Must-watchWorld War II · Film · 1942
Casablanca
In Vichy-ruled Casablanca, cynical nightclub owner Rick Blaine holds two letters of transit that could carry a Resistance leader to freedom, just as the woman who left him in Paris walks into his café.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 2 places.
Stop 1: Paris, France
In flashback, Rick and Ilsa fall in love in Paris as the German army approaches, and she fails to meet him at the station.
Stop 2: Casablanca, French Morocco
Key location
At Rick's Café Américain, refugees, gamblers, Vichy police and German officers circle the precious letters of transit.
What really happened
After France's defeat in June 1940, French Morocco stayed under the collaborationist Vichy regime, and Casablanca became a waiting room for refugees trying to reach neutral Lisbon and then the Americas. Many had fled south from Paris ahead of the Germans, who entered the city on 14 June 1940; exit visas were scarce, bribery was common and German armistice commissions watched the port.
The letters of transit signed by de Gaulle are an invention, and no German officer held the power Major Strasser has in the film. History caught up with the story: Allied troops landed at Casablanca on 8 November 1942 during Operation Torch, weeks before the premiere on 26 November, and Roosevelt and Churchill met there in January 1943. Many of the cast were themselves refugees from Nazi Europe.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- Casablanca
- Directed by
- Michael Curtiz
- Countries
- United States
- Languages
- English, French, German
- Released
- 1942
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Mediterranean & Africa
- Themes
- Romance
- Espionage
- Resistance
