We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Legend and Afterlife of Hollywood's Most Beloved Film

And who isn't a Casablanca fan? A great behind-the-scenes account of how the original play was written, how the movie was written, and how it was made. My only "quibble," and it isn't much of one is that, yes, Julius and Phil Epstein did come up with "Round up the usual suspects" while out for a drive, but not quite as Phil's son says. I interviewed Julius back in the early 1980s, and he told me they were driving along Sunset Boulevard and got stopped at the light on Cherokee, just west of the Hollywood Athletic Club, and as Phil took a look at the "Hollywood denizens" on the sidewalk, he said "Round up the usual suspects." One could do the same thing today, since the only thing that's changed there is the cars and the clothing styles. The book is well-research and well-written, by an obvious fan. I think I'll go watch it again, Sam.

I recently re-watched Casablanca for the first time in a really long while, and I loved it so much. Afterwards, I remembered this book that came out a couple of years ago about the film, so I decided to pick it up too. I definitely wanted to learn more about Casablanca, and just live in that world a little longer. And the book ended up being a good choice – it added a lot to my understanding and appreciation of the film. I enjoyed all the detail about, first the writing of the original play, then the various screenplays. And I especially enjoyed the ton of detail about all the supporting actors and bit players in the film, and their histories. The thing that surprised me most about the book was that it didn’t really have much detail about the day to day filming of the movie. There’s a lot about everything that went into preparing the movie, and a lot about people’s reaction to the film over the years, but the book is extremely light on topics like the direction or cinematography, the hard work of actually shooting the film. That was a slight disappointment, but maybe it was just impossible to find that kind of information after all these years. Another minor disappointment was that occasionally the book repeats small anecdotes, observations or facts. That made me feel like the editing was a bit sloppy. Nothing major, but the book could have been a bit tighter. Also towards the end of the book, as the author describes various revival screenings through the years, various later critic’s impressions of the film, maybe ten different parodies of the film, including a description of four different episodes of The Simpsons, and even spending some time on the relationships to the film of the grandchildren of people who worked on the script – there was definitely too much of this kind of stuff for me, which was far less interesting and coherent than the first eighty percent of the book that was really centered on what went into the making of the film. Anyhow, these are just nitpicks. If, like me (and like almost everybody who was seen it), you love the film Casablanca, you will mostly enjoy this book and probably get a lot out of it.

I don't think that I actually saw Casablanca from beginning to end until I was an adult. And I don't recall being so enthralled with it the first time around. But over the years it has grown on me and become one of my all time favorite movies. I loved it so much that while taking a graduate level history class on French History, I used the movie as a back drop for a discussion of Vichy France and wrote a paper on the subtle influences of Vichy France in Casablanca. The Professor loved it! At that time I read several books and article on the movie and really thought that there was not much else to learn. And then I read WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE CASABLANCA. The book relates numerous vignettes about the author, the actors, the making of the movie and its legacy. The book successfully puts the movie and its message into historical context. What concerns me is a vignette related at the end of the book, where the author talks about a speaker talking to an audience that did know Casablanca. To me such a person is culturally illiterate - but perhaps I should not be so harsh. There are many parts of current culture at I am illiterate about and those people would call me culturally illiterate. I just hope that we don't lose movies like Casablanca and its message. This is a very quick read for the movie aficionado and the apprentice alike. It tells the story of a movie that typified a period in American history and conveys a message that should not be lost.

What this book does is make the reader appreciate the fact that Hollywood, as the US Congress, is just another 'sausage factory'. The production of a motion picture (especially Casablanca, it appears), as any piece of legislation, is involved with so many hands, with so many different agendas and points of view, that the outcome is just one unbelievable contortion that is usually far from the original, seminal story. And, along the way for this process, each individual feels he/she is brilliant and everyone else (either before or after) is a blind, ham handed fool. One other notable feature of the book is to illustrate how actors lose themselves in the alternate reality of picture making so much so that reality blurs. As one actor (Anthony Hopkins, I think?) once observed......."The only thing real to me is acting, but, by definition, that isn't real'. So, life is not real because it isn't acting, and acting is not real because it isn't life, it's acting". Knowing this, so, it becomes far easier to understand how a Jussie Smollett loses himself and can no longer discern what is real (the truth) and what is not real (the untruth). As for the book itself.....It's a casual read, but somewhat inflated by minutiae that only a very devoted Hollywood groupie would care about.......

I've always loved this movie. This box set is a little pricey, but has a lot going for it. Casablanca is a blessed accident, a combination of people and events that produced on of Hollywood's greatest films, perfect for its time. It is the very opposite of the director-driven auteur movies, as so many hands touched this movie and yet the result is timeless. The script was developed from a play, Everybody Goes to Rick's, that arrived in Warner's development office on December 7, 1941. Only three or four of the actors were born in the US; most were actual refugees, like Conrad Veidt, who played Major Strasser, and were established actors in their own countries, who came to Hollywood to escape the Nazis. Also: 1. The digital restoration is awesome. You've never seen this movie looking so good. Digital HD recording from a painstaking restoration of one of the original master prints. The detail, clothes, textures, and lighting jump off the screen. 2. Two sets of commentaries along the way,and both offer different perspectives. 3. A ton of documentaries on the movie and Warner Brothers are included. Only Warner Brothers could have made this movie. 4. Bogart, Bergman, Henreid, Rains, Veidt, Greenstreet, Lorre .... 5. A movie that captures America's change in sentiment from isolation to participant in World War II through Bogart's iconic portrayal of Rick. 6. The Marseillaise scene. 7. That perfect ending. If you love Casablanca, you deserve to own this. Highly recommended.

It's often been said that while Casablanca was not the best movie ever made, it has been called the most beloved, and reading this latest book that focusses on its mystique makes me want to find a theater screening it so I can see it on the big screen once more. As with most viewers my age and younger, I first saw it cut, spliced and interrupted by commercials on a late show, and it wasn't until the mid-70's when I saw it at Trinity College's annual sold-out screening (where it was always paired with Robin Hood) that I was hit with its full power. Viewed as it should be on a screen in a darkened theater. It was that experience that turned me into the film lover I am today, insisting that people try where possible to see films not on tv, but as they were designed to be seen. Casablanca, Psycho, and Citizen Kane. All of these iconic films are perfect as they are and shouldn't be messed with. As for the book's content, there was little that was new, but it was the thematic structure that gave it resonance. Interesting -- when read against the background of today’s incendiary political and social landscape was the accusation of potential war mongering propaganda present in those days of WWII. Also, the fact that Jack Warner was already on a Nazi hit list due to the screening of one of his earlier films at Berchtesgaden. Also interesting was the timing of the film's release - Thanksgiving 1942, within days of the takeover of northern Africa by American forces. The timing of this resonated with audiences of the day, as a delay of even a week would mean Moroccan Jews were designated for deportation to Germany and death camps. In particular, I loved the chapter dealing with the cast, not just the beloved main characters, but with every one, even the smallest part. Pauline Kael, who was not a fan of the movie, nevertheless pointed out the contribution of emigre population particularly in large cafe scenes which benefitted from the polyglot of languages. She said that the picture would not have had the tone it did if Hollywood actors were cast, faking accents. The final chapters, least successful, concern the attempts to broaden the story, colorize it, even the horrid (late, unlamented) attempt at a tv series in the '80s. Plans were hatched (and discarded, thank God), to follow Ilsa, Rick and Renault and to fashion their lives following the fog drenched scene on the tarmac, but that movie, made in a time when sequels were not what they are today, is perfect as it stands even if it's a story without a tidy ending. So, just leave it alone.

This is a delightful and informative paean to what is probably the best-loved movie of all time. "Casablanca" is one of Hollywood's greatest products, and Isenberg's book gives you all the background. The two most interesting chapters had to do with the number of real refugees who were either in the movie or helped make it, and the battles Warner Brothers had to fight with the Production Code Administration over censorship of the movie. And while there was certainly background on Bogart, Bergman, and Henreid, there was plenty of biographical info on the support players - Wilson, Rains, Veidt, Lorre, Greenstreet, Sakall, and Lebeau - that was just as, if not more, interesting than the stories about the main actors. The tortuous history of how the screenplay came to be written is also fascinating. I admit that I'm a huge Casablanca fan; I've seen the movie dozens of times. So my liking of this book was almost certain. For folks who aren't big fans of the movie (what are those people called? Oh yeah... psychos), then this book might not be all that interesting. Recommended. (And watch the movie first.)

Lots of unknown facts that make the film even more meaningful and interesting. This film is unique and special in so many ways and this book touched many of them. It is so interesting and fun that when I finished I watched the film again. I played it again

Very well researched and written book. Lots of information on the subject and great as a resource for academic purposes let down slightly by the quality of the printing and paper.

A present for my brother for Christmas. It was his favorite movie so I am sure he will enjoy the book.

Maravilhosa edição em capa dura com curiosidades e fotos incríveis sobre essa obra prima do cinema. Super recomendo este livro.

A lot of interesting information about the movie, especially the supporting characters in the film, and opinions by various people, not all positive. Casablanca is my favourite film ever, and I've read some of the stories and information from other sources, but for those who haven't read much about the movie, an excellent place to start

My favourite movie and I had read an article about this book, which mainly revealed how many of the cast were real refugees from the war. That human interest aspect is what drew me towards buying the book. However, it is overpriced for such cheap quality of paper and does not feel that it would survive for long - so like real pulp fiction. Some of the content disappoints, breaking my ideal of how the film came together and was made (no spoilers in this review). Well researched but I got bored by the Afterlife stuff as I really wanted the fullest detail of how it got written, how the studio produced it, the making of and the background of the actors. Good stuff is how the film has a context to the events happening at the time (Allies land in North Africa). A book to give to students on film courses.