Casablanca Film Review

Casablanca Film Review

Hollywood shifted from an outspoken denial of any overt promotion of the U. S. involvement in the war to an active on-screen support of that involvement. The cast was very international, of all the principle and supporting actors in the film came from Europe, only Humphrey Bogart and Dooley Wilson were born and raised in America. The rest of the actors either cam to U. S. for work or as refugees from the Nazis.

By using characters of different ethnic races from other countries allowed the film to give it more of a historical accuracy. Other war time limitations were that of Ingrid’s fashions. They wanted to give her a look that was quite different. Fashions were simple and clean. There was very little outdoor filming due to high costs and a larger concern that the film could reveal important landmarks for the opposition to bomb. Most of the filming was down in soundstages, or on the Warner Brothers lot.

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Warner Brothers had to use models instead of the real thing, for example in the last scene where they are at the airport, the plane in this scene is actually a model and they skillfully used midgets to make the plane to appear bigger. Also Hollywood accommodated the war effort by having stars sell bonds or provide publicity photos with service man. They even built a canteen for the serviceman to go to so that the stars would serve them their coffee and donuts. Warner Brothers also produced some six hundred training and propaganda films under the supervision of Owen Crump.

Casablanca was used as a propaganda vehicle which was designed to support U. S. participation in the Allied Forces’ struggle for global justice and democracy at a time when most Americans believed that U. S. foreign policy should have promoted isolationism and neutrality.

Film Exploits

The film exploits wartime patriotism and the traditional “American values” of freedom, liberty and equality to shape the audience’s perception of the war. Rick Blaine’s character represents the American political ideals; anti-fascism, alliance nd intervention in the war. His role seems to inject resistance to the evil forces a foot in Europe. By the time Casablanca premiered in November 1942, Pearl Harbor had already occurred, and the U. S. had been at war for nearly a year. Many Americans during this time continued to support an isolationism foreign policy and were uneasy about the U. S. participation in a war that was thousands of miles away. The U. S. Government took an active role in the screening of such propaganda films and made sure that the studios would follow the BMP Codes so that the films would “benefit American morale.

The codes were: Glorifying the “American way of Life;”, “Depict the enemy and their philosophy;” ”Reflect well on our Allies;” ”Portray the industrial war effort at Home;” ”Illustrate what individuals could do on the home front to support the war Effort,” and show “Our fighting forces at Work. ” Casablanca was designed to illustrate that personal desires must be subordinated to the task of defeating fascism by showing the chaos and misery which fascism and the war had brought.

World War II had engulfed Europe, reaching all the way to Rick Blaine’s Cafe in French held Morocco. The Nazis had overrun France and all kinds of people are trying to escape by way of Casablanca. In this city, there was human trafficking with Rick’s Cafe being the main place individuals could be bought and sold through a lucrative refugee trade. Men and women were commodities. It was normal for people who used to be of wealth and fortune to end up accepting menial positions and the selling of their most treasured belongings. Some people gambled in order to obtain visas and some women resorted in the selling of their bodies.

These kinds of actions were necessary to obtain a visa and escape. This would be evident in the scene when a young woman asked for Rick’s assistance in escaping. She and her husband were desperately searching for visas to the U. S. , when they were approached by the corrupt Captain Renault. Rather than allowing her to obtain the visas by selling her body to Renault, Rick rigged the roulette wheel so the couple could win the money to buy their passage to the U. S. Rick's actions seem to represent the power of American virtue over Vichy corruption.

In a conversation between Rick and Ferrari, Rick’s liberal political leanings were apparent when Ferrari offered to buy Sam's contract, to which Rick replied: "I don't buy or sell human beings. " This conveyed the point that Rick (an American) was above the fascist practice of trading human beings. In another scene, Rick refused to serve a German patron, tearing up his invitation, which would have presumably allowed him to receive "special treatment.

Warner Bros

Warner Bros were usually anti-Nazi, but when Confessions of a Nazi Spy was released it broke the code of remaining neutral. The Warner Brothers were Jewish. Koch and the Epstein’s saturated Casablanca with powerful assertions of German dominance in order to place the Nazi threat close to home. For example; The Nazi soldiers were given the best tables at Rick’s cafe because they were “German and would take (them) anyway,” just like they did most of Europe. Strasser’s duty was to expand the domain of the Third Reich and he made his intentions clear when he made the statement: “We (the Germans) have to become accustomed to all climates – from Russia to the Sahara,” and again when he explained to Rick that the Germans planned on invading London and New York.

Casablanca wasn’t just another Warner Brothers picture, because it exploited wartime patriotism in an effort to shape American’s perception of the war.

Additional Comments

Casablanca was more than the sentimental theme of lost love and redemption rather it was to represent the complex political and social issues on the early days of World War II. The product of a decade when studios were routinely producing “a movie a week. When Hal Wallis was hired to oversee the Casablanca project he prescribed a theme – United Nations –Conquered Nations Drama, and Enemy – Military Drama. Casablanca was to illustrate those personal desires cannot outweigh the task of defeating fascism and patriotic duty. This relates to the character of Rick Blaine. Casablanca was a chaotic and dangerous place that had Nazi-Vichy intimidation, corruption and control. Many innocent people became victims of senseless rimes from being pick pocketed or being rounded up as a usual suspect, only to be stranded in such a place without hope.

These people were refugees who were forced onto a treacherous journey to freedom, beginning from Paris then to Marseilles, Oran, Algeria landing in Casablanca. Here they would have a strenuous wait until they could secure their exit visas that were necessary for travel and could venture to the “democracy and freedom of the America’s that was a safe haven from the cruelty and death of fascist Europe.

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