The Movie Book

72

OF ALL THE GIN JOINTS IN ALL

THE TOWNS IN ALL THE WORLD,

SHE WALKS INTO MINE

CASABLANCA / 1942

M

ade at the height of World

War II, Casablanca is a

romance set in neutral

Morocco, just as the fighting is

getting uncomfortably close.

Few of those working on the

production thought they were making

a great movie. Ingrid Bergman, who

had not been the producers’ first

choice, was anxious to move on

to For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943);

and by all accounts, there was no

love lost between Humphrey Bogart

IN CONTEXT

GENRE

Romantic drama

DIRECTOR

Michael Curtiz

WRITERS

J. J. and P. G. Epstein,

Howard E. Koch,

Casey Robinson

STARS

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid

Bergman, Paul Henreid

BEFORE

1938 Algiers, a romantic

thriller starring Hedy Lamarr,

is set in North Africa.

1941 The Maltese Falcon

makes Humphrey Bogart a star.

AFTER

1944 In To Have and Have

Not, Bogart and Lauren Bacall

star in another Resistance story.

Warner Bros. promoted the movie

as a typical romance of its time, little

thinking that it would become one of

the most popular movies ever made.