Casablanca

In Vichy-controlled Casablanca, cynical American expatriate Rick Blaine runs a nightclub frequented by refugees desperate for exit visas to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. His past resurfaces when his former lover Ilsa arrives with her resistance-leader husband, forcing Rick to choose between love and sacrifice. The film became an enduring symbol of wartime romance and moral choice.

Casablanca in French Morocco was a real transit point for refugees fleeing occupied Europe under Vichy French administration, with exit visas and travel documents in extremely high demand before the city's occupation by Allied forces in November 1942.

A fictional story wrapped around genuine wartime conditions of refugee desperation and Vichy administration; not based on real individuals.

Montgomery's Eighth Army broke the Axis line west of Alexandria and began the pursuit that ended in Tunisia.

A massive artillery barrage opened Operation Lightfoot, followed by a grinding infantry and armoured battle through minefields. Operation Supercharge broke through in early November and Rommel withdrew.

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains

Positioned at December 1941 within the World War II phase of the war, as part of the Vichy French North Africa and refugee flight from occupied Europe. This is entry 48 of 150 in the chronological archive.

• Casablanca
• Vichy France
• refugees
• romance
• classic Hollywood

• 

  The Desert Rats

  April–December 1941

• 

  From Here to Eternity

  Summer 1941 – 7 December 1941

• 

  Pearl Harbor

  7 December 1941 – 18 April 1942

• 

  Captain Corelli's Mandolin

  1941–September 1943

• 

  Action in the North Atlantic

  1941–1942

• 

  Defiance

  1941–1944