Casablanca

What’s the Story?

Set in French-controlled Casablanca in the early part of WWII, CASABLANCA follows hardboiled American nightclub owner Rick (Humphrey Bogart), who agrees to hide some stolen (and highly coveted) transit letters, which are used to by refugees to leave the country and escape from the Nazis. Police Captain Renault (Claude Rains) and Nazi Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) are tipped off that Rick might have the letters, and they put the pressure on him. Strasser is also hunting escaped Czech resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), who arrives at Rick's with Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). Rick and Ilsa have a history, and Rick is still deeply angry at the stunning beauty. What ensues is a story of love, betrayal, sacrifice, narrow escapes, and the most memorable airport tarmac scene in film history.

Is It Any Good?

Probably the most famous Hollywood movie of all time, certainly the most quoted, and the most frequently cited as an all-time favorite, CASABLANCA won Best Picture, Director, and Writer awards at the 1943 Oscar ceremony. The definitive rebuttal to notions of the "auteur" (one author) in film, the romantic drama was put together in pieces by many different sources, with script pages completed just moments before the cameras rolled. The performances by Bogart and Bergman are so subtle and complex because the actors themselves had no idea how it was going to end.

Almost every frame of the movie is an icon, and it has been endlessly copied and parodied. The Woody Allen movie Play It Again, Sam (rated PG, but not for kids as the entire plot is about seduction) is an affectionate tribute to Casablanca and other Bogart movies.