354: Casablanca with Bob LeMent

Dan LeFebvre  02:40

Our movie today is a little different than what we normally cover here on the podcast. But even though it doesn’t claim to be based on a true story, Casablanca is not only set during the historical backdrop of World War Two. It was also released during the war as well. So if you were to give Casablanca a letter grade for its historical accuracy overall, what would it

Bob LeMent  03:09

get? I think it was pretty I think it was pretty close. So I think I would give it somewhere around the B. I don’t want to say b minus but I’ll give it. I don’t want to do minuses or pluses, so let’s just do B, A,

Dan LeFebvre  03:21

B, okay. That’s good. That’s good. I mean, again, it is one of the things. I’m kind of surprised that it’s that high, being that it was released during the war as well. And we know that there’s a lot of propaganda films that get released and such like that. So I’m glad to hear that it was pretty, pretty close,

Bob LeMent  03:36

I think. So I think, yeah, there’s a lot of instances there where they were, you know, pretty close to what was happening and, and since it was on right, everything was happening at that time, it’s kind of interesting that that they would, you know, put all that out there and not try to spin it too much, one way or the other. So, plus, to be honest, the movie, in parts of the movie were extremely vague. So, so it’s accurate in the sense that I think that’s probably what the times were, right? So you didn’t want to, you didn’t want to go one way or the other too much, because you didn’t know it was going

Dan LeFebvre  04:11

to happen. That’s true. And I guess I didn’t think about it until just now too like, they also didn’t know a lot of that stuff. Like, we didn’t know a lot of what actually happened until after the war anyway, right? And so that’s another element to it, that, yeah, okay, yeah,

Bob LeMent  04:27

if you because they were, I mean, this was the whole story of Casa block is trying to get away from the war, right? So people are using this as a as a point of departure, more than a point of arrival and and trying to get away from all of the, you know, the madness of Europe at the time and, and so I think it is. It’s fairly accurate in that portrayal. Obviously, it was much more gruesome and horrible than its portrayal. Trade, but that’s Hollywood, right? So they’re not, they’re not going to show all well at the time. That’s Hollywood. Now, maybe they would be more gruesome. But back then, it was all very, you know, clean and, and you know, all, they’re running away and, but it’s not like, you know, people were tortured and on screen and so forth. So, yeah, which you know, I’m sure happened even in Casablanca. You

Dan LeFebvre  05:26

mentioned getting away from the war. And at the beginning of the movie, it explains the storyline of why this is taking place in Casablanca. Basically, it says that the outbreak of World War Two in Europe, the civilians are trying to escape the war by heading to America. And to do that, they need to get to Lisbon, Portugal. Some people could get there directly, but because of the war, the movie explains that not everyone could get to Lisbon directly, so they had to kind of take this roundabout path from Paris to Marseille, across the Mediterranean to Iran and Algeria, and then across the northern coast of Africa to Casablanca, which is in Morocco. And then from there, people would try to barter or buy an exit visa from Casablanca to go the 380 or 615 kilometers, as the crow flies to Lisbon to then ultimately get to America. Was that an actual path that people took to try to escape the war in Europe? I

Bob LeMent  06:16

believe so, yeah. So I think that was the that was a path. It’s kind of like a political end around, right? So you couldn’t just, you couldn’t just go, Hey, I’m in Paris, which is a major metropolitan city, you know, even then, right? And just, I’m gonna hop on a plane and go to America. That wasn’t gonna happen. And so they had to go someplace, to go someplace, to go someplace in order to get where they needed to go. And so, yeah, this was a weird little stop along the way, as it were, in order to get to America, because you couldn’t just go straight. You couldn’t go, I mean, you couldn’t fly to London, right? So there was no way out of the situation other than going through, you know, kind of these backwater places in order to avoid the political, you know, devastation. Maybe we’ll say that was going on at that time because of, because of the war and all the different things that were happening that. So, yeah, I think the interesting thing to me, for all, I mean, it’s very, you know, sugar coated for perspective from today and so forth. But, you know, at the time, I think it was, it was deemed fairly tough in its portrayal of things that were happening for the for the general public. So there were, you know, they had guns, and they were Nazis, and, you know, people were, were, you know, running for their lives, a lot of them. And it didn’t really broach the, you know, the elephant in the room, which was the Jewish persecution so much. These were just, you know, when we say run of the mill people, I don’t think that’s the right word to say, but they, they weren’t in the Holocaust aspect of things. They were, you know, kind of the, the folks who were the, you know, bystanders who got caught up in everything and so And obviously some of them were as we watched the movie, some of them were against the war against the Nazis and so forth. But it really didn’t talk about the Holocaust so much in that regard. Now, if you look into the movie as who was working on the movie. It talks a lot about the Holocaust, right? So there are people who worked on this movie who knew things were going on and wanted to betray that. You know, this was not a good situation, without being so overt as to say, you know that this was happening.

Dan LeFebvre  09:01

Can you give an example of what you mean by that? I’m

Bob LeMent  09:03

so curious. You’re just saying there was, there were people in the movie who have escaped the Nazis, and there are extras in the movie, and there are characters in the movie, there are actors in the movie, and there’s also in the movie, there are folks who were the Jewish faith, who knew things were going on and they were working on this, as you know, I don’t know, I can’t get into their heads. But as this was going on, you can’t help but think, yes, we need to expose these people as, as you know, not being good people and but in a kind of, you know, non overt way, right? This is a bad situation. They couldn’t talk about, you know, the Holocaust or anything, but they could talk about how bad the war is. And so I think that was also. You know, if you look, you know, kind of an underlying thing. I’m sure, if you were to ask any one of those folks who are working on it, that that would be, you know, a surreptitious goal of theirs is to, is to make light of the fact that this was happening, and you need to pay attention. Everybody is, this is you’re not going to be, you know, it’s going to get you as well. We’re just in the first line. So, yeah, yeah,

Dan LeFebvre  10:25

which, which kind of goes back to being released during the war. It’s it. I mean, now we think of it as a period piece, perhaps, but it was, it was that during that time, like it was going on right then. So it was a way of getting that message out. I didn’t think about that, that it would, yeah, it’s a, not a documentary, but it’s telling what’s going on right now, right?

Bob LeMent  10:46

Yeah, if you take into consideration another movie that was, you know, kind of during this time period as well, earlier than this time period, actually, by a little bit, but, you know, very much in tune with kind of the things that were going on The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin, there was no ambiguity that he says. Hitler is a horrible person. This one’s a little more ambiguous. But The Great Dictator, you know, it was shouting from the rafters, hey everybody, you know, this is not going to be good for anybody. So this was, oddly enough, you would think that that would have been later, but it was earlier than Casablanca. And Casablanca is kind of the, you know, let’s get everybody on board with this politically and move our, you know, things forward, our position forward, but not be, you know, too upsetting in the political situation. I think so. Well,

Dan LeFebvre  11:55

movie doesn’t really talk about dates very much, but there is one line of dialog that mentions it being December of 1941 of course, we know Pearl Harbor was attacked in December of 1941 that brought the United States into the war. The movie doesn’t even mention that at all. What it does mention is things like Free France and Vichy France, and in case of Casablanca, specifically, they call it unoccupied France. But can you fill in a little more historical context? Because we’re, you know, recording this long after World War Two, obviously. And again, this was released in 1942 so just after the timeline of the movie itself in December of 1941 so can you give us some more historical context that we don’t see in the movie, that the audiences would have known then about these fragmentations of France and the location there in Casablanca?

Bob LeMent  12:38

That’s a that’s a good and I wish I could give you, like, a really detailed thing, but I can’t. But off my what I can’t tell you is that, basically, you know, Nazi Germany occupied France, and there was a point in time where, you know, everything’s a mess. That’s where the French resistance comes into existence because they don’t want to be occupied and, and if you, if you remember, in the movie, they’re talking about these papers that are signed by Charles de Gaulle, right? So those are very, very valuable, right? Because this is at a point in in transition where the Nazis are invading in French the French government is kind of going along with it a bit in order to, kind of, you know, not everybody get killed, I guess, and and so that’s why they, when they mention that in the movie, that’s why it’s so important, because it’s, they still have some, I won’t say, power, but they have some influence over the situation at this point. And because, you know, not too long after this, Charles de Gaulle, you know, who cares if he signed anything, right? Because the Nazis can, you know, totally occupy everything and batten down the hatches in France is, is part of Germany, in essence, during the war at that time. So this is that weird political time where they’re trying to figure things out. And the interesting thing is is, I believe, not too far after this time is also when they were trying to get Britain to sign on to something and allowed the Nazis to occupy them as well. In effect, right? A political strategy without, without having to be a military strategy. But they were moving towards the military strategy. And said, Hey, if you want to just surrender, like France did, go right ahead. We’ll let you, and they’ll be part of Germany as well, right? And so this movie portrays a really interesting time where people could still move, you know, even though not freely, but move somewhat by this kind of political end around going through northern Africa. And so it really is, and I think maybe that might be part of the attraction for the movie for the age. Is as it were, is because it’s portraying a time that was so, you know, interesting now, in hindsight, at the time, probably so, you know, incredibly frightful of what was happening. And can you imagine, I mean, you and I live in the United States. Can you imagine if all of a sudden something happens like, well, you can’t go, you know, if we go into the man of the High Castle, you can’t go past the Rockies, because we’re occupied on this side by one group, and the other side across the Rockies says is the other group. So you can’t do, can’t do that. We can’t even fathom that. But this was happening to in Europe, and it was happening to these people, and it just historically, looking back at is like, how can you you know? How can you fathom that? How can we, you know, as a generation beyond all of this, a couple generations beyond our list. But how can you, you know, bring that into your mind, because we’ve never had to experience but here you can see it. I mean, albeit very, you know, light in its presentation, a lot of people get killed and whatnot, but it’s not gruesome. It really is an interesting movie for that. And I reason I brought this up because I recently watched it before I contacted you, in amazingly, a very well made movie, and it moves right. So if you think of 1942 you know, a lot of movies are. Nobody watches a lot of movies from that time period because they’re not very the pace is very, very slow, and this one actually has a pretty good pace, man, that doesn’t answer the other part of the question, but it’s very interesting to me that this movie was so well paced and so and you kind of buy it, you know, you’re into the the what happens to These characters, because it is kind of an interesting situation, and then the corruption, right? So, I mean, for all intents and purposes, Rick is a gangster. He’s he’s selling access, right? There were other people selling access as well, you know, you want to get out of here. Well, guess what? You know, I mean, he was a nice gangster, but gangster nonetheless.

Dan LeFebvre  17:30

Yeah. Well, that leads right into my next question, because I have a feeling I already know the answer to this, but a lot of movies change the names or make up characters completely. But I have to ask like Rick Blaine, Ilsa Lund, Victor Laszlo, are kind of the three main characters. And then there’s the local French prefect of the police, Captain Renault, and then the German military officer, major Strasser, is kind of, there’s the main characters in the movie. Are any of them based on real people?

Bob LeMent  17:57

It’s based off of a play I’m trying to remember the title off the top of my head here, everyone can meet, everyone can go to Rick’s place. I think I can’t remember the I don’t know if you’re familiar with that play. I’m blanking on it here for some reason. But I don’t think that any I think they’re kind of a conglomerate of people who are going through there. I mean, the French, you know, Jardin person there he was, you know, he was somebody, but I don’t think he was that person with that name. And he probably, he was a gangster as well, if you think about it, because he was playing with people’s lives. And, you know, you can leave, you can’t leave. Where’s the money, you know, all that kind of stuff. But I think they’re all kind of a conglomeration of things that happened during that time, rather than actual people of the time. So it’s not a true story in any way, other than it’s based on experiences. Everybody’s welcome at Rick’s place. I think that’s what it’s called. Okay,

Dan LeFebvre  19:05

okay, yeah, and that makes sense. I mean, a lot of movies just completely make up characters like that too, well.

Bob LeMent  19:13

Plus, there was a time where I don’t think that they really wanted to do that, to be honest with you. I mean, can you imagine if you were, you were, you’re still probably outed

Dan LeFebvre  19:24

by the Hollywood movie. It’s still going on. That’s true. That’s true. That’s very, very true. Yeah.

Bob LeMent  19:33

So like, Hey, I’m not. You don’t use my name. Hey, I’m I’m still trying to make money on this situation, exactly,

Dan LeFebvre  19:39

and especially for, you know, according to the movie Victor Laszlo, is part of the underground fighting against the Nazis. We never, we never really find out exactly what his role is. There was a point at line of dialog where he says something like, you know, I’m privileged to be one of the great leaders, or one of the leaders of a great movement. And then we see that major strass is trying to use, um. Safe pass, or he’s trying to get safe passage out of Casablanca, and major Strasser is trying to use that to bribe him into giving up the other leaders of the resistance across major European cities. So we get the idea that Laszlo knows, you know, is very well connected with the resistance. And then there’s another part in the movie where Strasser is speaking directly with Laszlo and tells him that he’s an escaped prisoner of the Third Reich, and that’s why Strasser is there in Casablanca, tasked with making sure that Laszlo stays in Casablanca and doesn’t leave. But as I was watching it, I was I couldn’t help but think, why wouldn’t Strasser just take Laszlo into custody the moment that he sees him? The movie seems to imply the reason for that is because Casablanca is in unoccupied France, like we talked about. But looking at this from a historical lens, did the Germans behave differently in unoccupied France as they did in occupied territories? Yeah,

Bob LeMent  20:49

I think so. So, you know, we don’t have the benefit of living through it, which I’m glad. But yeah, I mean, there was weird political alliances and weird political happenings all during World War Two, you know, as it as it kind of went built up, right? And so, yes, I would say that there. I mean, I don’t think that they were as nice as they are in this movie, right? You know, where, where they’re singing, they’re singing the German, I can’t even pronounce it, Dirac and Rhine. And then they start singing le Marseille, you know, over it. And it was kind of like, you know, a rivalry for football teams, or something like

Dan LeFebvre  21:33

a West Side Story,

Bob LeMent  21:35

right? You know that? I’m sure that didn’t go on, you know, and go over very well, but no there. I think there was a they held to the political agreements because they, you know, it’s, it’s much easier to like when friends surrenders, right? It’s much easier to take over a country that way than it is to bomb them and shoot them and and go through all the fighting. And so I think at this point in the game, the Nazis wanted to do that. So they were probably on, you know, for lack of a better term, their best behavior. And so then, yeah, so it kind of makes sense that, I also think that it’s more of a an amalgam, right? So I don’t know that they just did one on one, let’s watch people not get out of the country, kind of a situation. But I think it’s more, you know, looking at the trying to build that into the storyline, that was probably the easiest, easiest way to do that. I think that they had people stationed, and they would communicate and say so and so is going to be in your area. Keep an eye on them, kind of just like the just like the French Jordan was, was keeping an eye on everybody and trying to make his money and live, live the good life in Casablanca and so, yeah, but I don’t know that it was just they were chasing each other on but hey, maybe, maybe they did. But I I couldn’t imagine, but you’re right, but you mentioned, you know, he’s like part of something again, all very vague, all very vague. They didn’t say the resistance. They didn’t say that. We don’t even know why Rick is there. They never explain why he’s got all this set up, other than it’s obviously lucrative, but he obviously didn’t move in yesterday. He’s been there for a while, and he’s set up shop. And this, to me, it was kind of implied that he’d been there for quite some time, and he’s taken advantage of the situation, as opposed to, he moved there to do this particular, you know, work. I think he was doing a lot of other stuff, and this just happened to pop up, and he’s like, Yeah, let’s, let’s make some money on this new idea.

Dan LeFebvre  23:56

Like you said it as a gangster, it’s take advantage of the situation, good

Bob LeMent  23:59

money. These people want to get out of here. So yeah, I mean, obviously he’s got a heart of gold in the movie, because he does help help them escape, essentially. But yeah, I think so. And I think it’s all you know, kind of set up to be, not strictly historical, but somewhat historical,

Dan LeFebvre  24:26

yeah, yeah. No, that makes sense. And you mentioning Rick and kind of his backstory, we hear little bits and pieces throughout the movie. It’s, he’s born in New York City, so he’s an American. But then in 1935 it talks about how he ran guns in Ethiopia, and in 1936 he fought in Spain on the loyal side. But that’s as that’s as detailed as the movie gets. Do we know from history if there were things that happened in Ethiopia in 1935 and Spain in 1936 that the movie might be alluding to with Rick’s backstory? I

Bob LeMent  24:56

wish I knew the answer for you. I think that those things did happen, from my limited understanding on, on that aspect of things that those were, you know, they kind of star trekked it, you know what I mean. So they, they took real, cherry picked things out of history to put into his story. You know, like Efraim Cochrane, you know, he’s the person before him was, you know, Isaac Newton and all these real people. And then you get the Efraim Cochrane, and he breaks the warp barrier. But so if you’re familiar with that, sorry. And then, so, yeah, I think that those were actual things that happened. I took it that, I did not run that down necessarily. Sorry,

Dan LeFebvre  25:43

no, no, yeah, that makes sense, though. I mean, because, again, it’s alluding to there’s something vague there, kind of like with the resistance, or that that element and that they give it. One of the reasons it stood out to me was because it gave dates and places where most of the movie doesn’t really do that kind of stuff. And so, you know, the that they did that makes me think, yeah, kid, it must be something there that he was involved in. But then it again, alludes, since it mentioned December of 1941 like you had said, he’s already been there in Casablanca, and that was kind of the next thing that he was doing. And so he was doing things in other places, kind of behind the scenes. And then now he’s in in Casablanca. He’s been there, apparently, since after 1936 or at some point after that.

Bob LeMent  26:28

It’s kind of like a gun for hire, in a way, in the earlier stories. And now he’s older, and so this was the new venture that he took on because, you know, maybe he didn’t want to shoot people anymore, or at least not as many. We talked about him a little

Dan LeFebvre  26:45

bit, but I do want to ask a little bit more specifically about the relationship between Captain Renault and major Strasser in the movie, that’s the Renault is the French law enforcement. Strasser is the Nazi official, and again, Casablanca being in unoccupied France, but major Strasser is welcomed by Renault, and many of the locals in movie calls it unoccupied France. So it’s not occupied. I’m assuming that’s referring to, you know, not occupied by the Nazis, but then they’re still welcomed. What would the relationship have been like? Would the Nazis actually have been welcomed by local law enforcement? Did they kind of, do you think they foresaw what was going to happen, even though it wasn’t occupied by the Germans, but they’re like, Oh, we better appease them, because it’s coming. Or what do you think was happening there?

Bob LeMent  27:27

My guess would be that they’re, you know, obviously stuff’s happening. They’re seeing things and so forth, and, and just like Britain, you know, France was colonial, colonialist, right? And, and if, going forward in history, you know, part of the reason Vietnam became such a mess was because of colonialism, and that was French influenced. And so I think that they, you know, it’s again, it’s the times and the political thing. It’s, I don’t know that they would say welcomed as much as tolerated, more than likely. And so because what are you going to do? You don’t want them, you know, the the powers in Germany to say, Okay, well now we’re just going to take over this area, because it’d probably a pretty easy job. And obviously it was because they did take over most of North Africa by the time World War Two chugged along. That’s the whole Rommel aspect of things, and the Desert Fox and all that took over huge part of Africa for the for the Nazis. And so, you know, you, everybody’s playing it cool, right? So everything gets to happen and and they kind of just, they in the movie, they go into, you know, everybody falls into cronyism and, and, you know, being corrupt. And so, you know, the Germans money spends as well as the whoever else is coming through there, so you play both ends to get the money. So, yeah, I can imagine that that, you know, I don’t know that they would say open arms, but I think for sure, there was not any, you know, they’re like, Yeah, whatever, yeah, you can come in here and drink as well.

Dan LeFebvre  29:20

Yeah, yeah. I like the way you say that, that they, you know, they weren’t necessarily welcome, but they were tolerated. And the idea of, it sounds like they’re trying to survive, and, like, with Renault being that, you know, the the leader the law enforcement there, but also recognizing that he really doesn’t, I mean, if he does the wrong thing, like, I mean, they’re going to attack anyway, and, you know, so might as well just make the best of the situation that you have. He’s

Bob LeMent  29:45

corrupt, and so he’s trying to, you know, cash in. Because, I mean, guess what, he’s at the port of exit. So the going, it’s too tough. I’ve got these papers with Charles de Gaulle’s signature on them, and I. Will, you know, make my exit at the right time. And so it’s it. It really is, you know, even though, when you watch it, it’s not very it’s not like it is today, but it’s very corrupt situation. You know, in I think it’s portrayed in the film as palatable as corruption can be portrayed at the time period, you know, they’re not going to be, you know, overly terrible, you know, cutting off pinkies and whatnot. So, you know. But I think for the time period, this was, this was, you know, corruption at its best. You

Dan LeFebvre  30:40

mentioned the letters from De Gaulle, and you talked about that briefly before too, but that is that’s a core concept in the movie, that these letters of transit were signed by General de Gaulle, and they there’s also mentions of Captain Renault having exit visas that he’s signing, but they’re the letters of transit from De Gaulle are different because the movie specifically says that they cannot be rescinded or even questioned, which, of course, applies to me. Like, okay, well, of course, the only the people are going to want this are the ones that the Nazis would probably want to question. That’s right,

Bob LeMent  31:15

don’t question me, right? That that don’t want to have any, you know, they’re trying to skate right out of there without any kind of problems, whereas, you know, the other ones are like, maybe it’s going to work. Maybe it’s not going to work. So

Dan LeFebvre  31:31

is there any truth to the concept of those letters that we know

Bob LeMent  31:34

of, that we know of? I do believe that that is true, at least to a point, right? So that was, those were something that was available at the time, until, basically, De Gaulle stepped down and and so a lot of people got out via that mechanism, right? So that was, you know, you when you watch a lot of these movies, World War two movies and everything there’s with all these different things that are happening in corruption and everything this like Schindler’s List, right? So the list was there to save people because, well, they need to make ammunition, you know, munitions and so forth. And so Oscar Schindler was collecting people and saying that they were invaluable, and that would so I think all with all this corruption and everything going on that was, you know, the corruption on the good side of things, where it was helping people get out of the situation and, and, I mean, it’s happened since then in all kinds of different situations. And so, yeah, I believe so. And in the Now, as far as the the the officer, the French officer, have signed in those, I don’t know about that, that that may be part of the invention to show his corruptness. But I think when you’re when they’re invoking a real person, right? Charles de Gaulle and so forth. I think all that is factual to a point, obviously not, not forever, you know, I’m sure that he didn’t give it to those people or anything, but, you know, but the

Dan LeFebvre  33:16

concept of them being a thing, yeah? Which, again, goes back to something that I think is important to understand when watching this movie, is that it was released in 1942 during the war as well, and so the time period is very different than if we were to make a movie today of the same story we would we would know a lot more about The stuff going on behind the scenes and the but also, just like the political, the political side of it would be very different. I

Bob LeMent  33:47

think, I mean, we have a war going on over in the Ukraine, right? I don’t think that we know more than they knew

Dan LeFebvre  33:57

why. But I mean, like we would know more about what happened in Casablanca in World War Two, if the movie was made today, now, is what, yeah, but, but, because this was made during the war, they didn’t know a lot of the political mechanizations Behind the scenes that were going on. They just knew that there were these things that were going on, and so maybe that’s why they were so vague in a lot of it.

Bob LeMent  34:18

But they’re literally people in this movie, who took the route now there, yeah, so they knew, right? And they’re working on the movie. So I think the vagueness had more to do with the political climate probably than it had anything to do with giving away any secrets. Because they they talk, and there’s a, if you look on IMDb, they talk about when they did the whole, you know, singing thing, from the to the LE Marseille and everything, they were literally the people who were in the scene were crying because they had gone through this, you know, they had escaped. And now. Are, you know, in the film industry, and they’re trying to get by right during this time period, and they’re crying in this scene, because this is, this is so personal and and so, you know, I think I don’t know that they necessarily all the inside knowledge that they would have had made it into the movie. But, you know, there was known things. And just like The Great Dictator that was, they knew that stuff was happening, as far as the Holocaust was concerned, way back then, and that that Charlie Chaplin put into the movie, you know, insinuate, but it wasn’t totally proven. And, I mean, some people probably knew, but not everybody, and so they were, it’s a whole weird political climate that everybody was trying to navigate because that was so contentious, right? So you’re dealing with, you know, at this point, we call him a mad man, right in Hitler and the Nazi machine, and you’re trying to not get overly involved in in having everybody be killed in a war. And it was just massive. And so, you know, you say we were brought into the war after Pearl Harbor, right? And but we were involved in the war well before Pearl Harbor, because we were, yeah, we were supplying the British with all kinds of good stuff, because they were, at that point, they were the major power against the Nazis. And to this day, we’re supplying Ukraine with all sorts of good stuff in that skirmish. And so it’s not, you know, it’s not as if all this kind of just poof, you know, happened in a moment. So all this is, you know, ongoing. And I think that’s part of where you talk about Rick and his, his weird background and so forth, all all through history. This stuff doesn’t just happen overnight. Typically, it percolates and brews and and then things pop here and there, and then finally, it, you know, comes above the fray there, and everybody becomes aware of it. And so, yeah, I think that this was is like that. So we’re just emerging into the broader political ideologies that came out of all this. And at this point, when this was made, still not so sure where everybody’s at. I mean, people were taking meetings with Hitler from the United States all the way up until war was declared, right? And I’m talking, you know, known people. So it is weird. And I think the interesting thing about this movie is, is the ambiguity of all this, right? So it’s so ambiguous in parts that I think that that plays well to the politics that was happening, because they all had to get along still, but things were happening, but, you know, you didn’t, and people were obviously fleeing, but it wasn’t like it was a full blown situation, yet, kind of

Dan LeFebvre  38:30

like you’re saying before, just there are a lot of people that were tolerating each other and not not welcoming or but just a lot of toleration going on, even on the political side too. Yeah, it

Bob LeMent  38:39

was in and then you think of where it’s at in Morocco. I mean, it’s not Paris, right? Even in 1942 Morocco is not Paris. And so it really is not a major metropolitan, you know, forward thinking kind of place back then, and so all this is kind of, you know, a microcosm, terrible to say, the Gilligan’s Island of World War Two, right there in Casablanca.

Dan LeFebvre  39:15

Any other example? There? Nice, because,

Bob LeMent  39:17

because Gilligan’s Island was the microcosm of the rich and the poor and the working class and and everything. And that was how it was built, right? And so with the movie, that’s what they kind of built with this too, was, you know, you have people taking advantage. You have people who are trying to get away, and you have people who are just living there. And you have, you know, the waiters and so forth, that that the bar, who are, you know, just trying to to get through right in. And so it is. It is a microcosm for, I think the times

Dan LeFebvre  39:51

makes sense. You mentioned people kind of taking advantage. And other other than Rick, who we kind of had referred to before, there’s another guy named Ferrari, and he. Runs the big competitor to Rick’s, which is it called the Blue parrot. And according to the movie, he’s got a monopoly on the black market. At one point, talks about how buying and selling humans is the leading commodity in Casablanca. Was human trafficking a major issue in Casablanca during World War

Bob LeMent  40:17

Two. I hate to tell you this human trafficking still a major issue. Dan,

Dan LeFebvre  40:22

fair point,

Bob LeMent  40:25

yeah, I don’t know on, I don’t know what I would I would say that, chances are there was some of that going on. I don’t know to what extent, and so forth. It’s interesting that if you look at the two characters, you know, Rick looks very American, and then the the for our Ferrari guy looks he’s trying to acclimate. He’s wearing a fez. He doesn’t, he shouldn’t be wearing a fez. If you look at him, he’s, he’s got a suit on so forth. He’s wearing a fez. I mean, he’s trying to be a little more local, but he’s obviously not. He’s obviously, you know, American or British background so forth. As far as the human trafficking at the time, I That’s a good question. I wish I had a better answer for you. I would say that that unfortunately, it’s still an issue today. And so chances are, if that was the route that other people were taking, then that’s the route that they would take for that as well. The interesting thing that I found was that there was a lot of Jew Jewish people in Morocco, in that part of Northern Africa, and so then they, obviously, you know, wanted to leave because of what was happening, which, you know, I don’t know that it, it really dawned on me that’s a little bit of some research that I did. It was interesting to note that, because now, when we think about that, we don’t think of it as being particularly an area where a lot of Jewish people would be so that I found that interesting. Yeah,

Dan LeFebvre  42:14

were they? Was it something they kind of, they were trying to escape from Europe, or was it a community that was already there. Oh, okay, okay, see, I would have expected that. Okay, there, everybody’s fleeing Europe. And, yeah, you know what?

Bob LeMent  42:27

It was already part of the already part of the community. They would live there. And so, you know, this wasn’t something they moved there. I mean, obviously, I’m sure there’s a wave of people during that time period. But no talks about the them being, having a community there. I wonder if they

Dan LeFebvre  42:46

were involved in, think of like with Victor Laszlo and being part of the resistance, if then he connected to, you know, the local community, because they knew what was going on and helping people escape. It seems like it could be a logical connection.

Bob LeMent  42:58

It seems like it would be a good connector. But they don’t go into that too much with the movie at all. They don’t actually get into the, you know, genetic stuff that the Nazis were into for that time, too much in the movie. And again, I think that was just the political climate, you know, they didn’t want to to broach that throughout

Dan LeFebvre  43:25

the movie. It takes place just across a few days in the movie. But there was a flashback sequence with Rick and Ilsa in Paris, and that’s, there’s artillery in the distance can be heard. And then Rick mentioned, you know, the German 77th is about 35 miles away. And then there’s another scene reading newspaper and talk about how the Germans are going to be in Paris by Wednesday or Thursday at the least. How well do you think the movie did just explaining the German invasion of Paris from the perspective of citizens like Rick and Ilsa who were living there at the time,

Bob LeMent  43:52

I don’t think they did a very good job, really. Okay? I mean, they talk about that and everything, but it’s always at a distance, right? And so, you know, it’s, it’s as if, well, we’re above all this. So it’s just, you know, the unlucky people, or the poor people are getting bombed or whatever, because we’re here in this hotel and we’re doing fine, where we know it wasn’t like that, you know, it was whenever they took over Paris, then there was fighting and so forth. And, I mean, you know, it was indiscriminate, right? It was wherever the fighting was happening. It wasn’t like they said, well, we can’t go over by the Ritz because, you know, all the rich people are there. So I think they, you know, it was a light way to bring it into the script, I think, but not really, you know, if you watch, you know, other movies, like Saving Private Ryan so forth, and you see the bombed out buildings and people still living in them. I think that’s a little bit more realistic portrayal of how things happened, where, you know, fighting. Happens. There’s so much, you know, just ancillary destruction, and people who aren’t even involved in the war dying, and then their family has to carry on, and all they’ve got is what’s left. And so, yeah, it was very, you know, the whole movie is very light on the realism, I think, in that, in that aspect of things, yeah. And then also, you know, they never went to Paris, obviously, so because they couldn’t at that time.

Dan LeFebvre  45:35

Oh, the Germans you’re talking about, yeah, no, I

Bob LeMent  45:38

mean the movie, they didn’t. They were all in the studio in Hollywood.

Dan LeFebvre  45:41

Oh well, right, yeah. Oh yeah, that’s a good point. Yeah, yeah, that was a good point. I didn’t even think about that

Bob LeMent  45:48

Morocco. They weren’t anywhere they were. So the whole movie, and one of the aspects of the movie is, whenever they are at the airfield, and the we’re gonna get on the plane, and everything that was in that was indoors, because they couldn’t film outside during the war at night, because Hollywood itself was under alert, you know. So one of the things is the the plane is a model constructed, and they actually that one of the great stories trivia pieces from Casablanca is the plane is a model. And the people who, when they get you see them by the plane, they’re children in they’re dressed up as adults in order to get scale right, so to make the plane look bigger, because they could not film at an airfield, because the they were not allowed to have lights at night unless they were needed. So everything was dark because they were worried about invasion. And that’s and we can spin off into the Battle of Los Angeles, which is kind of a famous thing in and of itself, during that time period where something was in the sky and they shot the heck out of it, and no one knows. Yeah, I mean, they assume it’s a weather balloon or something. But, of course, but it, you know, that’s how high alert the West Coast of the United States was, at that time was, you know, there were people who, that was the Civil Defense, and they would sit out all night and watch the skies and so, yeah, which is something you

Dan LeFebvre  47:31

won’t even think about, watching the movie like that, that. I mean, especially watching the movie now. I mean, you think of, okay, it was, it was during the war. But you don’t think about little things like that, of even the production of the movie having to change because of the war that was still going on as they were, as they were filming it, yeah,

Bob LeMent  47:47

and, and so that that was, you know, since it’s all basically a studio movie, it’s all pretty much inside. I they didn’t, I don’t, I think, I think all that was inside, even the airplane thing, it was just in a big sound stage off in the distance and so forth, because you never really see the sky. It’s night. Yeah, it’s foggy, exactly, but, yeah, it’s interesting, like that. So, I mean, if you think about it, even they were under the threat because they were restricted, yeah, no, that makes sense. Shoots couldn’t do night. Shoots couldn’t do couldn’t go to Morocco, couldn’t hang on Casablanca, actually, you know, they just had to do it all from from the studio and, you know, relative safety, I think, at the time,

Dan LeFebvre  48:40

in the final scene at the airport, the airport, the way it all kind of ends, you have the Rick giving the letters of transit to Victor and Elsa so that they can take the last plane out of Casablanca. Rick stays behind. He ends up killing the Nazi major Strasser and so that the Germans won’t try to pursue the plane. But then, In a surprise move at the very end, Captain Renault doesn’t turn in Rick, but then he orders his police officers to go look for the other usual suspects. I think he says like he has normal people that they round up whenever there’s something wrong. And it seems obvious that that ruse isn’t going to last very long. So at the very end of the movie, you see Rick and Renault, kind of walking off in the distance, heading towards a Free French garrison in Brazzaville, which, again, was kind of something that seemed pretty significant that they would just mention Brazzaville. Was there any significance to that mention at the end

Bob LeMent  49:26

of the movie? I think that it was a safe haven still at that point as things were falling apart. But everything was like dominoes and so and it is interesting that that our French authority, you know, kind of turncoat. But you know, they kind of allude to his, you know, French patriotism, I suppose, in a way, it probably, you know, money was also a factor, because there, throughout the movie, the Germans are never portrayed. They’re not portrayed as super or they’re portrayed as negative, but they’re not portrayed as being in on the game. You know what? I mean, Rick and the blue parrot, they’re all in on the game. And then the Nazis are kind of there, but they’re ruining the game, as it were. And so, yeah, I think that’s also part of it. Yeah, he’s, he’s kind of a which way the wind blows, kind of guy in the whole movie, anyhow. And so I think that was part of that deal. But yeah, I think they were just heading the next, next free spot and on their way to, you know, whatever, wherever they had to go next as things were falling apart. Just

Dan LeFebvre  50:44

assume Casablanca. They’re done in Casablanca and head to wherever, wherever is safe next, right,

Bob LeMent  50:49

wherever or whatever that can make money, you know, because, you know, we started out saying that they’re, they’re corrupt, they’re, they’re gangsters of the period. And that’s, that’s how they had the flow with the, you know, go with where the money’s going to be. Whenever it gets to be no money. What’s the point of hanging out there? Yeah, but it’s weird that he, he let them go. But that was the whole thing that he knew her, and they, you know, kind of had some kind of a history and, and that was a little bit vague as well about their whole history, but, but he would, would make that move and not just take the flight himself. He could easily just went with her to, hey, let’s leave this other guy to be caught by the Nazis. But he, you know, but that’s not a happy ending. So,

Dan LeFebvre  51:44

yeah, I think they try to the impression I got was it’s way of him being selfless, because he loves her, and so it’s kind of, we’ll always have Paris, and you always get that line too, right? You wouldn’t have that otherwise,

Bob LeMent  51:58

yeah, well, at the time though, I mean, that would be that was a super hopeful thing to say, right? Always, Paris has fallen. Yeah, true. We’re, we are probably incredibly lucky that the Eiffel Tower wasn’t dismantled to make tanks. You know what I mean? So always have Paris in this movie is an incredibly hopeful statement, because I think about that, yeah, because it was all happening, and they’re like, oh, you know, we had, you know, metal rationing and and everything in the United States, let alone in Britain and in Germany and other parts of Europe, right? So, yeah, we’re so lucky that most of the architecture wasn’t just destroyed in order to support the war effort,

Dan LeFebvre  52:59

which it I mean, if not just taken apart, but also, like you mentioned, just that so many buildings bombed out in cities bombed out and things like that. You know that artillery and bullets don’t care where they fall, right,

Bob LeMent  53:11

exactly. And then they and they were, and they were rebuilt in some areas, right? And so, yeah, there’s a lot of things in Paris that are from before the war that are still there, thankfully, because of the way that it played out, and but it could have won anyway, and so yeah, we’ll always have Paris. Is, you know, an inspiring thing to say, right? Because they don’t know we may not have Paris, yeah, at that point, yeah. Who knows what’s going to happen to Paris? All up in the air? Yeah,

Dan LeFebvre  53:46

that’s true. That’s true. Well, at this point, Casablanca, it’s like over 80 years old, so I doubt they’re going to do a remake. But just for the fun of it, if you were directing a remake of this film today, what’s something that you would do differently?

Bob LeMent  54:00

That’s That’s a tough one, because this is one of those movies that you can’t touch, right? Citizen Kane. I’m gonna remake Citizen Kane instead of a sled, he’s gonna have a motorbike. It’s not gonna work. I think if they were to try to remake it today, just in the trends for, you know, things and so forth, it would be, I think it would be more of a chase movie than it is in here. Here it’s very much a drama, very much, you know, there’s, you know, stuff happening, romance, kind of in the drama and all these people involved, and it’s but I think it would be like there’s a movie called salt with that was a chase movie or something like that. It probably would be like that, rather than being a drama like it is now and more just. People talking because, you know, you wanted to be on the run and and see the route. I think they could probably get away with that. They probably wouldn’t be able to call it Casablanca. It would just be one of the stops along the way. But, yeah, I think that’s probably what would happen. And then you could still have, you know, your Rick and and and your Renault and so forth in there to help you get through and make the the tension with Strasser and so forth. But, yeah, it wouldn’t be the same. I don’t know. The thing is, a lot of these older movies, it’s hard to remake just because storytelling has changed in what people want to see is changed. And so to me, that’s what makes this movie so interesting, is the fact that it still holds up, even though tastes and what people want to see have drastically changed over time. So it’s, it’s interesting that they that people still can go back to this one and say, you know, this is pretty good. I liked it,

Dan LeFebvre  56:11

yeah. And it’s interesting because it has, I mean, movies have been influenced, obviously, like we talked about, a lot of the history behind the movie, but there’s actually, I looked at, there’s actually a big cafe in Morocco, because that’s been inspired by the film, and things like that. And then we talk about things like, you know, we’ll always have parish. And there’s lines like, here’s looking at you kid, what are some of the favorite ways that you think Casablanca has kind of transcended the screen to make an impact on the world today?

Bob LeMent  56:39

Well, it’s given us archetypes, right? So this is a movie that set in motion, archetypes that you still have in film today, your gangster, your good gangster, is Rick right and Ferrari the blue parrot guy, Sydney, Green Street, his look right you when you see a bad person in the movie, they look like that guy, that actor, Sidney Green Street, I was just talking we watched it for my son is doing a film class in college. And we watched it for that reason, originally. And then I happened upon you and, and I’m like, do you recognize this persona? And he’s like, Well, I go, Well, mad, Max Fury Road. There is Sydney Green Street, sitting in the car as the oil guy, right? And he’s in the new one Furiosa as well. I mean, obviously it’s the post apocalyptic version of him, but it looks like him and so he, he transcended the movie so much that you can see it repeated again and again. You know the look of this person and his demeanor, right? He’s he’s not, he’s proper, but he’s evil. And then even Renault, the two faced authority. You know, all of these things have gone on to be repeated throughout cinema history since this was done. Now, there may be some ahead of this that helped with that too, but you can pretty much put your finger on this one and say, Yeah, this archetype came from, from this place, and we’re still using it in movies today. You know, it’s it’s interesting that that can have so much impact. And I think part of that is because it’s been revered and everyone has seen it. And so then, as you you know, anyone who does a creative endeavor right gets bits and pieces from everywhere, and the more popular something is, the more those bits and pieces infiltrate into the creativity. And so it really is, it really is something to see that and and think, you know people, people nowadays won’t even know it if they haven’t had to watch it for whatever reason. I mean, I don’t think that people actively go out and seek this movie nowadays unless they’re in it for other reasons, right? And films,

Dan LeFebvre  59:26

yeah, or

Bob LeMent  59:27

something like that, but, but there, it’s been influencing things all along the way in. So, yeah, so influential. It’s just interesting. It’s very which

Dan LeFebvre  59:38

ties in two things that you had talked about a moment ago where one it would be really hard to do a remake of something like this, because there are so many influences that you just have to get everything just right in order to know

Bob LeMent  59:51

how you get away with people would be, I mean, you had the way, I think another generation or so, unfortunately, it’ll be like, Oh, I. Can’t remember the title, but somebody they did a comical version of Hamlet the and it’s so they were trying to redo Hamlet, but it ended up the best way to do it was as a farce, and Woody Allen did this as a farce, right, played against Sam. That’s the way you have to do it. So, you know, you have to, you have to do the forest before. And I don’t think they’ll ever come back around. There’s always probably going to be someone, even in Hollywood, who’s like, we can’t make a buck off of this one, you know,

Dan LeFebvre  1:00:39

yeah, but it’ll still stick around. Because, I mean, what other movies are there that have, like, you said, I mean, you said it still holds up, right? And made, like, 80 years ago, another generation from now, it’ll probably still hold up too. So, yeah, you know, how many movies can say that they do that? And that makes sense why there’s so many things based on it? Not

Bob LeMent  1:00:57

a lot. I mean, weird. The weird thing is, it kind of goes in, if you look back, it kind of goes in waves a little bit. I mean, because the other thing we’re getting, I watched Maltese Falcon last night because my son needed to watch it for this class. I’ll watch it with it nice and so. So, yeah, we watch both of these. And they’re both from that time period, right? And they both are now have have transcended that time period. I would say Maltese Falcon is this. Casablanca is way better than Maltese Falcon, as far as a movie goes, as far as pacing, as far as story, as far as you know, drawing you into it and so forth is way better. But they captured, they both captured the imagination of people into, you know, today and will into the future. Because it’s just kind of that weird. It just so the funny thing is, we talk about it and we’re like, Humphrey Bogart is not the best actor, right? He’s not even that good, really, if you think about it, he’s kind of a one trick pony, and he’s the same in Maltese Falcon as he is in this but it’s the combination of things, right? It’s the combination of the story and and how it plays out and so forth in the direction of the movie that really bring it above the fray. And so to me, it, you know, I would say Renault is the best actor in this movie. He’s funny, he’s interesting. He plays the part so well, I mean, Claude Rains plays him and, and you’re like, if I met this guy in a bar, he’d be that guy. It totally convincing. You know what? I mean, whereas Humphrey Bogart, you’re like, I don’t know, and, but it’s interesting how the kind of the second tier players were all better actors than the top people. But unfortunately, in in the history of popular things, that’s usually the case. You can name almost any movie in the primary actor is probably not the best actor in that movie. It’s the second tier people who are all so much better at their jobs. The first thing comes to Maya Seinfeld, and he that he’s a horrible actor, but but everybody else in that cast is so much better in in that’s why it worked, because if you if they were all, if they were all lesser than Jerry, we wouldn’t be talking about it.

Dan LeFebvre  1:03:50

Yeah, yeah. No, that’s fair. That’s that. I think about that, but that’s a good point. Yeah,

Bob LeMent  1:03:55

so, but that’s, I think the same thing here, but, but at the time, he was the star power, and people really liked him. He was, I guess, kind of not really in every man. I don’t think he was. He was kind of portrayed as kind of a tougher guy, kind of a situation, kind of like Harrison Ford, right? So I would compare Humphrey Bogart to Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford, not the best actor, honestly, he plays Harrison Ford, right? He’s Harrison Ford. Is the President. He’s Harrison Ford. Is Han Solo. He’s Harrison Ford. You know what I mean, there’s, he’s not going to be Daniel Day Lewis, and meld into it, into his you know, he’d become Abraham Lincoln or anything. He’s Harrison Ford, and I think that’s what Humphrey Bogart was for the time, and and he did a good job at that, really good job of that. But, you know, I think everybody else in the even the the waiters and and so forth, were all better actors overall. I

Dan LeFebvre  1:04:58

guess they call him. Supporting actors for a reason, they support the whole show

Bob LeMent  1:05:02

characters. Yeah, yeah.

Dan LeFebvre  1:05:06

Well, thank you so much for coming on to help us separate fact from fiction in Casablanca. Before I let you go, let’s shift gears away from the movie’s history and shift to your own. Can you share a little bit more about static radio for our

Bob LeMent  1:05:16

listeners? Oh sure, if you want. So, I co host a show called static radio. We’ve been doing it for 25 years. Audio on the internet, and basically each week we tell funny stories about things that typically happen to us. We record. We recorded last night. So my story last night was about how I had a great hamburger in Columbia, Missouri. So if you want to have a great hamburger in Columbia, you might listen, and it veers off from there, it is comedic, humorous, and there’s no direction, so you never know where it goes. We start with a story, and then the story takes a life of its own, and by the time we’re finished, we don’t even know where the end is until we get there. I hope I’m Hope I’m more of a Claude Rains than a Humphrey Bogart. But who knows?

Dan LeFebvre  1:06:10

I like that. Like that analogy. That’s great. Isn’t that what we all want and like, be a little more Claude Rains and Humphrey Bogart

Bob LeMent  1:06:20

Exactly?

Dan LeFebvre  1:06:24

Well. Thank you again. So much for your time.

Bob LeMent  1:06:27

Thanks for having me. This is great fun. I hope I did it justice.