“Casablanca”, which combined the stars of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, is to this day one of the most beloved films ever produced in Hollywood. But the film, which hit the screens on November 26, 1942, is more than a love story set in Morocco. Released shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor - which prompted a hesitant United States to enter World War II - the film was actually a classic propaganda piece disguised as popular entertainment.
When war broke out in Europe in September 1939, the United States was the only major power without an intelligence or propaganda agency. That all changed after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Just as intelligence would be essential to shape and direct political and military objectives in Europe and Asia as the conflict spread, propaganda would be vital to the support of the American war effort by shaping and directing American ideas and beliefs regarding the conflict.
In June 1942, an Office of War Information (OWI) was established to promote the war effort, being tasked with developing campaigns to increase public understanding of the conflict at home and abroad. A key element of this was the coordination of government information activities, as well as establishing collaborations with the press, radio, and - crucially - movies for the cinema.
Once in action, the OWI was accused of selling the war. After experimenting with propaganda in the form of posters and documentaries, the OWI turned to more imaginative sources. Its director, Elmer Davis - a former reporter for The New York Times and CBS - made this important observation:
"The easiest way to get a propaganda idea into people's heads is to get it in through an entertainment film, when they don't realize they're getting propaganda."
Hollywood would play a significant role in all of this. For box office reasons as much as political ones, Hollywood was interested in using the medium of entertainment to support the war effort. Thus, a number of popular films - including "Rose of Hope" (1942), "Original Sin" (1943), "Forge of Heroes" (1943), and "Since You Left" (1944) - were made at this time that combined traditional arts and entertainment concerns with an intentional political dimension.
The agency issued specific guidelines, as well as reviewing scripts and first cuts of films, suggesting insertions or deletions. It required filmmakers to consider seven questions before producing a film:
- Will this film help win the war?
- What kind of war-related information problem does it seek to clarify, dramatize, or interpret?
- If it is an "escape" film, will it undermine the war effort by creating a false portrayal of America, its allies, or the world we live in?
- Does it use the war merely as a basis for a profitable film, contributing nothing to the real significance of the war effort, and possibly diminishing the effect of other, more important films?
- Does it contribute something new to our understanding of the world conflict and the various forces involved, or has the subject matter already been adequately covered?
- When the film reaches its maximum circulation on the screen, will it reflect conditions as they are and fill a current need of the time, or will it seem dated?
- Does the film tell the truth, or will today's young people be justified in saying that they have been taken in by propaganda?
A beautiful friendship
At the heart of "Casablanca" is a concern about the consequences of American isolationism in the context of the threat that Nazism posed to Europe.
Elements of the dialogues between the film's characters reflect and then discuss American foreign policy attitudes of the time - offering reasons for involvement.
Bogart is perfectly cast as the cynical bar owner Rick, an American living in Paris who fled the German occupation to open his Café Americain, a war-time melting pot of nationalities. Rick defends what has traditionally been a popular American justification for isolationism:
"I don't stick my neck out for anybody. The problems of this world are not my department. I'm a tavern keeper."
But for the Roosevelt administration - and growing numbers of Americans - the attack on Pearl Harbor had crushed any remaining illusions that America could turn its back on the world. From that perspective, the story of "Casablanca" is the story of how Rick went from indifferent to engaged. This is made explicit by the owner of the Blue Parrot café, Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet), who tells Rick:
"Dear Rick, when will you realize that in today's world, isolationism is no longer a practical policy?"
But more dynamic than these relatively subtle snippets of dialogue is the famous scene in which Rick clearly chooses a side, showing the audience who he believes are the heroes and villains of the European conflict.
A contingent of German officers sing nationalist songs. Victor Lazlo (Paul Heinreid), a heroic resistance fighter who represents the nobility and sacrifice of oppressed Europeans, demands that the band play "The Marseillaise," the French national anthem. The band looks at Rick, who nods and, in this nod, renounces his isolationism. The anthem is played in a fiery manner and the Nazis, who initially try to sing louder, are drowned out by the clientele singing in unison and give up. By identifying with Rick, the cinema audience was encouraged to make the same choice.
"Casablanca" is a dramatic and exciting film, an incomparable classic of Hollywood's golden age. But it is also an extremely effective piece of propaganda cinema. It persuaded an American audience reluctant to join another European conflict to put aside its isolationism by dramatizing the heroism of European resistance to Nazi Germany.
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