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A wartime romantic movie, considered by many to be one of the most romantic (and best) movies ever made.
The setting is Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941; the city is a melting-pot hotbed of refugees from Nazi oppression who are all desperately trying to make their way to the United States -- and freedom -- while trying to avoid the Vichy French authorities, their German masters, and opportunistic criminals. At the center of the story is protagonist Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), the bitter, cynical American owner of Rick's Café Americain -- which 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.
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**He is not all that bad in any case. He has the minimal if not spectacular decency to make sure Yvonne is not compromised when drunk and more to his credit he intervenes when a refugee's wife is being extorted by Renault. He may not have intervened when an arrest was made in his tavern, but at least some of the people that Renault arrested deserved it. And nightclub owners are not in the business of second-guessing police unless they are on a jury.
* [[Lady of War]]: [[Ingrid Bergman]] seems to be a [[Damsel in Distress]] trying to be a [[Lady of War]]. More important, what she really is, is every soldier's favorite princess. Which might make this a successful attempt at inspiring the world war II version of [[Courtly Love]] from fans.
* [[Laughably Evil]]: Some of the best examples of this, with "round up the usual suspects", "We have not decided whether he committed suicide or was shot trying to escape",and "I told them to be especially destructive, you know how that impresses Germans".
* [[Leitmotif]]: Three:
** Most famously, "As Time Goes By", which symbolizes the romance between Rick and Ilsa.
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**[[Reality Is Unrealistic|It is perfectly possible]] for Gestapo agents to be roaming round Paris giving instructions before the German army arrived. Paris was an open city(see [[The Laws and Customs of War]]).
* [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids]]: Rick starts out nursing this view. It doesn't last, though.
* [[Slasher Smile]]: Conrad Veidt ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160923030006/http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Conrad%20Veidt,%20from%20The%20Man%20Who%20Laughs.jpg whose face was the original model for] [[The Joker]]) 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.
** Except [[Those Wacky Nazis|Strasser]], of course.
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***Not all Renaults were corrupt cops. One time a captain put into port with ten extra berths. He sold and resold passage to several times ten refugees. It [[Dude, Not Funny|sounds funnier in retrospect then it was at the time.]] Come to think of it [[Kick the Dog|it does not sound all that funny now.]] By chance, and perhaps not unsurprisingly he was connected to a number of slimy things including being a [[Cannon Fodder|stringer]] for a Balkan terrorist group. In any case the French police decided [[Sarcasm Mode|for some reason]] that they didn't like him and he fled with ten refugees one of whom was a woman paying the [[Unusual Euphemism|usual extra fee in Casablanca.]]
**And of course the City of Casablanca, besides being a pit stop on the refugee trail was like all neutral cities near the war zone a [[City of Spies]] in real life. One of the most delicate and interesting ops handled here was negotiating the defection of Vichy Leaders in preparation for the Torch invasion.
**The writers of the first of several drafts that were to evolve into ''Casablanca'' had their own Casablanca experience. They were a couple who had had the weird bad luck to visit cousins in Austria during the ''Anschless'' (Nazi coup in Austria). The local American Consul advised them to [[Diplomatic Impunity|wear an American flag lapel]] to avoid being attacked for being Jews, but it was at best a short-term solution. Their local kinfolk needed them to get their possessions out, so they made a [[Run for the Border]] loaded down with fur coats and expensive jewelry and basically whatever was portable. Somehow the guards did not spot them. In any event when they reached Marseilles they took a breather at a club remarkably like ''Rick's'' -- even including a black jazz pianist. When the couple got home they decided to devote themselves both to carrying the anti-Nazi message and telling their experience and thus was born the play ''Casablanca''.
* [[World War II]]: One of the classic films from this period - and, you know, revolving around it. It IS a propaganda movie, after all.
* [[Wretched Hive]]: The city of Casablanca itself.
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{{reflist}}
{{Academy Award Best Picture}}
{{AFI's 100 Years 100 Heroes and Villains}}
{{Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time}}
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[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:Films of the 1940s]]
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[[Category:The Criterion Collection (LaserDisc)]]
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[[Category:Danny Peary Cult Movies List]]
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