Who is creatively responsible for Casablanca

As a film Casablanca represents the Classic Old Hollywood style of making film, with it's film noir themes, realistic and linear style as well as a predictable fairytale form of continuous editing. This method of making a film is heavily reminiscent of Old Hollywood yet the actors, director and writer of the film remain creatively responsible for the film.

In terms of actors Humphrey Bogart, previously famous for playing grubby gangster characters in somewhat villainous roles, takes the place of the tough on the outside, soft on the inside male lead; While Ingrid Bergman takes the mantle of the main female lead despite previously being contracted to another studio at the time of her accepting the role. While both interpret their characters perfectly, Bogart taking his gangster past and using that to create a sort of reformed bad boy character. Ingrid need not do much as contextually in Film Noir females on screen were more of femme fatale accessories than they were fully fledged characters, despite this the actress still placed her creative stake on the film through wardrobe. During the early stages of the film producer David Selznick wanted Bergman receive a traditional hollywood makeover (heavy make up made to appear natural, eyebrow plucking) however she refused and threatened to leave the film, upon this revelation Selznick took it upon himself to adapt and present Bergman as the first 'natural' actress (technically stealing her idea and making it his own,) this in turn helped her performance shine through a role which if badly acted could have been vapid.

Playwrights Murray Burnett and Joan Allison named 'Everybody Comes to Ricks' which had previously been unpublished. New Yorker Burnett had been inspired by a trip into occupied Vienna in order to rescue some Jewish relatives, and much of the original text is included in the final script for the film. Yet most of the credit for the film can be attributed towards the four screenwriters who adapted the screenplay, Julius and Philip Epstein are famous for the witty dialogue they incorporated into the script.

Howard Knoch added the political connotations into the script, such as Rick's past running guns in Ethiopia and aiding members of the Spanish Civil War to paint the character as a War hero of sorts and contextually place him as a fairly relatable character due to the films release occurring a little after WW2 despite this he did not receive a writers credit. While Casey Robinson detailed the love story between the characters, adding in Ilsa's relationship with Viktor and the Piano player's Sam's reactions towards Ilsa and Rick's relationship.

In conclusion creative responsibility for Casablanca falls on all individuals involved within the film, first and for most being the Playwrights as without them there would be no material therefore no idea for the film in the first place, next is Warner Bros as without the production company they would not have been able to fund the film, and then the actors and the screenwriters for bringing life to the film through dialogue and action.