it interest to compare the hero sacrifice in tomorrow be forever with the hero in casablanca . rick ( bogart ) leave ilsa in casablanca to her husband for the good of the world and and for a cause he believe in ( fight the nazi ) a cause he will participate in . but john or erik ( welles ) and while he leave elizabeth for the good of the same cause he fervently believe in and can not participate . he be cripple and sickly from the first world war ( he be probably emasculated and as well ) . unlike rick and he can neither reveal his identity or his love for the woman he leave behind even though she may know it . he only say openly that the cause be all . but and unlike rick and he be lie within himself . elizabeth be the abide passion in his life and his only possibility of emotional fulfillment . yet and even so and the world come first . and he sacrifice for this cause to the point of his own non existence . it be truly the great sacrifice . it be a wonderfully act film and which make the lost love of john and elizabeth the most poignant i have ever share a a movie viewer .