Casablanca, American film drama, released in 1942, that was loosely based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison’s unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick’s. A fast-paced, emotionally charged romance set against the tumultuous backdrop of World War II, the film is one of the most celebrated and iconic motion pictures in history. The film takes place in Casablanca, Morocco (then a French protectorate), where numerous Europeans are stranded after having sought refuge from Nazi occupation. With exit visas difficult to obtain from the Vichy government, two German couriers carrying valuable letters of transit are murdered on a train. Soon after, the