Casablanca

Set in and released during the tumult of World War II, Casablanca is in one of the most enduring romances in movie history.

Humphry Bogart plays Rick Blaine, a cynical American expat who owns a nightclub in Vichy-controlled Casablanca. Despite his past political activism, the disillusioned Rick is determined to remain uninvolved in the conflict now raging across Europe and Northern Africa 

All that changes when the mysterious Ilsa Lund, played by the luminous Ingrid Bergman, walks through the front door of Rick's club, seeking safe passage out of Europe for herself and her husband, a threatened leader of the Czechoslovakian Resistance Movement. Rick must now choose between a life with the woman he loves and becoming the hero that both she and the world need.​

Casablanca is based on the unproduced play "Everybody Comes to Rick's," written Cornell alum Murray Burnett from the Class of 1931. You can learn more about the film and its connection to Cornell in this video series by Associate Professor Emeritus John Weiss, which was recorded in 2011 and delivered from Weiss’s table at Rick’s American Café!

Casablanca also is an important part of Cornell Cinema's history: it is likely our most-screened film of all time with over 30 presentations since our founding.

Part of our "Cornellians in Hollywood – Willard Straight Hall at 100" series. Courtesy of Warner Bros. and Swank Motion Pictures.