‘CASABLANCA’ Dir: Michael Curtiz, 1942. Never heard of it? …the usual suspects Play it again,...
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Transcript of ‘CASABLANCA’ Dir: Michael Curtiz, 1942. Never heard of it? …the usual suspects Play it again,...
‘CASABLANCA’Dir: Michael Curtiz, 1942
Never heard of it? …the usual suspects
Play it again, Sam (a
common misquote)
The problems of three little people don’t
amount to a hill o’beans in this
crazy world
Here’s lookin’ at you, kid
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of
your life
This could be
the beginning
of a beautiful
friendship
Of all the ginjoints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine!
Casablanca• Released by Warner Bros.
in 1942 ahead of schedule to conincide with invasion of North Africa
• Directed by Michael Curtiz – Austro-Hungarian film-maker who brought European visual style to Hollywood
• Typical Studio product - not expected to be special
• Based on play Everybody Comes to Rick’s
• Classic Hollywood
Setting• Casablanca, city on NW
coast of Morocco• An exotic location• WWII – Morocco owned
by French• Many Europeans fled
the war and ended up in Casablanca
• From Casablanca, a plane took them to Portugal
• From Portugal, ship to America
• Mixture of nationalities• Black market
Characters and PlotRick Blaine – Humphrey Bogart
• An American, owns popular nightclub/gambling den, Rick’s Cafe Americaine
• A cold, detached character, he seems to care for nobody but himself
• Hurt by his one true love, Ilsa Lund
Ilsa Lund – Ingrid Bergman
• Young Norwegian beauty• Once the love of Rick’s love
until she mysteriously gilts him• Married to Victor Laszlo
Characters and Plot
Victor Laszlo – Paul Henreid
• Inspirational writer and activist in anti-Nazi resistance, often called The French Resistance
• Considered enemy of the Third Reich
• Married to Ilsa• In Casablanca to escape to USA
Major Strasser – Conrad Veidt
• Gestapo officer investigating theft of stolen transit papers
• Hunting Laszlo
Outline of Plot• Voiceover: letters of transit (allowing holder to travel to
Lisbon, also called visas) are stolen • Strasser arrives in Casablanca looking for them• Victor and Ilsa arrive in Casablanca and visit Rick’s • Victor hopes to get the visas and escape with Ilsa• Strasser wants to arrest Victor• Rick sees Ilsa and goes all funny• And then….?