<P> Although Casablanca was an A-list film with established stars and first - rate writers, no one involved with its production expected it to be anything out of the ordinary, just one of the hundreds of pictures produced by Hollywood every year . Casablanca was rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier . It had its world premiere on November 26, 1942, in New York City and was released nationally in the United States on January 23, 1943 . The film was a solid if unspectacular success in its initial run . </P> <P> Exceeding expectations, Casablanca went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Curtiz was selected as Best Director and the Epsteins and Koch were honored for writing the Best Adapted Screenplay--and gradually its reputation grew . Its lead characters, memorable lines, and pervasive theme song have all become iconic and the film consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films in history . </P> <P> In December 1941, American expatriate Rick Blaine owns an upscale nightclub and gambling den in Casablanca . "Rick's Café Américain" attracts a varied clientele, including Vichy French and German officials, refugees desperate to reach the still - neutral United States, and those who prey on them . Although Rick professes to be neutral in all matters, he ran guns to Ethiopia during its war with Italy and fought on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War . </P> <P> Petty crook Ugarte boasts to Rick of "letters of transit" obtained by murdering two German couriers . The papers allow the bearers to travel freely around German - controlled Europe and to neutral Portugal, and are priceless to the refugees stranded in Casablanca . Ugarte plans to sell them at the club, and asks Rick to hold them . Before he can meet his contact, Ugarte is arrested by the local police under the command of Captain Louis Renault, the unabashedly corrupt Vichy prefect of police . Ugarte dies in custody without revealing that he entrusted the letters to Rick . </P>

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