The best antiwar movie in cinema history was released 83 years ago, and it remains one of the best movies ever made. Over the years, there have been several great movies made about wars, from the two World Wars to Vietnam, Korea, the Civil War, and even wars taking place in the Old West. However, antiwar movies show the futility of all these battles.
Released on January 23, 1943, Casablanca was many things. It was a romantic drama. Casablanca was a noir-styled thriller. However, it was also a brilliant antiwar movie released at a time when America wanted patriotism to remain strong since the country was involved in World War II. In the end, Casablanca was a masterpiece.
Casablanca Was Released 83 Years Ago
To celebrate its 82nd anniversary in 2025, Casablanca received a theatrical re-release and proved to audiences that it was as great now as it was when it was released 83 years ago. Interestingly, Casablanca was based on an unproduced play called Everybody Comes to Rick’s, which Warner Bros. bought the rights to.
The entire focus of the play was based on the antisemitism that the playwrights faced when they visited Vienna after Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany. When Warner Bros. bought the rights to the play, the company hired screenwriters to come and rework it into a film script before hiring Michael Curtiz to direct it.
Curtiz had already seen some huge success in Hollywood, directing James Cagney to an Oscar win the year before for Yankee Doodle Dandy. For this movie, he got to work with another noir legend of the era in Humphrey Bogart, who played Rick Blaine, the expat who owns a nightclub in Casablanca during the war.
Rick lives in Casablanca, and he runs Rick’s Café Américain there, refusing to give any grief to soldiers who come in and allowing Nazis to do what they want as long as they leave him out of it. He doesn’t care if it’s Nazi officials, the French, or refugees; he allows everyone in and keeps his own head down.
Things change when Rick’s older lover, Ilsa, shows up with her husband, Victor, who is a fugitive Czech resistance leader. They need letters to escape Casablanca, and the Nazis are hot on their trail. Rick has to make a decision of whether he will risk his own freedom to help Ilsa, or continue to keep his head down.
What resulted was a film that has one of the best scripts ever written, a curiosity since three different screenwriters were credited on the film, and some of Casablanca’s lines were improvised (“Here’s looking at you, kid”). Add in masterful direction and great music, and this was a movie that hit every note to make it a masterpiece.
Casablanca Was A Masterful Antiwar Movie Released During World War II
If there is one thing that really shines in Casablanca, it is the representation of expat Rick Blaine as he attempts to keep his head down and stay out of trouble while the Nazis are threatening to destroy everything in their path. This was a romantic drama, but Casablanca was a movie about Nazis and the war.
However, what makes it so interesting is that it is a hard-hitting war movie made and released during World War II. While the Americans finally joined the fight to attempt to stop the fascist and Nazi regimes from their attempt at world domination, this movie showed how important that fight really was at the time.
Before the United States finally agreed to enter World War II, the country wanted to remain an isolationist nation and remain separate from the world’s affairs. This is what Rick also represents, as he just wants to run Rick’s Café Américain, let whoever comes in come in, and stay out of anyone’s business.
When the Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor, it forced the United States into action, and the country finally entered the war. When Rick’s former lover, Ilsa, showed up, Rick was finally forced to take a stand, and he finally broke his rule and helped them, risking his own life and comfort to do so.
It is easy to see the parallels of Rick’s stance changing as he sees the dangers closing in, and the true threat of Nazis and fascism, and that of the United States realizing it was time to stand up and fight. Releasing during World War II did a lot to hammer this home, and it ended up as a genuine masterpiece as a result.
Casablanca Stands The Test Of Time Over Eight Decades Later
As an antiwar movie and a romantic drama rolled into one, Casablanca was a huge success in the United States. It went on to earn eight Oscar nominations, including winning Outstanding Motion Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, while Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains earned Oscar nominations.
In 1989, the Library of Congress began its annual induction of movies into the National Film Registry, and Casablanca was among the first ever added to the registry. These inductees represent films that are deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Time Magazine named it among the best films of all time in a 2005 countdown, and Empire Magazine listed it in its countdown in 2013. Famed instructor Robert McKee called it the “greatest screenplay of all time” in his book on screenwriting. The AFI also included it as one of the best American films in history.
To this day, the themes in Casablanca remain relevant. The film tells the story of someone who believes they can sit back and ignore the atrocities happening in the world around them. However, things often force people into action, and it is then that the real heroes will finally stand up and fight.
