Here's Looking at CASABLANCA

Rating: 10/10 (10 July 2006)

Occasionally, great films are happy accidents. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT and SINGIN' IN THE RAIN were written and produced in unconventional ways. So was CASABLANCA. It was a wartime romantic melodrama based on an unproduced play. Everybody thought that it would be good, but nobody considered it special.
Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman weren't part of the original cast; their roles were originally slated for Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan. George Raft was also considered for the lead. Raft and Reagan were unavailable, though, so the role of Rick Blaine went to the only man who could have played it.
The screenplay is another oddity. Julius and Philip Epstein began by extensively revising a stage play called "Everybody Comes to Rick's". When the Epsteins were called away to another assignment, Howard Koch took over. Later, the Epsteins returned to collaborate with Koch on the film's final act. Despite the multiple writing credits, the film is very unified.
The film is set in French Morocco in 1941. The port city of Casablanca is a stopping point on the refugee trail. Refugees are pouring into the city, but they can't leave without exit visas. Cafe owner Rick Blaine is accidentally left with two letters of transit, documents which allow the bearer to travel without a visa. No sooner do the letters fall into his hands than his former lover, Ilsa Lund (Bergman) arrives with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Laszlo is a charismatic Underground leader sought by the Nazis. Their only hope for escape from Casablanca is the letters of transit held by Rick.
Ilsa is torn between the two men. She loves Rick, but she also loves Laszlo. She realizes that she is the inspiration for his work against the Nazis.
The background for the love triangle is the film's array of memorable supporting characters. Louis Renault (Claude Rains) is the local police chief who trades exit visas for sexual favors. (The film is surprisingly frank about this.) Ugarte (Peter Lorre) is a small-time thief who is arrested for murder. Ferari (Sidney Greenstreet) is a rival club owner and a key figure in the local black market. There are also the employees of Rick's Cafe, led by Sam (Dooley Wilson). The Germans are led by snarling bully Major Heinrich Strasser (Conrad Veidt). All of these characters and their various story threads are introduced in a long series of scenes depicting a typical night at the Cafe.
Movie plots usually follow a three-act structure. CASABLANCA has a more Shakespearean five-act structure. Act 1, which introduces the various characters and subplots, ends with Ilsa's reunion with Rick. Act 2 consists of Rick's reminiscences of his affair with Ilsa. Act 3, which shows Laszlo's futile attempts to get exit visas, ends with his confrontation with a group of Nazis at Rick's. After this, the events of the last two acts (the night of the resistance meeting and the resolution of the love triangle) are inevitable.
Some of the film's plot points are pure fiction. For one thing, there's no such thing as a letter of transit. It's a plot device, a McGuffin. Besides, if the Nazis really wanted a person, no document would prevent them from arresting him. For another, even if Ugarte did get letters of transit, he wouldn't have sold them. He certainly would not have given them to Rick. He would have used them to leave Casablanca. These plot points don't make sense. The Epsteins slide them past us with great dialogue and wonderful characters. After all, if Rick doesn't get the letters, we don't have a movie.
CASABLANCA is a movie about love and sacrifice. It has one of the greatest endings in movie history. In fact, it has the only ending it can possibly have.