10 Iconic Movie Scenes You Didn't Realise Happened By Accident
4. Casablanca - Genuine Emotion During The Anti-Nazi Song
Casablanca is a classic film, one that consistently makes lists of greatest movie ever. It's a love story set against the Nazi rise to power, ending on one of the most bittersweet moments ever put to film.
There is a wonderful scene in the middle of the movie, set shortly after a group of Nazis who are stationed in Casablanca arrive at Rick's (Humphrey Bogart), and are loudly and drunkenly singing a pro-German, anti-French anthem. As the Nazis had recently overrun France for real, it was a very deliberate depiction on the director's part.
Rick, taking matters in his own hands, allows his band to play the French national anthem, La Marseillaise. A main character starts the singing, soon followed by the rest of the patrons. During the song, many are clearly emotional, some even moved to tears, most notably Madeleine Lebeau, who at the end yells 'Vive la France!'
They weren't acting.
Several of the main cast, including Lebeau, and many extras had actually been displaced from their homes by the Nazis as they overran Europe. Their reactions to this on-screen act of rebellion against the hated Nazis was real, and director Michael Curtiz, himself a refugee, was so moved that it was kept in.