Recommended reading - Casablanca: As Time Goes By

 

Casablanca: As Time Goes By:
50th Anniversary Commemorative

by Frank Miller.
 
Published by‎ Andrews McMeel Pub.
Published 1992.
First Edition.
Hardcover.
ISBN-10: 1878685147
ISBN-13: 978-1878685148
 
Description:
 

The leading lady was the producer's second choice. The leading man avoided his co-star between love scenes for fear of his wife's jealousy. Two of the stars didn't want to be in the movie in the first place. And nobody knew how the picture would end until the day they shot the final scene. Yet, out of this chaos came one of the enduring film favorites of all time – Casablanca.

 

For the First time, here is the whole story of Warner Bros. Production No. 410, from the original play that laid its foundation, through casting, writing, shooting, and post-production, to the series of lucky breaks that created one of the most everlastingly popular films of the last fifty years.

 

At every step along the road to Casablanca, the picture's creators had to make choices that later meant the difference between triumph and flop. Ronald Regan was initially announced to play one of the male leads. Producer Hal Wallis considered casting Ella Fitzgerald as Sam the piano player. Composer Max Steiner tried to cut "As Time Goes By." And sometimes the participants managed to make the right choices in spite of themselves.

 

Lavishly illustrated with a collection of photos, memos, blueprints and posters never before assembled in one book 'Casablanca: As Time Goes By...' paints the most complete picture ever of a movie that has mesmerized film-lovers and romantics for half a century.