Casablanca

About this episode

Recorded at the Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield, Misha Glenny and guests discuss Casablanca, one of the greatest films from Hollywood’s Golden Era. The film stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and features the unforgettable song As Time Goes By. Casablanca opened in November 1942 when Europe had been at war for three years and the USA for one. It was among Hollywood’s first major films to explain to US audiences why the war was worth fighting, and alongside this became a huge box office hit. It was created by a cast and crew full of emigres and refugees from lands under Nazi control. They produced a movie that has authenticity as well as astonishing emotional power that continues to this day. With Ian Christie Emeritus Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck University of London Pamela Hutchinson Film historian and critic Sheldon Hall Emeritus Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University. Producers: Simon Tillotson & Sam Peach Reading List: Rudy Behlmer, Inside Warner Bros. (1935-1951) (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986) Thomas Doherty, Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939 (Columbia University Press, 2013) David Gerstner and Jan