In the film Casablanca’s “battle of the anthems” scene, some actors seem truly moved as they sing La Marseillaise. Is what we see on the screen genuine emotion captured on the first take, or just good acting repeated over several takes?
Thanks
for the A2A; I did a little digging into this a few years ago after
hearing Ebert attribute some of the emotion in this scene to how many of
the actors were affected by the Nazis. Here’s the detail I was able to
find:
Paul Henreid -
‘Victor Laszlo’. Austrian, half-Jewish, left Austria in 1935 as an avid anti-Fascist.
Conrad Veidt
- ‘Major Strasser’. German, married a Jewish woman and fled Germany
after the Nazis took power. Had it written into his contracts that he
would only play Nazis if they were villains, and donated much of his
income to anti-Nazi causes. Trivia: was the highest-paid actor in the
movie!
Peter Lorre
- ‘Ugarte’. Hungarian, of Jewish descent, was a star in Germany but fled after the Nazis came to power.
S.Z. Sakall
.
- ‘Carl’. Hungarian, was a star there and Austria but fled after
Hungary joined the Axis in 1940. All 3 of his sisters died in the
concentration camps.
Madeleine Lebeau
. ‘Yvonne’. French. Fled the Nazis after the fall of France, had only arrived in Hollywood a little before filming.
Trude Berliner
. ‘Baccarat player’. German, Jewish, fled Germany after the Nazis came to power.
Lotte Palfi Andor
. ‘woman selling diamonds’. German, Jewish, fled Germany after the Nazis came to power.
Helmut Dantine
. ‘Jan Brandel’. Austrian anti-fascist, was imprisoned in a concentration camp: was able to flee to the US due to family influence.
Marcel Dalio
. ‘Emil - Croupier at Rick's’. French, Jewish, a star in French cinema, married to Madeleine Lebeau
above. Fled with her, got by in Hollywood via bit parts like this.
[Edit]Thanks to Karen Kinsey for pointing me to several more:
Louis Arco. ‘Refugee at Rick's’. Austrian, fled after the Nazis came to power.
Ilka Grüning. ‘Mrs. Leuchtag’. Austrian, fled after the Nazis came to power.
Ludwig Stössel
. ‘Mr. Leuchtag’. Austrian, fled after the Nazis came to power.
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski. ‘German officer with Yvonne’. German, fled shortly before the Nazis came to power.
Wolfgang Zilzer.
‘Man with expired papers’. Married to Lotte Andor (above).
American-born, moved to Germany at age 4, of Jewish heritage, was able
to make it back to the States at age 36 in 1937.
[Edit]Thanks to Patrick Young for adding another:
Curt Bois
. ‘Pickpocket’
(above, in the middle; he’s warning the Englishman about pickpockets,
while picking his pocket). German, Jewish, fled Germany after the Nazis
came to power.
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