Casablanca was first released in 1942, just two weeks after the city of Casablanca itself surrendered to American troops led by General Patton. Featuring a pitch-perfect screenplay, a classic soundtrack, and unforgettable performances by Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and a deep supporting cast, Casablanca was hailed in the New York Times as “a picture that makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap.” The film won Oscars for best picture, best director, and best screenplay, and would go on to enjoy more revival screenings than any other movie in history. It became so firmly ensconced in the cultural imagination that, as Umberto Eco once said, Casablanca is “not one movie; it is ‘movies.’ ”
"We’ll Always Have Casablanca" is celebrated film historian Noah Isenberg’s rich account of this most beloved movie’s origins. Through extensive research and interviews with filmmakers, film critics, family members of the cast and crew, and diehard fans, Isenberg reveals the myths and realities behind Casablanca’s production, exploring the transformation of the unproduced stage play into the classic screenplay, the controversial casting decisions, the battles with Production Code censors, and the effect of the war’s progress on the movie’s reception. Isenberg particularly focuses on the central role refugees from Hitler’s Europe played in the production (nearly all of the actors and actresses cast in Casablanca were immigrants).
Finally, Isenberg turns to Casablanca’s long afterlife and the reasons it remains so revered. From the Marx Brothers’ 1946 spoof hit, A Night in Casablanca, to loving parodies in New Yorker cartoons, Saturday Night Live skits, and Simpsons episodes, Isenberg delves into the ways the movie has lodged itself in the American psyche.
Filled with fresh insights into Casablanca’s creation, production, and legacy, "We’ll Always Have Casablanca" is a magnificent account of what made the movie so popular and why it continues to dazzle audiences more than eighty years after its release.
I've just spent the morning in sundrenched "Canberra" overlooking the river and surrounded by the looks and the smell of my books while dipping in and out of this wonderful book about this wonderful movie.
"If the phone rings, tell them I'm in Canberra"
If watching old movies is a form of escapism, watching Casablanca is not an escape from the human world. It is an escape to the human world. It is one of those rare films that improves with each repeat viewing.
Even old die-hard Casablanca fans will find in this delightful book new ways to love the movie they were certain they could never love more.
