Why does the movie Casablanca have such an enduring appeal? It  won the Academy of Motion Picture's Oscar for "Best Movie"  and was recently ranked #2 among the 100 Film's of all time by the American Film Institute in their AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (losing out to Citizen Kane). Many people, including myself, consider it their favorite movie. What is the secret?  Certainly, when Warner Bros. filmed the movie in 1942, it didn't set out to make the all-time classic movie. In fact, Casablanca was one of around 50 movies that Warner Bros. made in 1942. The movie took 59 days to film in the summer of 1942 and cost $950,000. It was over-schedule and over-budget. It was scheduled to be released a full year later in 1943, but historical events changed that. The American invasion of North Africa, near Casablanca, in November of 1942 had Warner Bros. push up their release date to capitalize on the event. In fact, the general release on January 23, 1943 came during President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill's summit in Casablanca. From there, history was made.
               I guess if you have to analyze it you would find a combination of things that when they come together form such a classic film. First, as given in the title, you have an exotic location. The city of Casablanca in northwest Africa, in what was once French Morocco, certainly fits that description. This despite the fact that it was filmed entirely in a studio in Burbank, California (except for one scene). You have a great love story between two great actors, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. In the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Great Love Stories it was ranked number one. You have some great supporting actors like Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, Paul Henreid and Sydney Greenstreet. You have a great script with arguably more famous quotes then any other movie. In a recent AFI special, seven of Casablanca's quotes were listed in the AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. This was the most, beating out the Wizard of Oz by one. Among them, "Here's looking at you, kid" came in at number 5. Casablanca isn't a musical, but the song "As Time Goes By" was ranked as the second best in their AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs, losing out to the classic "Over the Rainbow."
            Finally, there is the epic struggle  between good and evil. In the AFI's 100 Years… 100 Heroes & Villains  Rick Blaine was ranked as the #4 hero. Not on the list, but certainly deserving to be there was Major Strasser. Does any one do evil as well as the sophisticated but cunning Conrad Veidt?
               So, I have created this site as a dedication to Casablanca and the great actors, both major and minor, who appeared in it. I will be adding a section on the other people who produced the movie along with a fact and trivia page.

               

               
                            
 

(Coming Soon)


(Coming Soon)







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Sources: Birdwell, Michael E., Celluloid Soldiers - Warner Bros.'s Campaign against Nazism. New York, New York University Press, 1999. Harmetz, Aljean, The Making of Casablanca - Bogart, Bergman , and World War II. New York, Hyperion, 2002 Lebo, Harlan, Casablanca - Behind the Scenes. New York, Fireside, 1992 Miller, Frank, Casablanca - As Time Goes By - 50th Anniversary Commemorative. Atlanta, Turner Publishing, Inc., 1992.