Written by a model from the transcript; not yet reviewed.
Casablanca remains one of Hollywood's definitive cinematic achievements, released in 1942 as the United States entered the Second World War. The film features Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, a cynical American expatriate running a glamorous cafe in Vichy-controlled Morocco, and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund, his former lover who arrives with her freedom-fighter husband, Victor Laszlo. As the guests Ian Christie, Pamela Hutchinson, and Sheldon Hall explain to host Melvyn Bragg, the film emerged from a bustling studio system reliant on European émigrés and refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Warner Brothers adapted an unproduced stage play titled Everybody Comes to Rick's, shaping it through multiple screenwriters, a master craftsman director in Michael Curtiz, and strict production code censorship that added suggestive subtlety to its romantic and political themes. The discussion traces how the film effectively countered American isolationism by arguing that passivity in the face of tyranny is amoral, while also examining its enduring legacy across generations.
Hosts introduce the episode and brief ad breaks before diving into the discussion.
The hosts welcome the panel of film historians and set the stage for a deep dive into Casablanca.
Panelists explain Hollywood’s global reach, cinema attendance, and the war’s impact on film production.
Discussion of how Warner Bros. sourced the script, paid a record price, and transformed the stage play into a screenplay.
Exploration of why Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman were chosen, the role of Hal Wallace, and the early career trajectories of the leads.
Analysis of the film’s blend of melodrama, film noir, and musical interludes, and how these served narrative and political purposes.
Panel discusses the Production Code Administration’s influence on scenes, dialogue, and the film’s overall moral stance.
Examination of how Casablanca subtly critiques fascism, uses symbols like the Marseillaise, and navigates censorship constraints.
Reflection on how the cast and crew later faced accusations of un-American activities despite their anti‑fascist work.
Discussion of a claim about a contract and the mythic status of Casablanca’s characters.
Analysis of the film’s enduring appeal and its qualities that set it apart from wartime cinema.
Hosts Misha Glenny and Melvyn Bragg open the episode and provide production credits.
Massive 1940s Cinema Attendance Habitsdata
Sheldon Hall explains that in 1940s Britain, people visited massive cinemas holding thousands of seats roughly every ten days, sustaining a massive demand for Hollywood studio output.
Purchasing an Unproduced Playstory
Warner Brothers bought the unproduced stage play Everybody Comes to Rick's for $20,000 immediately after Pearl Harbor, with studio readers calling it a box office natural.
A Collaborative Screenplay Processstrategy
Pamela Hutchinson details how the legendary script was built by multiple hands, including the Epstein brothers for snappy dialogue, Howard Koch for politics, and producer Hal B. Wallace for the final line.
Michael Curtiz's Directing Efficiencyinsight
Ian Christie discusses how Michael Curtiz became a legendary studio craftsman by directing over a hundred films with incredible speed and finding the precise visual style for every genre.
Cast as a Bogart Vehicleinsight
Sheldon Hall debunks casting myths, noting that Casablanca was specifically developed as a romantic vehicle for Humphrey Bogart rather than George Raft or Ronald Reagan.
Max Steiner Hated As Time Goes Bystory
Pamela Hutchinson reveals that composer Max Steiner despised the song As Time Goes By and nearly convinced the studio to reshoot scenes before it became permanently tied to the film's romance.
Censorship and the Dissolve Techniquestrategy
Sheldon Hall describes how the production code administration forced a transition from a fade-to-black to a dissolve with a searchlight to keep a romantic interlude past the censors.
“I think the average is, every person in the UK goes to the cinema once or twice a year now.”
“And so Hollywood produced a lot more films than it does now, hundreds every year.”
“Humphrey Bogart absolutely improvised the line, 'He is looking at you, kid.'”
“And Max Steiner, who wrote the score for the film, hated this song and was very vocal about having this schmaltzy sentimental tune.”
“It's a supreme example of what I would describe as the genius of the system.”
“I think that reinvented the film for a lot of people, for much younger people who'd never seen it first time round, probably had never even heard of it.”
“The fact that Woody Allen was kind of making it this legendary film in the 70s must have done a lot, I think, to carry it on down through the generations.”
“It got something like a 73% audience share when it was first shown on TV in New York.”
“It's incredible that we've got through this discussion without actually falling into a quotation, you know, semi-quotation.”
Recorded at the Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield, Misha Glenny and guests discuss Casablanca, one of the greatest films from Hollywood’s Golden Era. The film stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and features the unforgettable song As Time Goes By. Casablanca opened in November 1942 when Europe had been at war for three years and the USA for one. It was among Hollywood’s first major films to explain to US audiences why the war was worth fighting, and alongside this became a huge box office hit. It was created by a cast and crew full of emigres and refugees from lands under Nazi control. They produced a movie that has authenticity as well as astonishing emotional power that continues to this day. With Ian Christie Emeritus Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck University of London Pamela Hutchinson Film historian and critic Sheldon Hall Emeritus Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University. Producers: Simon Tillotson & Sam Peach Reading List: Rudy Behlmer, Inside Warner Bros. (1935-1951) (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986) Thomas Doherty, Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939 (Columbia University Press, 2013) David Gerstner and Janet Staiger (eds.), Authorship and Film (Routledge, 2003), especially 'The Auteur theory: Michael Curtiz and Casablanca' by Peter Wollen Aljean Harmetz, The Making of Casablanca: Bogart, Bergman, and World War II (Hyperion, 2002) Noah Isenberg, We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood`s Most Beloved Movie (Faber & Faber, 2020) Colin McArthur, The Casablanca File (Half Brick Images, 1992) Thomas Schatz, The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (Pantheon Books, 1988) David Thomson, Warner Bros: The Making of an American Movie Studio (Yale University Press, 2017) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.
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