Casablanca

Production

Bogart in the airport scene

Although an initial filming date was selected for April 10, 1942, delays led to production starting on May 25.[60] Filming was completed on August 3. It went $75,000 over budget for a total cost of $1,039,000 (equivalent to $14,789,000 in 2022),[61] above average for the time.[62] Unusually, the film was shot in sequence, mainly because only the first half of the script was ready when filming began.[63]

The entire picture was shot in the studio except for the sequence showing Strasser's arrival and close-ups of the Lockheed Electra (filmed at Van Nuys Airport) and a few short clips of stock footage views of Paris.[64] The street used for the exterior shots had recently been built for another film, The Desert Song,[65] and redressed for the Paris flashbacks.

The film critic Roger Ebert called Wallis the "key creative force" for his attention to the details of production (down to insisting on a real parrot in the Blue Parrot bar).[15]

The difference between Bergman's and Bogart's height caused some problems. She was two inches (5 cm) taller than Bogart, and claimed Curtiz had Bogart stand on blocks or sit on cushions in their scenes together.[66]

Later, there were plans for a further scene, showing Rick, Renault and a detachment of Free French soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1942 invasion of North Africa. It proved too difficult to get Claude Rains for the shoot, and the scene was finally abandoned after David O. Selznick judged "it would be a terrible mistake to change the ending".[67][19]

The background of the final scene, which shows a Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior airplane with personnel walking around it, was staged using little person extras and a proportionate cardboard plane.[68] Fog was used to mask the model's unconvincing appearance.[69]

Direction

Wallis's first choice for director was William Wyler, but he was unavailable, so Wallis turned to his close friend Michael Curtiz.[70][19] Roger Ebert has commented that in Casablanca "very few shots ...are memorable as shots", as Curtiz wanted images to express the story rather than to stand alone.[15] He contributed relatively little to development of the plot. Casey Robinson said Curtiz "knew nothing whatever about story ...he saw it in pictures, and you supplied the stories".[71]

Critic Andrew Sarris called the film "the most decisive exception to the auteur theory",[72] of which Sarris was the most prominent proponent in the United States. Aljean Harmetz has responded, "...nearly every Warner Bros. picture was an exception to the auteur theory".[70] Other critics give more credit to Curtiz. Sidney Rosenzweig, in his study of the director's work, sees the film as a typical example of Curtiz's highlighting of moral dilemmas.[73]

Some of the second unit montages, such as the opening sequence of the refugee trail and the invasion of France, were directed by Don Siegel.[74]

Cinematography

The cinematographer was Arthur Edeson, a veteran who had previously shot The Maltese Falcon and Frankenstein. Particular attention was paid to photographing Bergman. She was shot mainly from her preferred left side, often with a softening gauze filter and with catch lights to make her eyes sparkle; the whole effect was designed to make her face seem "ineffably sad and tender and nostalgic".[15] Bars of shadow across the characters and in the background variously imply imprisonment, the Cross of Lorraine -- the symbol of the Free French Forces -- and emotional turmoil.[15] Dark film noir and expressionist lighting was used in several scenes, particularly towards the end of the picture. Rosenzweig argues these shadow and lighting effects are classic elements of the Curtiz style, along with the fluid camera work and the use of the environment as a framing device.[75]


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