Casablanca (film) Los Angeles. Although "Casablanca" was an A-list film with established stars and first-rate writers, no one involved with its production expected it to be anything other than one of the hundreds of ordinary pictures produced by Hollywood that year. "Casablanca" was rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier. It had its world premiere on November 26, 1942, in New York City and was released nationally in the United States on January 23, 1943. The film was a solid if unspectacular success in its initial run. Exceeding expectations,
Casablanca (film) Harmetz argues that they "brought to a dozen small roles in "Casablanca" an understanding and a desperation that could never have come from Central Casting". They were frequently cast as Nazis in war films, even though many were Jewish. The comedian Jack Benny may have had an unbilled cameo role, as was claimed by a contemporary newspaper advertisement and in the "Casablanca" press book. When asked in his column "Movie Answer Man", critic Roger Ebert first replied, "It looks something like him. That's all I can say." In a later column, he responded to a follow-up commenter, "I think you're