Casablanca

Many films reflected the chaotic disorder of the 1940s, and Casablanca is one of the most significant. Humphrey Bogart stars as the owner of the nightclub “Rick’s Café Américain” in Casablanca Morocco, where many expatriates and refugees from the Nazi Regime desperately yearn to escape like rats in a cage. At the heart of the film is the tragic love story of Rick and Ilsa and the impossible choice they must make between their own happiness and fighting the good fight. The film has impeccable storytelling and exceptional acting with romance and danger to make it a classic in every sense of the word.

Production

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Produced by Hal B. Wallis

Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch

Based on Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre

Music by Max Steiner

Cinematography by Arthur Edeson

Edited by Owen Marks

Production company: Warner Bros. – First National Pictures

Distribution & Stats

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Release date: November 26, 1942 (Hollywood Theatre,) January 23, 1943 (United States)

Running time: 102 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Budget: Original: $878,000, Actual: $950,000 or $1,039,000

Box office: $3.7 million (rentals, initial US release) or $6,859,000