Book Vs Movie Podcast

Book Vs. Movie: CasablancaThe 1940 Play Vs. the 1942 Classic FilmThis January, we are saluting plays that were turned into films, and this episode covers one of the most beloved and celebrated films of all time--Casablanca. Yes, it was a play first by playwrights Murray Burnett and Joan Allison, who was offered $20,000 in 1940 (over $300,000 in today’s costs) for their story about a cafe in Africa helping refugees seek asylum in America during WW2. The timing between the movie’s release in 1942, as the war effort in Northern Africa, was gaining and America was no longer playing neutral in the international crisis with Germany and Japan, was not a coincidence. The film was rushed into production to promote America’s armed forces and the people fleeing Europe from the Nazis. Everybody Comes to Rick’s has the basics of the film’s plot, with two former lovers meeting again at Rick’s cafe. Rick and Lois met in Paris before the Germans invaded France and became illicit lovers. Two years later, Rick has a “gin joint