Casablanca Study Questions
  Film Studies

CASABLANCA (1942, Warner Brothers, 102 min.), directed by Michael Curtiz; produced by Hal B. Wallis; screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch; cinematography by Arthur Edeson; music by Max Steiner; with Humphrey Bogart (Rick Blaine), Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa Lund), Paul Henreid (Viktor Lazlo), Claude Rains (Capt. Renault), Conrad Veidt (Col. Strasser), Dooley Wilson (Sam), Sydney Greenstreet (Ferrari), Peter Lorre (Ugarte).

1. Why would American audiences be drawn to the setting in Casablanca, Morocco? In what ways is it quintessential “Hollywood”? How much of Casablanca do we actually see?

2. Like most studio films, particularly those set on foreign shores, Casablanca relies a great deal on national/ethnic stereotypes for its characters. Discuss some of these stereotypes.

3. In some ways this film can be considered an example of the “stranger comes to town” plot pattern (where a stranger arrives--sometimes “out of the past"--and disrupts the normal state of affairs, setting off a series of conflicts that become ever more serious, until some kind of resolution is reached). Discuss the plot of Casablanca in these terms.

4. As happens in any story involving a love triangle, we are meant to compare and contrast the two men vying for the heroine (the same thing happens no matter what the gender configurations). What does the comparison/contrast of Rick and Viktor tell us, about Ilsa and about them?

5. In many ways Rick Blaine is a classic Warner Brothers tough guy, particularly at the beginning of the film, a guy who reveals his real self to no one and sticks his neck out for nobody. This changes. How does Bogart allow us to see the emotions inside his character? Try to be as specific as possible.

6. Examine the flashback scenes. How does the film make the transition from Casablanca to Paris, how does the tone/mood of the flashback scenes contrast with Casablanca, how are we brought into Rick’s subjectivity?

7. Casablanca is in many ways a study in American heroism, and one could argue that Bogart serves as a model for what a man should be in our society. Discuss this.

8. Now do the same for Ilsa as a model for a woman should be. (By the way, in the story on which the film is based, the heroine was a woman named Lois, an unchaste American woman whose affair with Rick in Paris had destroyed his marriage; she arrives in Casablanca as Lazlo’s mistress, not his wife. As you answer this question, think about the way this character was changed in the film version.)

9. One of the film’s most memorable aspects is the relationship between Rick and Renault. What does Renault bring to the film?

10. Now discuss the relationship between Rick and Sam. What do they give each other? To what extent is Sam a stereotypical African-American of the period, and to what extent does he transcend that stereotype?

11. Analyze the scene in which “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem, is sung. How is the national anthem being used in the film?

12. Like many films of Hollywood’s golden years (not to mention today!), Casablanca has its share of elements that are frankly hard to believe--we are required to suspend our critical faculties temporarily in order to believe in the story. What would be some examples of this?

13. Most Hollywood love stories included a number of “Money Shots,” close-ups of the heroine (and perhaps of the hero) in soft focus and lovely lighting that audiences love (and that were like “money in the bank”; hence the name). When do such shots occur in this film, and why?

14. The film was conceived just before America’s entry into World War II (December 1941), and was in fact released just in time for the Allied invasion of North Africa and subsequent Allied war conference in Casablanca at the end of 1942. In what ways is the film an allegory for America’s participation in the war?

15. Why is this film such a classic? Why are audiences drawn to it again and again? In what ways does it capture central myths about America, about ourselves as we like to see ourselves and our place in the world?