History of Casablanca control of Casablanca was not formalised until 1910. It was especially during the years of military governor Hubert Lyautey that Casablanca became Morocco's economic center and Africa's biggest harbour. The famous 1942 film "Casablanca" underlined the city's colonial status at the time—depicting it as the scene of a power struggle between competing European powers, carried out without any reference to the local population, and with the film's vast cosmoplitan cast of characters (American, French, German, Czech and some other nationalities) including not a single Arab. During the 1940s and 1950s, Casablanca was a major centre of anti-French rioting. A terrorist
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