Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca-Bogart, Bergman, and World War II [Hardcover]

Aljean Harmetz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1992

An inside look at the making of Casablanca offers fresh insights into and revelations about the people, the period, and the countless details that all had a hand in shaping the quintessential movie-lover's movie.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Harmetz ( The Making of The Wizard of Oz ) brings both spirit and a substantial knowledge of Hollywood to her anatomy of the making of many people's favorite film. " Casablanca was a mosaic of fortune--good and bad," she writes, and she draws on a broad range of interviews and documents to conjure up the film world of 1942. Especially interesting are her meticulously researched accounts of the much-debated ending and the evolution of the script, which was based on an unproduced play but delicately balanced with gags and politics by competing screenwriters. Harmetz provides sketches of the stars Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart ("Saint and sinner," she says of their Hollywood personas, adding that their "real-life sexuality . . . was almost reversed on screen"), the "thick layers of character actors" like Claude Rains and Sydney Greenstreet, and the intense, mercurial director, Hungarian Jewish refugee Michael Curtiz. The Production Code forced the writers to approach sex with subtlety, while a "rich underlay" of American popular music made Rick's Cafe seem an American oasis. Harmetz also updates the careers of the movie's principals and describes how the "cult of Casablanca " was born in 1957 at an art cinema near Harvard University. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 402 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books; 1st edition (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562829416
• ISBN-13: 978-1562829414
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,050,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Miracle of Accidents, July 28, 1998

By 

Lee Hurtado - See all my reviews

This review is from: Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca : Bogart, Bergman, and World War II (Paperback)

"Casablanca" is quite simply my favorite film. Its history encompasses the studio system at its finest, the political movements of World War II (the famous Casablanca conference provided invaluable free publicity for the film), and some of the best casting in film history (my favorite character was always Claude Rains' Louis Renault).

In "Round Up the Usual Suspects," Aljean Harmetz has brought the history of this film to glorious life, exploring its origins and dispelling its myths. (How seriously was Ronald Reagan considered for the lead? Did Ingrid Bergman know the ending?)

Her attention to detail would have been sufficient to make this a great book, but Harmetz does much more. Her greatest achievement (and it's great indeed) is to present the film as a miracle of accidents, the almost coincidental meeting of the forces of Hollywood with the forces of history.

"Round Up the Usual Suspects" is essential reading for anyone interes! ted in the story of how a great film is made.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best MAKING OF A MOVIE book I have ever read!, August 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca : Bogart, Bergman, and World War II (Paperback)

"Round Up the Usual Suspects" provided many behind-the-scenes tidbits about CASABLANCA that I've never heard before - Murray Burnett's lawsuits against Howard Koch, the feud between Jack Warner and Hal Wallis and a precise picture of the Warner Brother house style. Ms. Harmetz provided an excellent and detailed account of Hollywood moviemaking in the early 40s. After reading this and her books on GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ, she just may well be one of the foremost historians of Hollywood's Golden Age.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on the best film of the 1940s, September 25, 2003

By 

Daniel Waitkoss (St. Charles, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca-Bogart, Bergman, and World War II (Hardcover)

Aljean Harmetz's "Round Up the Usual Suspects" is one of the best books on the making of what is probably the best film of the 1940s (and possibly of all time). Harmetz explains almost every aspect of the story--often sounding more like fiction than fact--of the making of this all-time winner. These aspects include who was behind the camera, the actors, and the writers. She provides many details about life behind the WB shield--which collaborates the view of Jack Warner as a jerk seen in a fine book,"Hollywood Be Thy Name"--the fights on who wrote the screenplay, and how they all meshed together to create an enduring classic. She also explains how the film escaped the propanganda machine of later 1940 films. If you love this film, you should read this book! Let us hope that it returns to print witht he release of the special DVD edition of "Casablanca".