Casablanca premiered on 26 November 1942 in Hollywood, CA.
Warner Bros. story editor Irene Diamond read the script for an unproduced play, Everybody Comes to Rick’s (by Joan Alison and Murray Burnett) and convinced Hal Wallis to buy the rights in January 1942 for $20,000 (nearly $300,000 in today’s value), the most paid for an unproduced play. Wallis renamed the play Casablanca and production began in May, with only about half of the final script ready.
The play was set entirely in the cafe, with little of the plot making its way to the screen. Casey Robinson worked on the first adaptation before Julius and Phillip Epstein were brought on. The Epstein brothers had to leave before the script was finished (to work on Frank Capra’s Why We Fight documentary series) and Howard Koch was hired. The Epstein’s returned before filming was complete, and wrote the famous ending. Only the Epstein’s and Koch received credit (and the Academy Award), but most film historians agree that Koch’s work did not appear in the final film. Producer Hal Wallis sent a telegram to film editor Owen Marks with the final line of the film ("Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship") and Humphrey Bogart was brought in to dub the line (a month after filming had completed).
Casablanca was originally scheduled for a 1943 release, but the premiere was rushed in order to capitalize on the Allied Invasion of North Africa.
The film was a critical and commercial success, and was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including Best Actor (Bogart), Best Supporting Actor (Claude Rains), Best Cinematography (Arthur Edeson), Best Editing (Marks), and Best Score (Max Steiner). It received Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Curtiz), and Best Screenplay.
The film was banned in Ireland (in order to preserve “wartime neutrality“) and not shown until 1945, with edits (mostly eliminating any mention of Rick and Ilsa’s relationship). The film was not shown in West Germany until 1952, and with 25 minutes cut, including almost all references to World War II. Through dubbed lines, Victor Laszlo’s character was changed from a Resistance fighter who had escaped a Nazi concentration camp to a Norwegian atomic scientist pursued by international police (Interpol). The original Casablanca was not shown in Germany until 1975.
