Class discussion questions
Casablanca
PART I: Principles of Composition, Mixing, and Editing
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Narrative cueing
o Referential/Narrative
 Where and how is music used to establish elements of time, place, and
characterization? [Give three to four examples.]
 Where and how is music used to establish point of view; where is it used
to help create or emphasize a particular character's subjectivity?
o Connotative
 Where is music used to set mood? How might conventions of
orchestration and melody come into play in these scenes?
 Are there instances of "mickey-mousing"? Does Steiner use the "stinger"
in Casablanca?
Continuity
o Where is music used to provide formal and rhythmic continuity in Casablanca?
[Be prepared to cite the two instances you deem to be the most striking.]
o How do musical themes and motifs come into play in these instances?
Emotion
o In which scenes is music used to represent emotion? [List at least two.] Which
emotions are represented by the music?
o Recalling Gorbman's categories, do any of the scenes in the film use music to
create an "epic feeling"? If so, which ones?
PART II: Themes
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Themes and motifs
o list four or five of the most important themes in Casablanca
o which ones are also motifs?
o identify the diegetic elements with which the themes you have identified as motifs
are associated; in other words, why do you call them motifs?
o what are some of the minor themes?
Identify those places where the musical themes and motifs are presented diegetically.
o Where are they presented nondiegetically?
o Are the borders between them ever problematized or made ambiguous? Where?
Why?
Scene: Ilsa'a first entrance (26:25)
o With whom do we first associate the ATGB theme?
o What is Ilsa's relationship to the theme?
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How does Rick respond to the theme? What does this tell us about his relationship
to the theme?
o What happens to the theme throughout the rest of this scene?
Scene: Rick's flashback and Ilsa's return to the café (37:00)
o What important theme recurs here?
o Again, what is Rick's relationship to it; that is, what are its major emotional
associations for him?
o What happens to the theme, and what is its function as a purely cinematic code?
o After the transition to the flashback, when do we get to hear the theme again?
o There is a rupture in the ATGB theme; where does it occur? What might it
signify?
o What allows it to pick up where it left off and continue?
o When do we hear it next? Is there a disjunction between the music we hear and
the pictures we see?
o When do we next hear the theme? What other theme enters? What is its
significance?
o When do we next hear the ATGB theme? Again, what is its formal function?
o What new theme enters in this scene? Who or what does it represent?
o What other theme reappears in this scene? What is its emotional import to the
scene; i.e., what is Rick implying about Ilsa and how does the music give us a
clue as to how Ilsa feels about the possibility of explaining things to Rick? With
what image was it first associated?
o On the surface, what would be the cultural connotations of a theme like ATGB;
what do you expect it to normally signify or represent? But so far, what emotional
situations has this theme accompanied?
Scene: the hotel room of Laszlo and Ilsa followed by the scene in Rick's apartment the
night Ilsa comes to ask for the exit visas.
o What are the important themes?
o Does the music establish a character's subjectivity in the first scene? If so, whose?
How do themes come into play?
o What happens to ATGB in the following scene?
o Again, does the music establish a character's subjectivity? If so, whose and how?
Scene--the airport
o What is one of the main cinematic functions of the rapid succession of themes in
this scene?
Return to Music in Film Homepage
The way Casablanca�s narrative develops, as is true of most Hollywood films, is through a tight
sequence, or chain, of cause and effect. What are some of the important links in that chain?
If the major motivating force in classical Hollywood cinema is desire, what are the desires of the
major characters in this film? To what extent are these desires satisfied?
Rick and Lazlo can be said to represent two different types of heroism. How would you
categorize each one as a hero? What qualities, if any, do they share? How do they most differ
from each other?
Casablanca has become something of a �cult� film, in part because of the personality of
Humphrey Bogart. What is it about Bogart as a performer that makes him interesting?
How is Ilsa characterized in this film? Would it be fair to say that the main female character in
Casablanca is merely an object of exchange between men? Does Ilsa ever do anything in the film?
Although the narrative is constructed on a change of heart on Rick�s part, are we ever in any
real doubt as to what Rick�s final choice will be? What are some of the clues, from the very
beginning of the film, that tell us what Rick�s future behavior will be?
The story in Casablanca takes place in two worlds, Paris and Casablanca. How are these worlds
compared and contrasted in the film?
One critic has suggested that Casablanca is structured around the concept of theft and thievery.
How many different �thefts� are there in the film and how are they related to each other?
1. What does the setting of Casablanca provide to this film—in terms of its atmosphere, as well
as in terms of its effect on the plot and the characters?
2. This film employs a classic method of narrative structure in Hollywood: the “love triangle.”
Ilsa is established as the pivotal female character, whereas Rick and Lazlo serve as the opposing
male characters. What traits of Rick and Lazlo allow them to serve as opposing figures? What
codes do they live by, and how do they each shed light on Ilsa as a character?
3. The script for this film was based on a 1940 play entitled Everybody Goes to Rick's. In the
original play, the character of Ilsa was an American woman named Lois Meredith, whose affair
with Rick in Paris had destroyed his marriage. In the play Lois did not meet Lazlo until after
ending her romance with Rick; moreover, Lois was Lazlo's mistress rather than his wife, and
Rick had been a lawyer before coming to Casablanca. What rationale can you see behind the
changes that were made to the script by its initial screenwriters?
4. The original play was also written in order to advocate America's entry into World War II; at
the time, the United States was still maintaining an "isolationist" policy, and Germany had
recently invaded and occupied France. The final screenwriter (Howard Koch) wanted to
highlight the political themes of the story, whereas director Michael Curtiz chose to give a bit
more emphasis to the love story. (This creative conflict was in addition to the earlier
contributions of screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein, who had incorporated comic dialogue in
the film, and Casey Robinson, who had helped write some of the dialogue between Rick and
Ilsa.) In other words, this film results from a high degree of collaboration and a certain degree of
creative conflict as well…one of the reasons it has been used as an example of the "genius of the
system" theory.
To what extent do you believe that the result was successful? To what extent does this film still
have a political theme? Does the love story work in harmony with the political theme?
5. A specific point of dispute for Koch and Curtiz was the flashback scene with Rick and Ilsa in
Paris (Koch didn't want it; Curtiz did). What would be the effect if the flashback scene had been
cut? Should Ilsa have been given a flashback as well?
6. Rick's development as a character requires that he change significantly from the man he was
when we first see him in the film. Does this change seem plausible to you? Can you detect any
ways in which the film tries to set the stage for this change? Or is his final decision unexpected
or surprising?
7. Roger Ebert has observed that Michael Curtiz does not have a visual style that calls attention
to itself, and that for this reason Casablanca has no memorable shots. However, could we find
any exceptions to this? For example, what impact do the close-up shots of Ilsa's face have in
terms of the film's impact?
8. One of the reasons for the sustained appeal of the film seems to come from how Rick and Ilsa
project certain ideal images of how a man or woman should be. How much would you agree with
this, and in what respects? Or do these ideals seem less current for our own age?
9. While Rick and Ilsa tend to get the most attention, Rick's relationship with Captain Renault
adds another layer to this film. How would you characterize this relationship?
10. Why would a film in which two main characters sacrifice their romantic desire for one
another still be regarded as such a popular film for fans of movie romance? Shouldn't a romantic
film provide a final "payoff" by fulfilling the audience's wishes for their union? Have you seen
any other films that withhold such fulfillment, yet in such a way that they still manage to have an
appeal?