History Trivia / Casablanca

*** [[Series/Casablanca The second]] aired in 1983, as a mid-season replacement on NBC. The cast lineup was almost as impressive as that of the original film: Creator/HectorElizondo played Captain Renault, Creator/ScatmanCrothers played Sam, and Creator/RayLiotta played Sacha the bartender. Creator/DavidSoul played Rick. Major Strasser is a regular character in this adaptation and there is an expanded role for his aide, Lieutenant Heinz (a very minor character in the film). Again, however, Ugarte is curiously absent. This series had an even shorter run than the 1955 series, with just five episodes produced.

*** The second aired in 1983, as a mid-season replacement on NBC. The cast lineup was almost as impressive as that of the original film: Creator/HectorElizondo played Captain Renault, Creator/ScatmanCrothers played Sam, and Creator/RayLiotta played Sacha the bartender. Creator/DavidSoul played Rick. Major Strasser is a regular character in this adaptation and there is an expanded role for his aide, Lieutenant Heinz (a very minor character in the film). Again, however, Ugarte is curiously absent. This series had an even shorter run than the 1955 series, with just five episodes produced.

*** The first aired in 1955 as part of the ''Warner Bros. Presents'' rotating ("wheel") anthology series, which adapted several of their popular movies into series. Although a number of the minor players from the film returned for the series, none played their original part (Marcel Dallo, who played Emil the croupier in the movie, here played Captain ''Renaud''[[note]]changed from Renault[[/note]]; Dan Seymour, who played Abdul the doorman in the movie, here played Signor Ferrari). In addition to the several understandable absences (Ilsa, Victor, and Major Strasser), Ugarte is also missing, even though he and Rick obviously knew each other fairly well in the film. Rick himself was played by Charles [=McGraw=]; Creator/AnthonyQuinn was apparently in the running for the part but Jack L. Warner himself is said to have refused to allow him to play Rick; this is unlikely as Quinn had already won an Oscar in 1953 (and would win another in 1957) and television was seen as a major step down for movie stars at the time. The show lasted for only ten episodes.

** Canadian John Qualen as Berger, the Norwegian resistance fighter, and Canadian-born George London as one of the singers of the ''Marseillaise''[[note]] What nationality London is supposed to be is unclear, but it's unlikely that he's Canadian since Canada was at war since 1939[[/note]].

** Signior Ferrari and using the ''salaam'' hand gesture was Creator/SydneyGreenstreet's idea. He wanted to go even further with the assimilation into Moroccan culture, but this was deemed contradictory to the movie's theme of Casablanca being a city of outsiders.

** Creator/SyndeyGreenstreet wanted to dress in traditional Moroccan garb for his role as Signior Ferrari to show him as [[GoingNative deeply assimilated into the local culture]], presumably to help underscore his status as a {{foil}} to Rick. This was overruled because it was seen as contrary to the recurring theme of pretty much every character being an outsider in one way or another. As a compromise, Greenstreet was allowed to wear a fez and use the traditional ''salaam'' hand gesture.

* ActorInspiredElement: It was Creator/HumphreyBogart's idea for Rick to be a chess player.

* FakeNationality: A good portion of the cast, the most obvious being the very British Claude Rains as French Captain Louis Renault.

* RelationshipVoiceActor: '''[[https://twitter.com/NEMofficial3/status/1321436996112314376 Big time]]''' in the upcoming [[DuelingDubs New Era Movies 2021 Japanese dub]]: [[Creator/ShuichiIkeda Rick]], [[Creator/KeikoHan Ilsa]] and [[Creator/ToruFuruya Laszlo]] are [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Char Aznable, Lalah Sune and Amuro Ray]] respectively.

* MidDevelopmentGenreShift: Murray Burnett and Joan Alison wrote the movie as a stage play, ''Everybody Comes to Rick''. Creator/WarnerBros bought the rights to the play without being produced for US$20,000[[note]]before inflation[[/note]] in January of 1942, the highest sum ever paid for an unproduced play.

* {{Defictionalization}}: There is a real Rick's Cafe in modern-day Casablanca which closely recreates the decor of the film.
* DVDCommentary: Creator/RogerEbert makes one awesome commentary track. He breaks down things such as shot design, subtle character motivations, the "La Marseillaise" awesomeness and the MacGuffin disaster.

** Austrian Helmut Dantine as Jan Brandel, the young Bulgarian who tries to win the money for a passage to America at the roulette table. American Joy Page played Annina, his wife. She was one of only four American born actors in the film (Bogart, Wilson and Dan Seymour (Abdul, Rick's doorman) were the other three).
** Canadian John Qualen as Berger, the Norwegian resistance fighter, and Canadian-born George London as one of the singers of the ''Marseillaise''[[note]] What nationality London is supposed to be is unclear, but it's unlikely that he's Canadian, since Canada was at war since 1939[[/note]].

** The iconic "La Marsaillaise" sequence was intended to been even more pointed against the Nazis. The original song Major Strasser and the other Germans were to sing was not "Die Wacht am Rhein", a patriotic song written in 1840 and extensively used in the [[UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar Franco-German War]] and in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, but instead "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeHfWLwEjVs Das Horst-Wessel-Lied]]", the Nazi Party anthem and unofficial second national anthem of Nazi Germany. However, Creator/WarnerBros changed it when they realized that the song was under copyright, which wouldn't have been a problem if the film were only being distributed in Allied territory. However as the film was also going to be released in neutral countries as well, it could have caused major diplomatic headaches and even opened Warner Bros. to the absurd possibility of being sued by the Nazis for copyright infringement. Or having to pay them royalties.

** Creator/RitaHayworth and Creator/MicheleMorgan were strongly considered for Ilsa before Creator/IngridBergman got the part.

** Later, there were plans for a further scene, showing Rick, Renault and a detachment of Free French soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1942 invasion of North Africa. It proved too difficult to get Creator/ClaudeRains for the shoot, and the scene was finally abandoned after David O. Selznick judged "it would be a terrible mistake to change the ending."

** Hal B. Wallis's first choice for director was Creator/WilliamWyler. Creator/HowardHawks was offered the job, but he turned it down in favour of ''Film/SergeantYork''.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: In her later years, Creator/IngridBergman admitted to being somewhat rankled that this assembly-line wartime propaganda picture came to eclipse her more "important" and artistic films with [[Creator/AlfredHitchcock Hitchcock]], and Rosselini, and [[Film/AutumnSonata her collaboration]] with Creator/IngmarBergman, among others; in her own words, all people ever wanted to talk about was "that one with Bogart".