From The Making of Casablanca: Bogart, Bergman, and World War II
Much of the major work on the Casablanca screenplay was done between April 6, when Howard Koch was assigned to the movie, and June 1, when a revised final script was mimeographed …
Each subsequent script for Casablanca became leaner and sharper, more economical, the scenes rearranged for greater dramatic effect and the speeches polished and clipped. Within the confines of a studio that both Koch and Julie Epstein describe as ‘a family”, Koch rewrote the Epsteins to give the movie more weight and significance, and the Epsteins then rewrote Koch to erase his most ponderous symbols and to lighten his earnestness.
This kind of survival-of-the-fittest script is unlikely to happen today, when writers, director, and studio executives come insecurely and suspiciously together to make a single movie, the original writer is rarely brought back after his work is rewritten, and screen credit means that someone gets extra money from television and videocassette sales…
At the beginning of May, the Epsteins finished the second section of the script of Casablanca, while Howard Koch turned in his revision of the Epsteins’ first act. Earlier, in nineteen pages of suggestions of “Suggestions for Revised Story”, Koch had warned:
There is also a danger that Rick’s sacrifice in the end will seem theatrical and phony unless, early in the story, we suggest the side of his nature that makes his final decision in character. It would be interesting to have Renault penetrate the mystery in his first scene with Rick when he guesses that the cynical American is underneath, a sentimentalist. Rick laughs at the idea, then Renault produces his record — “ran guns to Ethiopia”, “fought for the Loyalists in the Spanish War.” Rick says he got well paid on both occasions. Renault replies that the winning side would have paid him better. Strange that he always happens to be on the side of the underdog. Rick dismisses the implication, but throughout the picture we see evidences of his humanity, which he does his best to cover up.
Koch’s script of May 11 also deepened Rick’s character and underlined the political tensions in subtle ways. For example, Koch makes the man Rick bars from his gambling room — who was an English cad in the play — into a representative of the Deutschebank. When the owner of the Blue Parrot offers to buy Rick’s Cafe, Koch has added dialogue in which the character played by Sidney Greenstreet also offers to buy Sam, and Rick says, “I don’t buy or sell human beings.” (In their rewrite of Koch’s script, the Epsteins would build on Koch’s line by having Greenstreet respond, “That’s too bad. That’s Casablanca’s leading commodity.”) If Koch layered the politics rather heavily — in his version, Victor Laszlo forces Renault to toast liberte, egalite, fraternite — the Epsteins would remove those speeches in the script of June 1. With delicate balance, Koch managed to hold down the gags while the Epsteins managed to cut out the preaching.
