Errors and Inaccuracies
The film has several logical flaws, the foremost being the two "letters of transit" which enable their bearers to leave Vichy French territory. According to the audio, Ugarte says the letters had been signed by (depending on the listener) either Free French General Charles de Gaulle or Vichy General Maxime Weygand. The English subtitles on the official DVD read de Gaulle, while the French subtitles specify Weygand. Weygand had been the Vichy Delegate-General for the North African colonies until a month before the film is set (and a year after it was written). De Gaulle was the head of the Free French government in exile. A Vichy court martial had convicted de Gaulle of treason in absentia and sentenced him to life imprisonment on August 2, 1940, so a letter signed by him would have been of no benefit. A classic MacGuffin, the letters were invented by Joan Allison for the original play and never questioned. Even in the film, Rick suggests to Renault that the letters would not have allowed Ilsa to escape, let alone Laszlo: "People have been held in Casablanca in spite of their legal rights."
In the same vein, though Laszlo asserts that the Nazis cannot arrest him as "This is still unoccupied France; any violation of neutrality would reflect on Captain Renault," Ebert points out that "It makes no sense that he could walk around freely....He would be arrested on sight." Harmetz, however, suggests that Strasser intentionally allows Laszlo to move about, hoping that he will tell them the names of Resistance leaders in occupied Europe in exchange for Ilsa being allowed to leave for Lisbon.
Other mistakes include the wrong version of the flag for French Morocco and the fact no uniformed German troops ever set foot in Casablanca during the Second World War.
According to Harmetz, in reality few of the refugees depicted would actually have gone to Casablanca. The usual route out of Germany was through Vienna, Prague, Paris, and London, although the film's technical advisor, Robert Aisner, did follow the path to Morocco given in Casablanca's opening scene.
Read more about this topic: Casablanca (film)
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