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To celebrate its 75th anniversary, film historian Noah Isenberg offers a rich account of Casablancas origins, the myths and realities behind its production, and the reasons it remains so revered today as the most beloved of Hollywood movies.

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Casablanca is not one movie, Umberto Eco once quipped, it is movies. Released in 1942, it won the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay, and it featured unforgettable performances by Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and a great supporting cast. Through extensive research and interviews with filmmakers, relatives of the original cast and crew, and fans, Noah Isenberg explores the transformation of the unproduced stage play into the classic screenplay; the casting decisions and the indispensable role that refugees from Hitlers Europe played in making the film; the impact of the Production Code censors and the war; and the ways the film continues to dazzle audiences and saturate popular culture seventy-five years after its release.

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Noah Isenberg is director of screen studies and professor of culture and media at the New School, the author of Edgar G. Ulmer and editor of Weimar Cinema, and the recipient of an NEH Public Scholar Award.

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