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Watching Casablanca on its 80th anniversary, we remain in awe of its simplicity – and profound depth

<p>In November 1942, a romantic drama directed by a Hungarian immigrant and starring an ex-naval officer and an obscure Swedish actress was released. The film began shooting without a finished script.</p> <p>Many at Warner Brothers Studios thought the film would quickly disappear into obscurity.</p> <p>It would end up winning three Academy Awards (for best picture, director Michael Curtiz, and screenplay), starred the iconic pair Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman alongside a host of recognisable supporting players, featured a lush score and evocative set design, and contained endlessly quotable lines. Its reputation grows and grows.</p> <p>Casablanca has become one of Hollywood’s most beloved films.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MF7JH_54d8c?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <p><strong>A film of vivid moments</strong></p> <p>Casablanca is a heady mix of romance, cynicism, thrills and danger. Based on an unproduced play, Everybody Comes to Rick’s, the film mainly takes place in a night-club run by Bogart in the Moroccan city during the second world war.</p> <p>Rick’s Café is where desperate refugees try to get hold of illegal exit visas to America. Complications – with Nazi officials and officious French bureaucrats – ensue.</p> <p>One night, Rick’s old flame Ilsa (Bergman) turns up with her resistance leader husband in search of safe passage to the States. Cue the famous line:</p> <blockquote> <p>Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.</p> </blockquote> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3vvlmh_xVRQ?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <p>It is full of vivid moments: Bogart and Bergman drinking champagne in Paris, Sydney Greenstreet in a fez, Peter Lorre trying to escape, Dooley Wilson sitting at the piano and singing THAT song.</p> <p>Its production was fast-tracked to <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/12/04/an-accidental-classic-casablanca-turns-75/">take advantage</a> of the recent Allied invasion of North Africa. Casablanca was originally scheduled for an early 1943 release, but Warner Brothers capitalised on the resounding success of the US-led invasion, which in turn boosted box office receipts.</p> <p>Casablanca would go into wide release on January 23 1943, to coincide with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_Conference">Casablanca Conference</a>, a strategic meeting between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.</p> <p><strong>A political allegory</strong></p> <p>Casablanca’s clearest theme is that neutrality – whether in war or in love – is difficult to maintain.</p> <p>At the outset, Rick is staunchly apolitical: he is jaded, unmoved by the refugee crisis unfolding around him.</p> <p>But we also learn Rick has been involved in political causes, supporting losing sides against the Fascists in Spain and Ethiopia. The film traces that ambivalence through Bogart’s masterful performance. His cynicism gradually softens once Ilsa turns up, and his animosity to the Nazi chief Strasser grows.</p> <p>This political about-face comes to a head in one of the greatest scenes in Hollywood cinema: the singing of <em>La Marseillaise</em> at Rick’s Café in full defiance of the Nazi officers belting out a German anthem.</p> <p>It is a deeply patriotic and uplifting scene, and reminds us of cinema’s power to engage us, move us and make us cheer.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SEJHJ_WfNgU?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <p>It also turns the night-club into a microcosm for the war, with it multinational clientele and the competing strands of partisanship, neutrality, aggression and political commitment.</p> <p>For an America wary of entering the European theatre, scenes like this reminded audiences of the need to fight injustice, intolerance and belligerence.</p> <p><strong>Remembering Ingrid Bergman</strong></p> <p>It is worth dwelling on Ingrid Bergman’s <a href="http://mercurie.blogspot.com/2016/08/ingrid-bergman-in-casablanca.html">luminescent performance</a>.</p> <p>She plays the role of a woman who never displays where her romantic allegiances lie. Should she leave with Lazslo to America, or should she go back to Rick, and rekindle a love affair that ended abruptly in Paris?</p> <p>The ambiguity in Bergman’s performance is due in large part to both a script that was constantly being rewritten and Curtiz’s indecision on how the film should end. But it is also a reminder of Bergman’s greatness.</p> <p>The critic Roger Ebert <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/elena-and-her-men-1987">once noted</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>[Bergman] doesn’t simply gaze at [a man’s] eyes, as so many actresses do, their thoughts on the next line of dialogue. She peers into the eyes, searching for meaning and clues, and when she is in a close two-shot with an actor, watch the way her own eyes reflect the most minute changes in his expression.</p> </blockquote> <p>Her scenes with Bogart exemplify this approach.</p> <p>Many film historians argue Casablanca’s greatness is due to <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_ABCs_of_Classic_Hollywood/GDppAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=casablanca+invisible,+style&amp;pg=PA58&amp;printsec=frontcover">its “invisible” style</a>: there are no flashy camera movements, or ostentatious cuts, or “look at me” acting.</p> <p>French film critic André Bazin once famously attributed the success of Hollywood studio films to “<a href="http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2010/09/22/what-makes-hollywood-run/">the genius of the system</a>”.</p> <p>Films like Casablanca succeeded because they were made within a thriving ecosystem that placed storytelling, creative expertise, and cast and crew competence at the heart of its artistic practice.</p> <p>And Casablanca’s script remains unbeatable. It’s worth remembering the lines of dialogue that have stayed with us ever since: “Here’s looking at you, kid”; “This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”; “We’ll always have Paris”; and “Round up the usual suspects”.</p> <p><strong>Casablanca’s afterlife</strong></p> <p>Casablanca’s legacy is long-lasting.</p> <p>Today, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Movies_(10th_Anniversary_Edition)">it ranks third</a> on the American Film Institute’s 100 best movies of the last 100 years, and it is <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ReferencedBy/Casablanca">one of the most referenced films</a> of all time.</p> <p>Scholars love the film for its <a href="http://www.nihonbunka.com/blog/archives/000118.html">Freudian intertexts</a>, while others see the title <em>casa blanca</em> – “white house” in Spanish – <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3814999">as a symbol</a> for American foreign policy.</p> <p>The Italian novelist Umberto Eco <a href="https://biblioklept.org/2013/05/26/casablanca-or-the-cliches-are-having-a-ball-umberto-eco/">wrote</a> Casablanca was “not just one film. It is many films […] it is a phenomenon worthy of awe”.</p> <p>Watched today, we remain in awe of its simplicity, but also of its profound depth.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192186/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em>Writen by Ben McCann. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/watching-casablanca-on-its-80th-anniversary-we-remain-in-awe-of-its-simplicity-and-profound-depth-192186" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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The true meaning behind Casablanca

<p><em><strong>Steven McVeigh is an Associate Professor in War and Society at Swansea University.</strong></em></p> <p><em>Casablanca</em>, which brought together the combined star-power of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, remains one of the best-loved movies ever produced in Hollywood. But the film, which hit the silver screen on November 26 1942, is more than just a love story set in Morocco. Released in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor – which propelled a reluctant United States to enter World War II – the film was actually a classic piece of propaganda cinema masquerading as popular entertainment.</p> <p>When war broke out in Europe in September 1939, the United States was the only major power with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://fas.org/irp/ops/ci/docs/ci2/2ch3_a.htm" target="_blank">neither an intelligence nor a propaganda agency</a></strong></span>. But this all changed after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Just as intelligence would be essential for shaping and directing political and military objectives in Europe and Asia as the conflict spread, propaganda would be vital for supporting the American war effort by shaping and directing American ideas and beliefs in relation to the conflict.</p> <p>In June 1942, the office of war information (OWI) <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/wwii/jb_wwii_owi_1.html" target="_blank">was set up</a></strong></span> to promote the war effort and was given the task of developing campaigns to enhance public understanding of the war at home and abroad. A key element of this was the co-ordination of government information activities, as well as liaising with the press, radio, and – crucially – motion pictures.</p> <p>In effect, the OWI was charged with selling the war. After experimenting with propaganda in the form of posters and documentaries, the OWI turned to more imaginative sources. Its director, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elmer-Davis" target="_blank">Elmer Davis</a></strong></span> – formerly a reporter with the New York Times and CBS – made this key observation:</p> <p><em>The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people’s minds is to let it go in through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realise they are being propagandised.</em></p> <p>Hollywood would play a significant role in this. For box office reasons as much as political ones, Hollywood was eager to harness the medium of entertainment to support the war effort. And so several popular films made at this time – including <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035093/" target="_blank">Mrs Miniver</a></strong></span> </em>(1942), <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036172/" target="_blank">The More the Merrier</a></strong></em></span> (1943), <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036430/" target="_blank">This is the Army</a></strong></em></span> (1943), <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037280/" target="_blank">Since You Went Away</a></strong></em></span> (1944) – combined traditional artistic and entertainment concerns with a <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1888275" target="_blank">purposeful political dimension</a></strong></span>.</p> <p>The agency issued specific guidelines, as well as reviewing scripts and early cuts of films, making suggestions for insertions or deletions. It required film makers to consider seven questions before producing a movie:</p> <ol> <li>Will this picture help win the war?</li> <li>What war information problem does it seek to clarify, dramatise, or interpret?</li> <li>If it is an “escape” picture, will it harm the war effort by creating a false picture of America, her allies, or the world we live in?</li> <li>Does it merely use the war as the basis for a profitable picture, contributing nothing of real significance to the war effort and possibly lessening the effect of other pictures of more importance?</li> <li>Does it contribute something new to our understanding of the world conflict and the various forces involved, or has the subject already been adequately</li> <li>When the picture reaches its maximum circulation on the screen, will it reflect conditions as they are and fill a need current at that time, or will it be out-dated?</li> <li>Does the picture tell the truth or will the young people of today have reason to say they were misled by propaganda?</li> </ol> <p><strong>A beautiful friendship</strong></p> <p>At the heart of <em>Casablanca</em> is a concern with the implications of American isolationism in the context of the threat posed to Europe by Nazism.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BkL9l7qovsE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>Elements of the dialogue between characters in the film echo and then argue with contemporary American foreign policy attitudes – offering reasons to engage. Bogart is perfectly cast as cynical bar owner Rick, an American formerly living in Paris who has fled the German occupation to open his Café Americain, which has become a melting pot of wartime nationalities. Rick advances what had traditionally been a popular American justification for isolationism:</p> <p><em>I stick my neck out for nobody. The problems of this world are not in my department. I’m a saloon keeper.</em></p> <p>But for Roosevelt’s administration – and for increasing numbers of Americans – the attack on Pearl Harbor had shattered any lingering illusions that America might turn its back on the world. From this perspective the story of <em>Casablanca</em> is the story of Rick’s transition from aloof to engaged. This is made explicit by the owner of the Blue Parrot cafe, Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet), who tells Rick:</p> <p><em>My dear Rick, when will you realise that in the world today, isolationism is no longer a practical policy?</em></p> <p>But more dynamic than these relatively subtle pieces of dialogue is the famous scene where Rick clearly takes sides, showing the audience who he believes are the heroes and the villains of the European conflict.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="400" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HM-E2H1ChJM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>A contingent of German officers is singing nationalist songs. Victor Lazlo (Paul Heinreid), a heroic resistance fighter who represents the nobility and sacrifice of the oppressed Europeans, demands that the band play La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. The band look to Rick, who nods assent and in that nod he relinquishes his isolationism. The anthem is rousingly played and the Nazis, who initially try to sing more loudly, are drowned out by the patrons singing in unison and they give up. By identifying with Rick, moviegoers were encouraged to make the same choice.</p> <p><em>Casablanca</em> is a dramatic, heartbreaking movie, an unsurpassed classic from Hollywood’s golden era. But it is also an extremely effective piece of propaganda cinema, persuading an American audience reluctant to commit to another European conflict to set aside its isolationism simply by dramatising the heroism of the European resistance to Nazi Germany.</p> <p><em>Written by Stephen McVeigh. Republished with permission of <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation.</a></span></strong></em><img width="1" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87113/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation"/></p>

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