Casablanca
At the height of the Second World War , Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman joined force play for one of the greatest movies ever made – ranked by some publications asliterallythegreatest movie ever made – Casablanca , a wartime love story that exceed its setting with timeless storytelling .
No one involved in the devising ofCasablancaexpected it to be a achiever , despite its A - list stars , but it enjoyed a solid performance at the box office and , more importantly , waspraised by critic as a masterpieceand won the Academy Award for Best Picture . Since WWII was on-going at the time , Casablancaendured a tricky production .
Casablanca Was Based On An Unproduced Play
In 1940 , prior to U.S. forces ’ entry into World War II , Murray Burnett and Joan Alison save a play calledEverybody Comes to Rick’swith an anti - national socialist , pro - French Resistance substance , but it was never produced .
Warner Bros. buy the rightfield to the unproduced play for a record - break $ 20,000 ( worth over $ 370,000 today , adjust for rising prices ) andturned it intoCasablanca .
Clark Gable And Rita Hayworth Were The First Choices For Rick And Ilsa
Joan Alison , conscientious objector - author of the unproduced play upon whichCasablancawas base , always envisioned Clark Gable as Rick . She did n’t care for Humphrey Bogart , seeing him as “ a common inebriate . ” An early insistence expiration claimed Ronald Reagan had been cast as Rick , but this is believed to have been a fraudulence to push his movieKings Row .
Rita Hayworth was the original choice to play Ilsa before the great Ingrid Bergman was hurl . Joseph Cotten was considered for the function of Victor Lazlow , while Otto Preminger was considered for the function of Major Strasser .
Most Of The Sets Were Recycled From Previous Movies
Rick ’s Café was one of the only set that got built from scratch for the production ofCasablanca .
The motion picture mainly recycled curing from previous Warner Bros. production , because World War II had induce a shortfall of build up supply .
Howard Hawks Turned Down The Chance To Direct
Producer Hal B. Wallis ’ top choice to directCasablancawas William Wyler , whowould go on to helm such masterpiece asBen - HurandRoman Holiday , but the director ’s electric chair ended up being taken by Michael Curtiz .
The job was also offered to Howard Hawks , the master filmmaker behindRio Bravo , His Girl Friday , and the originalScarface , but he ferment it down for directSergeant Yorkinstead .
The Script Was Written During Filming
The cast and crew began shootingCasablancawithout a complete book . The book was written during production , with elements being changed to fit the Hays Code . The source fabric ended with Rick and Ilsa leaving for America , but the Hays Code would n’t allow film to portray characters gravel away with adultery .
It take the writers a long time to get up withan ending that everyone was felicitous with . They terminate up reverse - engineering it from the line “ Round up the usual defendant , ” which the filmmakers like .
Humphrey Bogart Had To Wear Platform Shoes Next To Ingrid Bergman
pinnacle difference between actors is still something that film are dealing with , and evenCasablancahad to do something about its star and how tall they are .
Since Humphrey Bogart was a bonny amount shorter than Ingrid Bergman , he had to tire out platform shoes in shot where he was resist next to her .
There Are Many Rumors About The Origin Of “Here’s Looking At You, Kid”
There are a few rumor about the inception of the line “ Here ’s looking at you , kid . ” The most common one is that it was improvised , but it ’s been confirmed to predate both this flick and Bogart ’s late performing work .
In 1932 , a decade beforeCasablancawas made , Eddie Cantor wrote , “ Here ’s looking at you , Sid , ” on his maven outside Grauman ’s Chinese Theater , in reference to the theater ’s owner , Sid Grauman . Cantor signify it as a turn on “ Here ’s looking at you , kid , ” which was ostensibly a popular phrase at the time .
A Lot Of The Nazis Were Played By German Jews Who Escaped The Nazis
WhileCasablancawas being shot , the Second World War was rage on .
A spate of the Nazis that appear in the picture show were , ironically , played by German Jews who had head for the hills from Nazi Germany .
Humphrey Bogart’s Wife Thought He Was Having An Affair With Ingrid Bergman
Humphrey Bogart ’s married woman Mayo Methot was entirely confident that he was get an affair with his co - star Ingrid Bergman . She ’d on a regular basis confront him about it in his grooming room before shooting , so he often came to the set in a big humour , which fed into the character .
DespiteBogart and Bergman ’s on - screen interpersonal chemistry , they did n’t actually pass much sentence together off - camera . The only fourth dimension they ever get down along was when they had lunch with Geraldine Fitzgerald , who suppose they both thought the movie would suck .
The Filmmakers Couldn’t Shoot At An Airport After Dark
The ending ofCasablancahad be shot on a soundstage made up to see like an drome runway , because the ongoing Second World War keep the filmmakers from being able to pullulate at an drome after dark , due to security concerns .
The airplane that appears in the background signal is a cardboard cutout made to look like a airplane using forced perspective . A similar proficiency was later used forthe “ space jockey ” scene in Ridley Scott’sAlien .
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