HISTORICAL PERIOD: World War II
WHO’S IN THE FILM:
Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid,
Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet,
Conrad Veidt
DIRECTOR: Michael Curtiz
DATE MADE: 1942
RUNNING TIME: 102 minutes - black and white
PLOT SUMMARY:
Embittered American cafe owner Rick is
reintroduced to love when his former lover comes to
Casablanca with her resistance leader husband.
The not so subtle early war propaganda piece plays
well along side the consummate love story of
“three little people.” Classic performances by all in
what many feel is one of the greatest films ever.
LEARNING STANDARDS: The learning standards for this film include, but are not limited to:
#3 Learners will develop an understanding
of people in other times, both on their own
terms and in terms
of present perspectives.
#11 Learners will define many types of power by analyzing
how it is distributed,
managed, and negotiated,
both legitimately and illegitimately.
#16 Learners will analyze how different economic
systems function, their relationship
to the cultures in
which they operate, and how they change over time.
#20 Learners will assess how and why groups form by evaluating
when group
membership is voluntary
or involuntary and by analyzing reasons why people
choose to belong -
or not to belong - to a group.
#24 Learners will analyze examples of conflict, cooperation,
and interdependence
among groups, societies
and nations.
ACTIVITIES:
I. BEFORE VIEWING THE FILM
SECTION 1: HISTORICAL INFORMATION:
1. What was the Second World War?
2. When was the Second World War?
3. How did it end? What were the results?
SECTION 2: SETTING THE STAGE:
A. CHARACTERS: (List the main characters in the film.)
Rick (Richard) Blaine
Signor Ferrari
Ilsa Lund
Captain Louis Renault
Victor Lazlo
Major Strasser
Signor Ugati
Sam
B. PLACES: (List the important places mentioned in the film.)
Casablanca
Germany
French Morocco
Mediterranean
Marseilles
Lisbon
Paris
Portugal
France
Oran
Berlin
Norway
C. TERMS AND CONCEPTS: (List the terms/concepts students need to know.)
Propaganda
General de Gaulle
Prefect of Police
Black Market
Vichy
Gestapo
Letters of Transit
3rd Reich
Free France
Concentration Camp
Occupied Territory
Isolationism
Underground
II. VIEWING THE FILM:
A. VIEW THE FILM IN SEGMENTS. We suggest
that the instructors preview
the film and select
breaks in the film that are appropriate to the class.
NOTE: You may want to pause the film for clarification when the story
line
becomes confusing or when a pivotal event occurs.
B. RECAP: RECAP EVENTS OF THE
SEGMENT YOU HAVE JUST
SHOWN BY
USING QUESTION PROMPTS:
1.
What is happening, or what just happened?
2.
What did you think about this?
3.
What do you think will happen next?
4.
Why were the German soldiers made to look nasty?
5.
What was important about the two songs sung at Rick’s?
6.
What did you think made Rick want to help the young couple get out of
Casablanca?
7.
What did you think happened in Rick’s room when Ilsa and he kissed
and the scene changed? How might a movie today portray this scene
differently?
C. ACTIVITIES BETWEEN SEGMENTS: (May be done during or after class)
1.
Make and document predictions.
2.
Word search activity
3.
Map activities - Find the cities and countries discussed in the beginning
and trace the route mentioned in the beginning of the movie.
4.
Fill in a time line-1939-1945.
5.
Discuss important characters and/or concepts.
6.
Short writing assignments
III. PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER
A. THE 5 Ws AND MORE: Suggested questions
for CASABLANCA
which may be asked
during viewing of the film and during teacher
facilitated discussion
after viewing the film.
1.
Who were the main characters?
2.
Which character(s) did you like? Why? Which character(s) did
you\
dislike? Why?
3.
What was life like in Casablanca?
4.
What did the “friendly” man do to the couple at the restaurant?
5.
What kind of person was Ugati?
6.
What was unique about Sam the piano player?
7.
What did Rick say to Ferrari when he asked about buying Sam?
8.
Rick mentioned isolationism. Do you know anything about that?
9.
How did Rick and Captain Renault get along?
10.
Was Captain Renault or Major Strasser more powerful?
11.
What happened after Ugati was arrested?
12.
What was Rick’s reaction when he heard “As Time Goes By”
13.
What did Rick do after Ilsa and Victor left? Why?
14.
Rick and Ilsa were in love in Paris. What happened?
15.
What was happening in Paris when they were there?
16.
During World War II what was a concentration camp?
17.
How did you think Ugati died?
18.
When the young woman asked Rick to help what did he say at first?
19.
What did Captain Renault want in return for helping the couple?
20.
What did Rick say when the woman asked him what he would do if
someone loved him enough to do something bad?
21.
What did Rick do for them in the end?
22.
Do you know what two songs the German soldiers and Victor and
the customers sang at Rick’s?
23.
Why did Captain Renault say Rick had to close the cafe? What was
the
real reason?
24.
What did Major Strasser say to Ilsa about their choices when he was
leaving Rick’s?
25.
When Victor left for his meeting what did Ilsa say? What didn’t she
say?
26.
Where did Ilsa go? Why?
27.
What did Ilsa threaten to do to get the letters?
28.
What did Ilsa finally tell Rick about why she left him in Paris?
29.
What did Rick tell Renault to do to get Victor arrested? Why do you
think he did it?
30.
Who did Rick sell his cafe to?
31.
aWhat were the arrangements? What did this tell you about Rick as
a boss,
friend, a person?
32.
How did Rick trick Captain Renault? How did Captain Renault trick
him back?
33.
Why did Rick make Ilsa go with Victor?
34.
How do you feel bout what Rick did?
35.
How did Captain Renault help Rick in the end?
36.
When Captain Renault threw away the bottle of Vichy Water, what did
that signify?
B. THEMES AN CONCEPTS: Teacher may
initiate discussion from the
areas listed below
contingent upon learner interest.
1.
What did you notice in the movie that was an example of propaganda?
2.
What is the difference between propaganda and prejudice?
3.
What makes a war a World War? How many have there been?
4.
What does isolationism mean?
5.
Rick is very cynical. Why do you think he is? What, in the
movie, makes
him change?
6.
Who is the most powerful person in Casablanca? Why?
IV. THE FUN STUFF
The following activities may be used at any point during this unit.
1.
Using the library, atlases and other documents find the location of the
places named in the film.
2.
Obtain translations of the German and French national anthems and, after
reading them, discuss the differences and similarities of these and the
American National Anthem.
3. Discuss the meaning of the name of the city Casablanca.
4.
From information on a map or globe, find out what kind of weather occurs
in Morocco.