The music of Casablanca was a metaphor for the power of political unity against the adversaries of America: American music defied enemy music and thus enemy culture. This metaphor is accomplished both diegetically and through Max Steiner’s score, which creates leitmotifs out of national songs and the famous ballad, As Time Goes By. Because current wartime tensions created political insecurities for audiences, it was difficult for viewers to regard the film as fantasy, and the film’s music aids in a transition to fiction. For example, the relationship between the diegetic performances of As Time Goes By and Steiner’s appropriation of the ballad reinforces a past of assured political ideology as well as American unity and idealism. Additionally, the film demonstrates fantasies and realities of race and segregation through the treatment of and musical performances by the character Sam.

Works: Michael Curtiz (director) and Max Steiner (composer): score to Casablanca.

Sources: Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle: La Marseillaise (484, 497-98, 500-501); Carl Wilhelm: Die Wacht am Rhein (484, 497-98, 500-501); Herman Hupfeld: As Time Goes By (485, 487, 497, 502-14).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Film

Contributed by: Kate Altizer