマー仲間であった夫のマルセル・ダリオと一緒にナチス占領下のヨーロッパを去ったフランス難民でした。彼女は2016年5月1日に亡くなるまで、最後に生き残ったキャストメンバーでした。^[25]
• スタジオヘッドのジャックL.ワーナーの継娘であるジョイペイジは、若いブルガリア難民のアンニーナブランデルとして
• ジョン・クアレン(バーガー、ラズロのレジスタンス・コンタクト)
• S・Z・サカル(S・K・サカルとしてクレジット)ウェイターのカール役
• サム・ウィルソン役のドゥーリー・ウィルソンは、キャストの数少ないアメリカ生まれのメンバーの一人でした。ドラマーである彼は、ピアノを弾くことを偽らなければなりませんでした。撮影が完了した後でも、プロデューサーのウォリスは曲のためにウィルソンの声を吹き替えることを検討しました。[^26][27]

注目すべきクレジットされていない俳優は次のとおりです。

• マルセル・ダリオ(ディーラーのエミール役)。ダリオはフランス映画のスターであり、ジャン・ルノワールのラ・グランド・イリュージョンとラ・レーグル・デュ・ジューに出演していました。
• アンニナ・ブランデルと結婚したブルガリアのルーレットプレーヤー、ヤン・ブランデルとしてのヘルムート・ダンティン
• リックによってカジノへの入場を拒否されたドイツの銀行家としてのグレゴリー・ゲイ
• 「アムステルダムで2番目に大きい銀行家」を経営するオランダの銀行家としてのトーベンマイヤー
• 「タンゴデッレローズ」(または「タンゴデラロサ」)を歌い、後に「ラマルセイエーズ」で群衆に同行するギタリストとしてのコリーナムラ
• モロッコの絨毯商人としてのフランク・プーリア
• リチャード・ライエン(ハインツェ大佐、ストラッサーの補佐官)
• ダン・シーモア(ドアマンのアブドゥル)
• 財布が盗まれたイギリス人としてのジェラルド・オリバー・スミス
• 夫が財布を盗まれたイギリス人女性としてのノーマ・バーデン

1942年の観客にとっての映画の感情的な影響の多くは、ルイV.アルコ、トルードベルリナー、イルカグリューニッヒ、ルートヴィヒシュテッセル、ハンスハインリッヒフォントワルドフスキなど、エキストラまたはマイナーな役割を果たしたヨーロッパの亡命者と難民の大部分に起因しています(主演俳優のポールヘンレイド、コンラッドファイト、ピーターローレに加えて)、 とヴォルフガング・ジルツァー。「国歌の決闘」シーケンスの撮影の目撃者は、俳優の多くが泣いているのを見て、「彼らがすべて本当の難民であることに気づいた」と語った。^[28]ハーメッツは、彼らが「カサブランカで12の小さな役割に、セントラルキャスティングからは決して得られなかった理解と絶望をもたらした」と主張している。^[29]多くはユダヤ人またはナチスからの難民(あるいはその両方)であったが、アクセントのために、さまざまな戦争映画でナチスとして頻繁にキャストされた。

ジャック・ベニーは、現代の新聞広告やカサブランカのプレスブックで主張されているように、請求されていないカメオに登場した可能性があります。[30][^{31][32]彼の}コラム「映画回答者」で尋ねられたとき、批評家のロジャー・イーバートは最初に次のように答えた。私が言えるのはそれだけです。」^[31]後のコラムで、彼はフォローアップのコメントに次のように答えました。ジャック・ベニー・ファンクラブは納得のいくことができる」。^[33]

生産[編集]

空港シーンのボガート

この映画は、マレー・バーネットとジョーン・アリソンの未制作の演劇「誰もがリックに来る」に基づいていました。^[34]劇を読んだワーナーブラザースのストーリーアナリスト、スティーブンカーノーはそれを(承認して)「洗練されたホクム」と呼び[35]、1941年にニューヨークへの旅行で脚本を発見したストーリーエディターのアイリーンダイアモンドは、ハルウォリスに1942年1月に20,000ドル(2020年の280,000ドルに相当)で権利を購入するよう説得しました^[36]、ハリウッドの誰もがこれまでに未制作の演劇に支払った中で最も多い。^[37]このプロジェクトは、明らかに1938年のヒットしたアルジェを模倣して、カサブランカに改名された。^[38]カサブランカはまた、ジュリアン・デュヴィヴィエが監督および共同執筆した絶賛された1937年のフランス映画ペペ・ル・モコのリメイクであるアルジェ(1938)と多くの物語的および主題的類似点を共有している。^[39]最初の撮影日は1942年4月10日に選択されたが、遅れにより5月25日に生産が開始された。^[40]撮影は8月3日に完了した。予算を75,000ドル上回り、総費用は1,039,000ドル(2020年の13,253,000ドルに相当)となり^[41]、当時の平均を上回った。^[42]珍しいことに、主に撮影が始まったときに脚本の前半しか準備ができていなかったため、映画は順番に撮影された。^[43]

ヴァンナイス空港で撮影されたストラッサーの到着を示すシーケンスと、パリのストックフッテージビューのいくつかの短いクリップを除いて、写真全体はスタジオで撮影されました。^[44] エクステリアショットに使用された通りは、最近別の映画のために建設されました、 砂漠の歌,^[45] パリのフラッシュバックのために再ドレスアップされました。

ロッキードモデル12エレクトラジュニア飛行機とその周りを歩く人員を示す最後のシーンの背景は、小さな人のエキストラと比例した段ボール飛行機を使用して上演されました。^[46]霧は、モデルの説得力のない外観を隠すために使用されました。^[47]

映画評論家のロジャー・イーバートは、ウォリスを制作の詳細に注意を払うための「重要な創造力」と呼びました(ブルーパロットバーで本物のオウムを主張するまで)。^[19]

バーグマンとボガートの身長の違いはいくつかの問題を引き起こしました。彼女はボガートより5インチ(5 cm)背が高く、カーティスはボガートをブロックの上に立たせたり、シーンでクッションに座らせたりしたと主張した。^[48]

その後、連合国の1942年の北アフリカ侵攻を組み込むために、リック、ルノー、および船上の自由フランス兵の分遣隊を示すさらなるシーンの計画がありました。クロード・レインズを撮影に出すのは難しすぎることが判明し、デビッド・O・セルズニックが「エンディングを変更するのはひどい間違いだろう」と判断した後、シーンは最終的に放棄されました。[⁴⁹]^[23]

Writing[edit]

The original play was inspired by a trip to Europe made by Murray Burnett and his wife in 1938, during which they visited Vienna shortly after the Anschluss and were affected by the antisemitism they saw. In the south of France, they went to a nightclub that had a multinational clientele, among them many exiles and refugees, and the prototype of Sam.^[50][51] In The Guardian, Paul Fairclough wrote that Cinema Vox in Tangier "was Africa's biggest when it opened in 1935, with 2,000 seats and a retractable roof. As Tangier was in Spanish territory [sic], the theatre's wartime bar heaved with spies, refugees and underworld hoods, securing its place in cinematic history as the inspiration for Rick's Cafe in Casablanca."^[52][53] The scene of the singing of "La Marseillaise" in the bar is attributed by the film scholar Julian Jackson as an adaptation of a similar scene from Jean Renoir's film La Grande Illusion five years prior.^[54]

The first writers assigned to the script were twins Julius and Philip Epstein^[55] who, against the wishes of Warner Bros., left at Frank Capra's request early in 1942 to work on the Why We Fight series in Washington, D.C.^[56][57] While they were gone, the other credited writer, Howard Koch, was assigned; he produced thirty to forty pages.^[57] When the Epstein brothers returned after about a month, they were reassigned to Casablanca and—contrary to what Koch claimed in two published books—his work was not used.^[57] The Epstein brothers and Koch never worked in the same room at the same time during the writing of the script. In the final budget for the film, the Epsteins were paid $30,416, (equivalent to $382,660 in 2020) and Koch earned $4,200 (equivalent to $53,572 in 2020).^[58]

In the play, the Ilsa character is an American named Lois Meredith; she does not meet Laszlo until after her relationship with Rick in Paris has ended. Rick is a lawyer. The play (set entirely in the cafe) ends with Rick sending Lois and Laszlo to the airport. To make Rick's motivation more believable, Wallis, Curtiz, and the screenwriters decided to set the film before the attack on Pearl Harbor.^[59]

The possibility was discussed of Laszlo being killed in Casablanca, allowing Rick and Ilsa to leave together, but as Casey Robinson wrote to Wallis before filming began, the ending of the film "set up for a swell twist when Rick sends her away on the plane with Laszlo. For now, in doing so, he is not just solving a love triangle. He is forcing the girl to live up to the idealism of her nature, forcing her to carry on with the work that in these days is far more important than the love of two little people."^[60] It was certainly impossible for Ilsa to leave Laszlo for Rick, as the Motion Picture Production Code forbade showing a woman leaving her husband for another man. The concern was not whether Ilsa would leave with Laszlo, but how this outcome would be engineered.^[61] According to Julius Epstein, he and Philip were driving when they simultaneously came up with the idea for Renault to order the roundup of "the usual suspects", after which all the details needed for resolution of the story, including the farewell between Bergman and "a suddenly noble Bogart", were rapidly worked out.^[62]

The uncredited Casey Robinson assisted with three weeks of rewrites, including contributing the series of meetings between Rick and Ilsa in the cafe.^[63][64] Koch highlighted the political and melodramatic elements,^[65][66] and Curtiz seems to have favored the romantic parts, insisting on retaining the Paris flashbacks.^[67]

In a telegram to film editor Owen Marks on August 7, 1942, Wallis suggested two possible final lines of dialogue for Rick: "Louis, I might have known you'd mix your patriotism with a little larceny" or "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship".^[68] Two weeks later, Wallis settled on the latter, which Bogart was recalled to dub a month after shooting had finished.^[67]

Bogart's line "Here's looking at you, kid", said four times, was not in the draft screenplays, but has been attributed to a comment he made to Bergman as he taught her poker between takes.^[69]

Despite the many writers, the film has what Ebert describes as a "wonderfully unified and consistent" script. Koch later claimed it was the tension between his own approach and Curtiz's that had accounted for this. "Surprisingly, these disparate approaches somehow meshed, and perhaps it was partly this tug of war between Curtiz and me that gave the film a certain balance."^[70] Julius Epstein later noted the screenplay contained "more corn than in the states of Kansas and Iowa combined. But when corn works, there's nothing better".^[71]

The film ran into some trouble with Joseph Breen of the Production Code Administration (the Hollywood self-censorship body), who opposed the suggestions that Captain Renault extorted sexual favors from visa applicants, and that Rick and Ilsa had slept together.^[72][73] Extensive changes were made, with several lines of dialogue removed or altered. All direct references to sex were deleted; Renault's selling of visas for sex, and Rick and Ilsa's previous sexual relationship were implied elliptically rather than referenced explicitly.^[74] Also, in the original script, when Sam plays "As Time Goes By", Rick exclaims, "What the —— are you playing?" This line was altered to "Sam, I thought I told you never to play ..." to conform to Breen's objection to an implied swear word.^[75]

Direction[edit]

Wallis's first choice for director was William Wyler, but he was unavailable, so Wallis turned to his close friend Michael Curtiz.^[76][23] Roger Ebert has commented that in Casablanca "very few shots ... are memorable as shots", as Curtiz wanted images to express the story rather than to stand alone.^[19] He contributed relatively little to development of the plot. Casey Robinson said Curtiz "knew nothing whatever about story ... he saw it in pictures, and you supplied the stories".^[77]

Critic Andrew Sarris called the film "the most decisive exception to the auteur theory",^[78] of which Sarris was the most prominent proponent in the United States. Aljean Harmetz has responded, "nearly every Warner Bros. picture was an exception to the auteur theory".^[76] Other critics give more credit to Curtiz. Sidney Rosenzweig, in his study of the director's work, sees the film as a typical example of Curtiz's highlighting of moral dilemmas.^[79]

The second unit montages, such as the opening sequence of the refugee trail and the invasion of France, were directed by Don Siegel.^[80]

Cinematography[edit]

The cinematographer was Arthur Edeson, a veteran who had previously shot The Maltese Falcon and Frankenstein. Particular attention was paid to photographing Bergman. She was shot mainly from her preferred left side, often with a softening gauze filter and with catch lights to make her eyes sparkle; the whole effect was designed to make her face seem "ineffably sad and tender and nostalgic".^[19] Bars of shadow across the characters and in the background variously imply imprisonment, the crucifix, the symbol of the Free French Forces and emotional turmoil.^[19] Dark film noir and expressionist lighting was used in several scenes, particularly towards the end of the picture. Rosenzweig argues these shadow and lighting effects are classic elements of the Curtiz style, along with the fluid camera work and the use of the environment as a framing device.^[81]

Soundtrack[edit]

The music was written by Max Steiner, who wrote scores for King Kong and Gone with the Wind. The song "As Time Goes By" by Herman Hupfeld had been part of the story from the original play; Steiner wanted to write his own composition to replace it, but Bergman had already cut her hair short for her next role (María in For Whom the Bell Tolls) and could not reshoot the scenes that incorporated the song,^[a] so Steiner based the entire score on it and "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem, transforming them as leitmotifs to reflect changing moods.^[82] Even though Steiner disliked "As Time Goes By", he admitted in a 1943 interview that it "must have had something to attract so much attention".^[83] Dooley Wilson, who played Sam, was a drummer, so his piano playing was performed by Jean Plummer.^[84]

Particularly memorable is the "duel of the anthems" between Strasser and Laszlo at Rick's cafe.^[23] In the soundtrack, "La Marseillaise" is played by a full orchestra. Originally, the opposing piece for this iconic sequence was to be the "Horst Wessel Lied", a Nazi anthem but this was still under international copyright in non-Allied countries. Instead "Die Wacht am Rhein" was used.^[85] The "Deutschlandlied", the national anthem of Germany, is used several times in minor mode as a leitmotif for the German threat, e.g. in the scene in Paris as it is announced that the German army will reach Paris the next day. It is featured in the final scene, giving way to "La Marseillaise" after Strasser is shot.^[86][23]

Other songs include:

• "It Had to Be You", music by Isham Jones, lyrics by Gus Kahn
• "Shine", music by Ford Dabney, lyrics by Cecil Mack and Lew Brown
• "Avalon", music and lyrics by Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva and Vincent Rose
• "Perfidia", by Alberto Dominguez
• "The Very Thought of You", by Ray Noble
• "Knock on Wood", music by M. K. Jerome, lyrics by Jack Scholl, the only original song.

Very few films in the early 1940s had portions of the soundtrack released on 78 rpm records, and Casablanca was no exception. In 1997, almost 55 years after the film's premiere, Turner Entertainment in collaboration with Rhino Records issued the film's first original soundtrack album for release on compact disc, including original songs and music, spoken dialogue, and alternate takes.^[87]

The piano featured in the Paris flashback sequences was sold in New York City on December 14, 2012, at Sotheby's for more than $600,000 to an anonymous bidder.^[88] The piano Sam "plays" in Rick's Café Américain, put up for auction with other film memorabilia by Turner Classic Movies at Bonhams in New York on November 24, 2014, sold for $3.4 million.^[89][90]

Release[edit]

Although an initial release date was anticipated for early 1943,^[91] the film premiered at the Hollywood Theater in New York City on November 26, 1942, to capitalize on Operation Torch (the Allied invasion of French North Africa) and the capture of Casablanca.^[8][92] It went into general release on January 23, 1943, to take advantage of the Casablanca Conference, a high-level meeting in the city between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Office of War Information prevented screening of the film to troops in North Africa, believing it would cause resentment among Vichy supporters in the region.^[93]

Irish and German cuts[edit]

On March 19, 1943, the film was banned in Ireland for infringing on the Emergency Powers Order preserving wartime neutrality, by portraying Vichy France and Nazi Germany in a "sinister light". It was passed with cuts on June 15, 1945, shortly after the EPO was lifted. The cuts were made to dialogue between Rick and Ilsa referring to their love affair.^[94] A version with only one scene cut was passed on July 16, 1974. RTÉ inquired about showing the film on TV – it still required a dialogue cut to Ilsa expressing her love for Rick.^[95]

Warner Brothers released a heavily edited version of Casablanca in West Germany in 1952. All scenes with Nazis were removed, along with most references to World War II. Important plot points were altered when the dialogue was dubbed into German. Victor Laszlo was no longer a Resistance fighter who escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. Instead, he became a Norwegian atomic physicist who was being pursued by Interpol after he "broke out of jail". The West German version was 25 minutes shorter than the original cut. A German version of Casablanca with the original plot was not released until 1975.^[96]

Reception[edit]

Initial response[edit]

Casablanca received "consistently good reviews".^[97] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote, "The Warners ... have a picture which makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap." He applauded the combination of "sentiment, humor and pathos with taut melodrama and bristling intrigue." Crowther noted its "devious convolutions of the plot" and praised the screenplay quality as "of the best" and the cast's performances as "all of the first order".^[98]

The trade paper Variety commended the film's "combination of fine performances, engrossing story and neat direction" and the "variety of moods, action, suspense, comedy and drama that makes Casablanca an A-1 entry at the b.o."^[99] The review observed that the "[f]ilm is splendid anti-Axis propaganda, particularly inasmuch as the propaganda is strictly a by-product of the principal action and contributes to it instead of getting in the way".^[99] Variety also applauded the performances of Bergman and Henreid and noted, "Bogart, as might be expected, is more at ease as the bitter and cynical operator of a joint than as a lover, but handles both assignments with superb finesse."^[99]

Some other reviews were less enthusiastic. The New Yorker rated Casablanca only "pretty tolerable" and said it was "not quite up to Across the Pacific, Bogart's last spyfest".^[100]

At the 1,500-seat Hollywood Theater, the film grossed $255,000 over ten weeks (equivalent to $3.3 million in 2020).^[101] In its initial American release, Casablanca was a substantial but not spectacular box-office success, earning $3.7 million (equivalent to $47 million in 2020).^[101][102] A 50th-anniversary re-release grossed $1.5 million in 1992.^[103] According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $3,398,000 domestically and $3,461,000 in foreign markets.^[4]

Enduring popularity[edit]

In the decades since its release, the film has grown in reputation. Murray Burnett called it "true yesterday, true today, true tomorrow".^[104] By 1955, the film had brought in $6.8 million, making it the third-most-successful of Warners' wartime movies, behind Shine On, Harvest Moon and This Is the Army.^[105] On April 21, 1957, the Brattle Theater of Cambridge, Massachusetts, showed the film as part of a season of old movies. It proved so popular that a tradition began in which Casablanca would be screened during the week of final exams at Harvard University. Todd Gitlin, a professor of sociology who had attended one of these screenings, has said that the experience was "the acting out of my own personal rite of passage".^[106] The tradition helped the film remain popular while other films that had been famous in the 1940s have faded from popular memory. By 1977, Casablanca had become the most frequently broadcast film on American television.^[107]

Ingrid Bergman's portrayal of Ilsa Lund in Casablanca became one of her best-known roles.^[108] In later years she said, "I feel about Casablanca that it has a life of its own. There is something mystical about it. It seems to have filled a need, a need that was there before the film, a need that the film filled."^[109]

On the film's 50th anniversary, the Los Angeles Times called Casablanca's great strength "the purity of its Golden Age Hollywoodness [and] the enduring craftsmanship of its resonantly hokey dialogue". Bob Strauss wrote in the newspaper that the film achieved a "near-perfect entertainment balance" of comedy, romance, and suspense.^[110]

Roger Ebert, wrote of Casablanca in 1992, "There are greater movies. More profound movies. Movies of greater artistic vision or artistic originality or political significance. ... But [it is] one of the movies we treasure the most ... This is a movie that has transcended the ordinary categories."^[111] In his opinion, the film is popular because "the people in it are all so good" and it is "a wonderful gem".^[19] Ebert said that he had never heard of a negative review of the film, even though individual elements can be criticized, citing unrealistic special effects and the stiff character of Laszlo as portrayed by Paul Henreid.^[77]

The critic Leonard Maltin considers Casablanca "the best Hollywood movie of all time".^[112]

According to Rudy Behlmer, the character of Rick is "not a hero ... not a bad guy" because he does what is necessary to appease the authorities and "sticks his neck out for nobody". Behlmer feels that the other characters are "not cut and dried" and come into their goodness over the course of the film. Renault begins as a collaborator with the Nazis who extorts sexual favors from refugees and has Ugarte killed. Even Ilsa, the least active of the main characters, is "caught in the emotional struggle" over which man she really loves. By the end, however, "everybody is sacrificing".^[77] Behlmer also emphasized the variety in the picture. "It's a blend of drama, melodrama, comedy [and] intrigue."^[77]

A remembrance written for the film's 75th anniversary published by The Washington Free Beacon said, "It is no exaggeration to say Casablanca is one of the greatest films ever made," making special note of the "intellectual nature of the film" and saying that "while the first time around you might pay attention to only the superficial love story, by the second and third and fourth viewings the sub-textual politics [of communitarianism and anti-isolationism] have moved to the fore".^[113]

A few reviewers have expressed reservations. To Pauline Kael, "It's far from a great film, but it has a special appealingly schlocky romanticism ..."^[114] Umberto Eco wrote that "by any strict critical standards ... Casablanca is a very mediocre film". He viewed the changes that the characters manifest as inconsistent rather than complex. "It is a comic strip, a hotchpotch, low on psychological credibility, and with little continuity in its dramatic effects." However, he added that because of the presence of multiple archetypes that allow "the power of Narrative in its natural state without Art intervening to discipline it", it is a film reaching "Homeric depths" as a "phenomenon worthy of awe".^[115]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 127 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 9.4/10. The website's consensus reads, "An undisputed masterpiece and perhaps Hollywood's quintessential statement on love and romance, Casablanca has only improved with age, boasting career-defining performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman."^[116] On Metacritic, the film has a perfect score of 100 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[117] It is one of the few films in the site's history to achieve a perfect aggregate score.^[118]

In the November/December 1982 issue of Film Comment, Chuck Ross wrote that he retyped the Casablanca screenplay, reverting the title to Everybody Comes to Rick's and changing the name of Sam the piano player to Dooley (after Dooley Wilson, who played the character), and submitted it to 217 agencies. The majority of agencies returned the script unread (often because of policies regarding unsolicited screenplays) or did not respond. However, of those which did respond, only 33 specifically recognized it as Casablanca. Eight others observed that it was similar to Casablanca, and 41 agencies rejected the screenplay outright, offering comments such as "Too much dialogue, not enough exposition, the story line was weak, and in general didn't hold my interest." Three agencies offered to represent the screenplay, and one suggested turning it into a novel.^{[119][120][121]}

Influence on later works[edit]

Many subsequent films have drawn on elements of Casablanca. Passage to Marseille (1944) reunited actors Bogart, Rains, Greenstreet, and Lorre and director Curtiz in 1944,^[122] and there are similarities between Casablanca and a later Bogart film, To Have and Have Not (also 1944).^[123] Parodies have included the Marx Brothers' A Night in Casablanca (1946), Neil Simon's The Cheap Detective (1978), and Out Cold (2001). Indirectly, it provided the title for the 1995 neo-noir film The Usual Suspects.^[124] Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam (1972) appropriated Bogart's Casablanca persona as the fantasy mentor for Allen's character.^[125]

The film was a plot device in the science-fiction television movie Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1983), based on John Varley's story. It was referred to in Terry Gilliam's dystopian Brazil (1985). Warner Bros. produced its own parody in the homage Carrotblanca, a 1995 Bugs Bunny cartoon.^[126] The film critic Roger Ebert pointed out the plot of the film Barb Wire (1996) was identical to that of Casablanca.^[127] In Casablanca, a novella by Argentine writer Edgar Brau, the protagonist somehow wanders into Rick's Café Américain and listens to a strange tale related by Sam.^[128] The 2016 musical film La La Land contains allusions to Casablanca in the imagery, dialogue, and plot.^[129] Robert Zemeckis, director of Allied (2016), which is also set in 1942 Casablanca, studied the film to capture the city's elegance.^[130] The 2017 Moroccan drama film Razzia, directed by Nabil Ayouch, is mostly set in the city of Casablanca, and its characters frequently discuss the 1942 film.^[131]

Awards and honors[edit]

Because of its November 1942 release, the New York Film Critics decided to include the film in its 1942 award season for best picture. Casablanca lost to In Which We Serve.^[101] However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stated that since the film went into national release at the beginning of 1943, it would be included in that year's nominations.^[132] Casablanca was nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won three.

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
Academy Awards	Outstanding Motion Picture	Warner Bros.	Won
	Best Director	Michael Curtiz	Won
	Best Actor	Humphrey Bogart	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Claude Rains	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch	Won
	Best Cinematography – Black-and-White	Arthur Edeson	Nominated
	Best Film Editing	Owen Marks	Nominated
	Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture	Max Steiner	Nominated
National Board of Review Awards	Top Ten Films		6th Place
	Best Director	Michael Curtiz (also for This Is the Army)	Won
National Film Preservation Board	National Film Registry		Inducted
New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Director	Michael Curtiz	Nominated
	Best Actor	Humphrey Bogart	Nominated
Saturn Awards	Best DVD Classic Film Release	Casablanca: Ultimate Collector's Edition	Nominated

As Bogart stepped out of his car at the awards ceremony, "the crowd surged forward, almost engulfing him and his wife, Mayo Methot. It took 12 police officers to rescue the two, and a red-faced, startled, yet smiling Bogart heard a chorus of cries of 'good luck' and 'here's looking at you, kid' as he was rushed into the theater".^[133]

When the award for Best Picture was announced, producer Hal B. Wallis got up to accept, but studio head Jack L. Warner rushed up to the stage "with a broad, flashing smile and a look of great self-satisfaction," Wallis later recalled. "I couldn't believe it was happening. Casablanca had been my creation; Jack had absolutely nothing to do with it. As the audience gasped, I tried to get out of the row of seats and into the aisle, but the entire Warner family sat blocking me. I had no alternative but to sit down again, humiliated and furious ... Almost forty years later, I still haven't recovered from the shock."^[133] This incident led Wallis to leave Warner Bros. in April.^[134]

In 1989, the film was one of the first 25 films selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[135][136] In 2005, it was named one of the 100 greatest films of the last 80 years by Time magazine (the selected films were not ranked).^[137] Bright Lights Film Journal stated in 2007, "It is one of those rare films from Hollywood's Golden Age which has managed to transcend its era to entertain generations of moviegoers ... Casablanca provides twenty-first-century Americans with an oasis of hope in a desert of arbitrary cruelty and senseless violence."^[138]

The film also ranked at number 28 on Empire's list of the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, which said, "Love, honour, thrills, wisecracks and a hit tune are among the attractions, which also include a perfect supporting cast of villains, sneaks, thieves, refugees and bar staff. But it's Bogart and Bergman's show, entering immortality as screen lovers reunited only to part. The irrefutible [sic] proof that great movies are accidents."^[139] Screenwriting teacher Robert McKee maintains that the script is "the greatest screenplay of all time".^[20] In 2006, the Writers Guild of America, West agreed, voting it the best ever in its list of the 101 greatest screenplays.^[140]

The film has been selected by the American Film Institute for many of their lists of important American films:

Year	Category	Rank
1998	AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies	2
2001	AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills	37
2002	AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions	1
2003	AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains	4: Rick Blaine (hero) Nominated: Major Heinrich Strasser (villain)
2004	AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs	2: "As Time Goes By"
2005	AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes	5: "Here's looking at you, kid." 20: "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." 28: "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'." 32: "Round up the usual suspects." 43: "We'll always have Paris." 67: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." These six lines are the most of any film (Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz tied for second with three apiece). Also nominated for the list was, "Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."[141]
2006	AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers	32
2007	AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)	3

Interpretation[edit]

Casablanca has been subjected to many readings; semioticians account for the film's popularity by claiming that its inclusion of stereotypes paradoxically strengthens the film.^{[142][143][144][145]} Umberto Eco wrote:

Thus Casablanca is not just one film. It is many films, an anthology. Made haphazardly, it probably made itself, if not actually against the will of its authors and actors, then at least beyond their control. And this is the reason it works, in spite of aesthetic theories and theories of film making. For in it there unfolds with almost telluric force the power of Narrative in its natural state, without Art intervening to discipline it ... When all the archetypes burst in shamelessly, we reach Homeric depths. Two clichés make us laugh. A hundred clichés move us. For we sense dimly that the clichés are talking among themselves, and celebrating a reunion.^[146][147]

Eco also singled out sacrifice as a theme, "the myth of sacrifice runs through the whole film".^[148] It was this theme that resonated with a wartime audience who were reassured by the idea that painful sacrifice and going off to war could be romantic gestures done for the greater good.^[149]

Koch also considered the film a political allegory. Rick is compared to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who gambled "on the odds of going to war until circumstance and his own submerged nobility force him to close his casino (partisan politics) and commit himself—first by financing the Side of Right and then by fighting for it". The connection is reinforced by the film's title, which means "white house".^[150]

Harvey Greenberg presents a Freudian reading in his The Movies on Your Mind, in which the transgressions that prevent Rick from returning to the United States constitute an Oedipus complex, which is resolved only when Rick begins to identify with the father figure of Laszlo and the cause that he represents.^[151] Sidney Rosenzweig argues that such readings are reductive and that the most important aspect of the film is its ambiguity, above all in the central character of Rick; he cites the different names that each character gives Rick (Richard, Ricky, Mr. Rick, Herr Rick and boss) as evidence of the different meanings that he has for each person.^[152]

Home media[edit]

Casablanca was initially released on Betamax and VHS by Magnetic Video and later by CBS/Fox Video (as United Artists owned the distribution rights at the time). In 1989, the Criterion Collection released a Laserdisc release sourced from a nitrate print that includes supplements such as an audio commentary by Ronald Haver, a treatment for an unreleased sequel and wartime footage of the city of Casablanca.^[153] Criterion would issue a CLV version of this in 1991 with only the film and commentary. It was next released on laserdisc in 1991, and on VHS in 1992—both from MGM/UA Home Entertainment (distributing for Turner Entertainment Co.), which at the time was distributed by Warner Home Video. It was first released on DVD in 1998 by MGM, containing the trailer and a making-of featurette (Warner Home Video reissued the DVD in 2000). A subsequent two-disc special edition, containing an audio commentary by Roger Ebert, documentaries, Carrotblanca and a newly remastered visual and audio presentation, was released in 2003.^[154]

An HD DVD was released on November 14, 2006, containing the same special features as the 2003 DVD.^[155] Reviewers were impressed with the new high-definition transfer of the film.^[156]

A Blu-ray release with new special features came out on December 2, 2008; it is also available on DVD.^[157] The Blu-ray was initially only released as an expensive gift set with a booklet, a luggage tag and other assorted gift-type items. It was eventually released as a stand-alone Blu-ray in September 2009. On March 27, 2012, Warner released a new 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo set. It includes a brand-new 4K restoration and new bonus material.^[158][159]

Remakes and unrealized sequels[edit]

Almost from the moment Casablanca became a hit, talk began of producing a sequel. One titled Brazzaville (in the final scene, Renault recommends fleeing to that Free French-held city) was planned, but never produced.^[160] (A newspaper article at the time mentions that Bogart and Greenstreet "will continue their characterizations from the first film, and it's likely that Geraldine Fitzgerald will have an important role".^[161]) Since then, no studio has seriously considered filming a sequel or outright remake.

François Truffaut refused an invitation to remake the film in 1974, citing its cult status among American students as his reason.^[162] Attempts to recapture the magic of Casablanca in other settings, such as Caboblanco (1980), "a South American-set retooling of Casablanca",^[163] and Havana (1990)^[164] have been poorly received.

Stories of a Casablanca remake or sequel nonetheless persist. In 2008, Madonna was reported to be pursuing a remake set in modern-day Iraq.^[165] In 2012, both The Daily Telegraph and Entertainment Weekly reported on efforts by Cass Warner, granddaughter of Harry Warner and friend of the late Howard Koch, to produce a sequel featuring the search by Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund's illegitimate son for the whereabouts of his biological father.^[166][167]

Adaptations[edit]

On radio, there were several adaptations of the film. The two best-known are a thirty-minute adaptation on The Screen Guild Theater on April 26, 1943, starring Bogart, Bergman, and Henreid, and an hour-long version on the Lux Radio Theater on January 24, 1944, featuring Alan Ladd as Rick, Hedy Lamarr as Ilsa, and John Loder as Laszlo. Two other thirty-minute adaptations were aired, one on Philip Morris Playhouse on September 3, 1943, and the other on Theater of Romance on December 19, 1944, in which Dooley Wilson reprised his role as Sam.^[168]

On television, there have been two short-lived series based upon Casablanca, both sharing the title. The first Casablanca aired on ABC as part of the wheel series Warner Bros. Presents in hour-long episodes from 1955 to 1956. It was a Cold War espionage program set contemporaneously with its production, and starred Charles McGraw as Rick and Marcel Dalio, who had played Emil the croupier in the movie, as the police chief.^[169] The second Casablanca, broadcast on NBC in April 1983, starred David Soul as Rick and was canceled after three weeks.^[162]

The novel As Time Goes By, written by Michael Walsh and published in 1998, was authorized by Warner.^[170][171] The novel picks up where the film leaves off, and also tells of Rick's mysterious past in America. The book met with little success.^[172] David Thomson provided an unofficial sequel in his 1985 novel Suspects.^[173]

Julius Epstein made two attempts to turn the film into a Broadway musical, in 1951 and 1967, but neither made it to the stage.^[174] The original play, Everybody Comes to Rick's, was produced in Newport, Rhode Island, in August 1946, and again in London in April 1991, but met with no success.^[175] The film was adapted into a musical by the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female Japanese musical theater company, and ran from November 2009 through February 2010.^[176]

CasablancaBox, written by Sara Farrington and directed by Reid Farrington, premiered in New York in 2017 and was an imagined "making of" the film. It was nominated for two 2017 Drama Desk awards, Unique Theatrical Experience and Outstanding Projection Design. The New York Times described it as "a brave, almost foolhardy undertaking, presenting the backstage drama during the making of Casablanca".^[177]

Colorization[edit]

Stills from the controversial colorized version

Casablanca was part of the film colorization controversy of the 1980s,^[178] when a colorized version aired on the television network WTBS. In 1984, MGM/UA hired Color Systems Technology to colorize the film for $180,000.^[179] When Ted Turner of Turner Broadcasting System purchased MGM/UA's film library two years later, he canceled the request, before contracting American Film Technologies (AFT) in 1988. AFT completed the colorization in two months at a cost of $450,000.^[179] Turner later reacted to criticism of the colorization, saying, "[Casablanca] is one of a handful of films that really doesn't have to be colorized. I did it because I wanted to. All I'm trying to do is protect my investment."^[179]

The Library of Congress deemed that the color change differed so much from the original film that it gave a new copyright to Turner Entertainment. When the colorized film debuted on WTBS, it was watched by three million viewers, not making the top-ten viewed cable shows for the week. Although Jack Matthews of the Los Angeles Times called the finished product "state of the art", it was mostly met with negative critical reception.^[179] It was briefly available on home video. Gary Edgerton, writing for the Journal of Popular Film & Television criticized the colorization, stating that "Casablanca in color ended up being much blander in appearance and, overall, much less visually interesting than its 1942 predecessor."^[179] Bogart's son, Stephen, said, "if you're going to colorize Casablanca, why not put arms on the Venus de Milo?"^[162]

Inaccuracies and a misquote[edit]

Several unfounded rumors and misconceptions have grown up around the film, one being that Ronald Reagan was originally chosen to play Rick. This originated in a press release issued by the studio early on in the film's development. By that time the studio already knew that he was going into the Army and he was never seriously considered.^[180] George Raft claimed that he had turned down the lead role but studio records make it clear that Wallis was committed to Bogart from the start.^[181]

Another story is that the actors did not know until the last day of shooting how the film was to end. Koch later acknowledged:

When we began, we didn't have a finished script ... Ingrid Bergman came to me and said, "Which man should I love more ...?" I said to her, "I don't know ... play them both evenly." You see we didn't have an ending, so we didn't know what was going to happen!^[182]

While rewrites did occur during filming, Aljean Harmetz's examination of the scripts has shown that many of the key scenes were shot after Bergman knew how the film would end; any confusion was, according to critic Roger Ebert, "emotional", not "factual".^[19]

The film has several logical flaws, one being the two "letters of transit" that enable their bearers to leave Vichy French territory. Ugarte says the letters had been signed by (depending on the listener) either Vichy General Weygand or Free French General de Gaulle. The French subtitles on the official DVD read Weygand; the English ones specify de Gaulle. Weygand had been the Vichy delegate-general for the North African colonies until November 1941, a month before the film is set. De Gaulle was the head of the Free French government in exile, so a letter signed by him would have provided no benefit.^[41] The letters were invented as a MacGuffin by Joan Alison for the original play and never questioned.^[183]

In the same vein, though Laszlo asserts that the Nazis cannot arrest him, saying, "This is still unoccupied France; any violation of neutrality would reflect on Captain Renault", Ebert points out, "It makes no sense that he could walk around freely. ... He would be arrested on sight."^[19] No uniformed German troops were stationed in Casablanca during World War II, and neither American nor French troops occupied Berlin in 1918.^[41]

カサブランカと密接に関連するセリフ—「もう一度プレイして、サム」—映画では話されていません。^[184] ^[185]イルザが最初にカフェアメリカに入ったとき、彼女はサムを見つけて、「サム、昔のために一度プレイしてください」と彼に尋ねます。彼が無知を装った後、彼女は「それをプレイしてください、サム。「As Time Goes By」をプレイしてください」と答えます。その夜遅く、サムと二人きりで、リックは「あなたは彼女のためにそれを演奏しました、あなたは私のためにそれを演奏することができます」そして「彼女がそれを我慢できるなら、私はできます!プレイしてください!」