When one surveys the history of Hollywood cinema to date, there are surely few films as iconic and as universally popular as Casablanca which celebrates the 75th anniversary of its initial theatrical release in November Proving that some of the very best screen productions come about through chance and happy circumstance, Casablanca has a lasting popularity and influence which befits its much beloved and classic status.
Premiering on November 26th, to coincide with the Allied invasion of North Africa , the film pretty much represented a run-of-the-mill studio effort by Warner Brothers with some attractive names and a story line which seemed apt and pertinent given the context of its time. To put it bluntly, nobody expected it to attain the lofty position it now enjoys 75 years later.
The film has quite rightly been celebrated as a treasure of old Hollywood. The famous film critic Roger Ebert summed up its reputation appropriately when he suggested that it may well be on more lists of the greatest films of all time than any other. I could watch Bogie and Bergman et al time after time. As time goes by, Casablanca really seems to improve with each and every viewing. Many refugees reside there desperately hoping to obtain exit visas to the New World.
The streets and bars are awash with those who dare to dream and those who prey on their precarious situations. The closest many come to realising their goal of freedom is expressed in the shot as they watch a plane depart for Lisbon. The usual suspects are to be rounded up as a demonstration of force by officials of Vichy France. In an early scene, one of these suspects is shot in front of a poster of Philippe Petain as he attempts to evade the authorities.
Shot almost entirely in the studio, aficionados of the film might be interested to learn that this was the one and only scene which was filmed in a location other than the Warner Brothers lot β Van Nuys Airport to be precise, which is located in the San Fernando Valley, California. But Blaine is presented to us in the first instance as a rather self-serving businessman who, in his own words, sticks his neck out for nobody.
