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A wartime romantic movie, considered by many to be one of the most romantic (and best) movies ever made.

This 1942 Warner Brothers film featured a screenplay by Howard Koch, based on an unproduced play, “Everybody Comes to Rick's,” by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison; this screenplay was in turn enhanced by the brilliant dialogue of the brothers Julius and Philip Epstein. The film was handed over to ace Warners director Michael Curtiz, and the respected film composer Max Steiner provided the score. Early studio press releases had it that the film would star Ronald Reagan, and Ann Sheridan ... but this was just the studio's publicity department needing to put someone famous's name in the release, otherwise the announcement wouldn't get printed. George Raft also made a play for the lead role — but actually, Warners had always planned the film as an A-picture and had never even tentatively considered anyone but Humphrey Bogart for the starring role.

The setting is Casablanca, December 1941 — a melting-pot hotbed of refugees from Nazi oppression all desperately trying to make their way to the United States and freedom, all the while trying to avoid the Vichy French authorities and their German masters and preyed on by opportunistic criminals. And in the center is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), the bitter, cynical American owner of “Rick's Café Americain”, who professes absolute neutrality to all, from the ruthless German commander Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) and the corrupt, cynical French police chief Louis Renault (Claude Rains) to the desperate refugees and criminals who use his bar as a convenient place for dealings of all kinds.

Rick's claims of neutrality are sorely tested, however, by the arrival in Casablanca of Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the woman who broke his heart when the Germans entered Paris, and her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a Czech resistance leader and Major Strasser's current favorite target. Ilsa abandoned him all those years ago upon learning that her husband was still alive; now she and Victor need Rick's help in securing vital letters of transit that will allow them to leave the country and continue to fight the good fight against the Nazis. When it is gradually made clear that Ilsa, despite being with her husband, still loves Rick, Rick finds himself struggling with his heart, his anger, his gradually-revived sense of idealism, and the question of whether to sacrifice this new chance at happiness for the cause of something that is greater than all of them. Of course, you know how it ends.

Casablanca was the winner of 3 Oscars at the 1944 Academy Awards: Best Screenplay for Howard Koch and Julius and Philip Epstein, Best Director for Michael Curtiz, and Best Picture. It was nominated in 5 other categories, including Best Actor for Bogart, Best Supporting Actor for Rains, and Best Score for Max Steiner.

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Provides examples of:

• Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder: Turns out Victor wasn't dead.
• Acceptable Targets: Every unlikable character who isn't a Nazi is an Italian. Keep in mind this film was made before Italy fell to the allies.
• The Alliance (The Allies. Which they go out of their way to demonstrate.)
• Author Tract: Like many movies released at the time, a not-so-subtle call for Americans to join the war against the Nazis. Unlike many, has the decency to at least be witty and interesting about it. And after all, Some Anvils Need To Be Dropped.
  • "It's December 1941 and all of America is asleep...".
• Bad Guy Bar: "Rick's Cafe Americain". But then, everybody comes to Rick's.
• Betty And Veronica: Victor and Rick
• Beam Me Up Scotty: Almost everyone knows the classic line, "Play it again, Sam." ... except the line never appears. It's simply "Play it, Sam."
• Bittersweet Ending
• Catch Phrase: "Here's looking at you, kid.", "Play it, Sam.", the quote above... this editor had a hell of a time deciding on the page quote, let me tell you.
  • Casablanca has six quotes on the AFI's 100 top film quotes list, more than any other movie.
    • 'Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world...'
    • "We'll always have Paris."
    • "I am shocked, shocked! to find that gambling is going on in here!"
• City Of Spies
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Hard to determine exactly where Rick's may be, as the man is nothing short of a wit-oozing, catchphrase-spouting machine. That's Humphrey Bogart for you.
  • Louis' is easy to pick, though: "Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects."
    • This troper is quite partial to the "I'm shocked, shocked!" moment quoted below.
  • Victor Laszlo's is easy as well: when he rallies the patrons and the band of Rick's to drown out the Nazis' "Wacht am Rhein" song with the French National Anthem: "La Marseillaise". Still gets a tear in this troper's eye every time.
  • Rick pulls the ticket switch, proving he's a sentimentalist after all.
    • It must be the final climax, the 'If that plane leaves and you're not on it' speech, that wins for Rick overall. Come on! Please?
  • Not quite a crowning moment of awesome per se, but early on Rick lets Ugarte be killed mostly out of indifference. It was a bit of a shock for a main character to be so cold.
• The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much
• DVD Commentary: Roger Ebert makes one awesome commentary track. He breaks down things such as shot design, subtle character motivations, the "La Marseillaise" awesomeness and the MacGuffin disaster.
• Even The Guys Want Him: Rick. According to Louis, anyway.
  "If I were a woman, and I were not around... I should be in love with Rick."
  • Hello Nurse: Ilsa. According to Rick, Victor, and Louis, anyway. And a pretty big slice of the audience at the time; Ilsa is played by Ingrid Bergman, after all.
    "Ms. Lund, I was told you were the most beautiful woman who had ever come to Casablanca. That was a gross understatement."
• The Empire( The Nazis.)
• Friendly Enemy: Louis, who is forced to work against Rick even though they're friends.
• Funny Foreigner: "What watch?" "Ten watch." "Such much?"
  • The "vultures everywhere" guy (Curt Bois) uses this as a cover for his pickpocketing.
• Good Scars Evil Scars
• Have A Gay Old Time: It's somewhat confusing to hear Ilsa say "Who's that boy playing the piano?" when referring to the middle-aged black pianist Sam.
• Heel Face Turn: Louis, and, to some extent, Rick
• Hollywood Tactics: the good guys show horrible tradecraft. For instance a courier walks up to Victor Lazlo and announces himself as "Norwegian" (ever heard of the phrase "need to know" guys?). Victor Lazlo knows every resistance leader in Europe and yet is way deep in enemy territory. Indeed the Allies might be tempted to think that He Knows Too Much.
  • Not to mention, most Real Life couriers are mercenaries and wouldn't know who they are working for. And of course resistance leaders wouldn't always trust each other either. Sometimes They Were Struggling Together
• Ho Yay: See above — Louis is often interpreted as Ambiguously Gay, despite his habit of pulling The Scarpia Ultimatum on women. Even Ebert calls him "subtly homosexual" in his review of the film - apparently he has never heard of bisexuals.
  • Just about every male character in the movie has at least one Ho Yay moment with Rick.
• Hypocritical Humor: "I am shocked — shocked! — to find gambling going on in this establishment." "Your winnings, sir." "Oh, thank you very much."
• I Want My Beloved To Be Happy: A defining theme of the movie. Although this is justified more than the trope typically is. "If that plane takes off and you're not on it, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life." Also, he was talking about the work Lazlow was doing more than just being with him.
• It Was His Sled
• Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Rick Blaine: "I stick my neck out for nobody." Sure you don't, Rick. Sure you don't.
  • Also, to a much, much lesser extent, Signore Ferrari: "I am moved to make one more suggestion; why, I do not know, because it cannot possibly profit me, but, have you heard about Signor Ugarte and the letters of transit...?"
• Lady Of War (Ingrid Bergman seems to be a Distressed Damsel trying to be a Lady Of War. More important, what she really is, is every soldiers favorite princess. Which might make this a successful attempt at inspiring the world war II version of Courtly Love from fans.
• Les Collaborateurs: The police, particularly Louis — unusually, he redeems himself. "I go with the wind, and right now, the prevailing wind blows from Vichy."
• Lost In Imitation: When the band Chicago used a pastiche of the film for one of their videos (Along comes a woman), they changed the ending. To the original ending from the play.
• MacGuffin: The letters of transit, which are fictional. And don't make sense. While never actually being used. And who the heck cares anyway?
• Magnificent Bastard: Captain Louis Renault — even though he's Rick's friend, he does seem a tad Chaotic Evil.
• The Messiah: Victor Laszlo.
• Music For Courage: The French national anthem scene.
  • This scene might have been even more pointed if real-world IP law hadn't intervened. The scene as shot used the old German WW 1 martial air "Die Wacht am Rhein". The scene as written used the Nazi anthem (and officially during Nazi Germany the second part of the National anthem after "Deutschland Ueber Alles"), "Das Horst-Wessel-Lied." The song was still under copyright to The Nazi Party in Germany, which in most cases would not be a problem... if the film were to be only played in Allied nations. The scene could have gotten Warner Brothers in legal trouble in neutral nations where it would be screened, especially if those nations still had diplomatic relations with Germany.
  • There was a Real Life counterpart that resembled this scene remarkably where the American adventurer George Earle started a Bar Brawl with some Germans in a bar in the Balkans over what music was to be sung. FDR thought it a funny story and called it "The battle of the bottles."
• Name That Tune: "As Time Goes By" is now the official Vanity Plate jingle for Warner Bros., the producer of Casablanca.
• Not Even Bothering With The Accent: Several, but perhaps most noticeably Claude Rains as a Frenchman.
• One Scene Wonder: Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet
• The Paolo: An unusual twist: Either Victor or Rick could be considered The Paolo once you know the Back Story.
• Plot Hole: The married couple just got aboard the airplane without bothering to show the letters of transit, making the MacGuffin effectively useless. Not to mention that the letters signed by the exiled Free French General Charles de Gaulle should never, ever be used in the Vichy regime controlled Morocco in the first place.
  • It's hard to hear the name, but the papers were signed by Weygand, not De Gaulle. General Maxime Weygand collaborated with the Germans in Vichy France.
• The Quisling: Louis Renault, at least until the end.
• Reality Subtext: A number of the actors and extras were actually refugees of Nazi oppression, including Conrad Veidt who played Major Strasser.
• The Scarpia Ultimatum
• Screw The War, We're Partying: Until Victor's arrival, the majority of Rick's clients.
• Slasher Smile: Conrad Veidt has still got it.
• Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Pretty much the point of the movie. "I suspect that under that cynical shell you are at heart a sentimentalist." Of course, Louis is right when he says that of Rick. And because Rousseau Was Right, it turns out to be true of everyone, even the local crime lord and corrupt, lecherous Louis himself.
• Title Drop: Here of the (unproduced) play it was adapted from. Captain Renault's "Everybody comes to Rick's". The word "Casablanca" is spoken many times, too.
  • Well, since the title is also the name of the city where it takes place, it's not a huge surprise.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Not actually the case with the real trailer, but the VHS release of the movie is preceded by an infuriatingly long special/blurb that repeatedly features every single even remotely well-known moment from the film. It's seriously somewhere in the 15-20 minute range, and by the end This Troper found himself wondering what of the film he hadn't seen yet.
• Train Station Goodbye: The film that made this scene famous
• Triang Relations: Number 7 initially.
• Trope Overdosed
• Those Wacky Nazis
• World War II: A defining film thereof.
• Wretched Hive: The city of Casablanca itself.

Real Life

• As an interesting side note the historian and political columnist Barry Rubin in his World War II espionage history Istanbul Intrigues, described the "Byzantine" City Of Spies in the title as "A real-life Casablanca"

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