A Perfect Film But Let's Clear Up A Few Rumors

Rating: 10/10 (25 March 2018)

In December 1941, American expatriate Rick Blaine owns an upscale nightclub and gambling den in Casablanca. "Rick's Café Américain" attracts a varied clientele, including Vichy French and German officials, refugees desperate to reach the still-neutral United States, and those who prey on them. Although Rick professes to be neutral in all matters, he ran guns to Ethiopia during its war with Italy and fought on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War.
Petty crook Ugarte boasts to Rick of "letters of transit" obtained by murdering two German couriers. The papers allow the bearers to travel freely around German-controlled Europe and to neutral Portugal, and are priceless to the refugees stranded in Casablanca. Ugarte plans to sell them at the club, and asks Rick to hold them. Before he can meet his contact, Ugarte is arrested by the local police under the command of Captain Louis Renault, the unabashedly corrupt Vichy prefect of police. Ugarte dies in custody without revealing that he entrusted the letters to Rick.
Now let's clear up some rumors. Muh has been written about "Casablanca" but a few rumors often get repeated. One of them is Ingrid Bergman saying "The screenplay was not completed when they started shooting". That is not true. Warner Brothers never put a film into production unless they had a complete screenplay. Now they kept a few things secret from Ingrid Bergman. She did not have a complete screenplay. The director and Warners thought they would get a better performance out of her if she did not know a few things. However it was not uncommon for "things to change" while a film was in production. "Casablanca was no exception!
Another rumor was that Ronald Reagan was cast to play Ric! He was only "thought of" but for only a few seconds. Almost everyone in Hollywood was until Bogart was cast!
Rumor #3 The film was an out of control production! This is not true! This was shot in 18 days.
Another things people don't quit notice is how fast people talk in this film! The film runs 102 minutes. The screenplay is 125+ minutes. The average screenplay is one minute of screen time per written page! If this film was made by today's standards it would run almost 45 minutes longer.
Now if you never seen the film you are lucky. The film is exciting as it is romantic. Not one minute of screen time is squandered. Today's filmmakers would not know how to make a film like this unless "Batman" plays Ric!