CSO at the Movies returns Feb. In this essay, film scholar Alan K. But if so, it was made accidentally on purpose. It is a picture that emerged precisely at the creative apogee of the Hollywood studio system.
Virtually the entire picture was shot on the Warner Bros. Although the prerogative of casting the top stars rested with Wallis, Curtiz selected most of the featured players and virtually all of the uncredited actors. He allowed Bogart to find himself as a romantic movie star. Their professional relationship evolved despite becoming severely strained by the end of the picture.
Borrowed by Wallis from David O. Curtiz immediately put her at ease. She was a movie star but was refreshingly absent the accompanying sense of entitlement that Curtiz loathed. Henreid accepted the role but had misgivings afterward. Sakall, a former music hall comedian, added the humorous touch Curtiz sought. It is a visual panorama of waiters with trays, patrons and soldiers, all moving about or seated in the crowded nightclub in a faultless choreography of bustle.
The sequence transitions from a close-up of Dooley Wilson singing into a dolly shot that reveals the darkly lit interior before dissolving into a quick series of shots of shady black marketers surreptitiously touting all manner of escape to a mixture of bewildered Europeans. Many were Jewish refugees who had fled the Nazis. Curtiz personally cast all of them. All told, 34 different nationalities appeared in the film. Humphrey Bogart became a star, thanks to "Casablanca" and its first-rate cast, including Peter Lorre as Ugarte.
As production progressed into July , the screenplay rewrites by Howard Koch and the Epstein brothers continued. New pages were being brought to the set each morning. The constant rewriting meant Curtiz had to scramble as it became a race to finish the picture on schedule. His perfectionism occasionally exceeded the forbearance of even those who liked him.
