How the "Play La Marseilles" scene elevates 'Casablanca' into greatness

The “La Marseilles” scene is one of the pivotal moments that turns CASABLANCA from a typical wartime potboiler into an all-timer. Up until this scene, Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is a saloon-owner in neutral Casablanca. He's convinced himself, despite his past as a freedom fighter and a gunrunner for the underdogs in countries struggling under the yoke of oppression, that he no longer cares, that he’s in it only for himself, that he “don’t stick my neck out for nobody.”

Into his gin joint comes his old flame, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), who had left him waiting at the last train out of Paris just as the Nazis rolled in. She’s with Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), the great Nazi fighter, inspirational underground leader, who had managed to escape from the concentration camps with Major Strasser at his heels.