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.

For Paul Henreid, the role of Victor Lazslo was an excellent fit. After the Nazis had come to power, he helped smuggle a Jewish comedian out of Germany and engaged in other resistance activities. For this, he was declared an official Enemy of the Third Reich and he fled first to the UK and then Hollywood.

Back in the movie Casablanca, all know that Rick has in his possession a pair of letters of transit, which are basically get out of Casablanca free cards that cannot be questioned or rescinded. Strasser has come to Casablanca for Laszlo, and with the Nazis controlling all means of exit and Ilsa an implicit hostage, Strasser has Victor under his thumb.

As this scene opens Laszlo is up in Rick’s office attempting to negotiate for the letters. Rick has refused, letting him know that he, Rick, knows that Ilsa, the woman who broke his heart, is Laszlo’s wife.

What happens next results in two major actions that reveal the two mens’ characters while also subtly turning the story on its head. From Rick’s office, we can hear German soldiers singing “Die Wacht am Rhein”, a German anthem dating back to the 1850s. Without thinking, Laszlo is downstairs to conduct the Casablanca house band in the French national anthem, written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle after the First French Republic declared war against Austria.

Laszlo strides down the stairs and takes a position of leadership in front of the band. “Play La Marseilles. Play it,” he commands them.

However, before the band will play a note they look to Rick for permission. He subtly nods his head, and the sound of a bar filled with French patriots - actors who, in order to add to the emotion of the scene, were all real life French refugees from the war that was still raging - drowned out the Germans.

Up until that point, we had heard that Victor Laszlo was a hero, a brave man who risked all including love to take the war to the Germans every chance he could. This scene gave us a chance to actually demonstrate that, for us to see him in action.

It also gave us a look into Rick’s true heroic character, as a man who had almost convinced himself that he didn’t care but when it came right down to it would heroically fight the war on his own front. For Lazslo, humiliating Strasser leads to certain imprisonment and a renewed effort to capture and kill him. For Rick, it leads to his bar being shut and for him to lose the reputation for neutrality he had carefully built to protect himself.

And for the audience, it’s inspirational. After all, you will do whatever you can to get Ingrid Bergman to look at you the way she looked at Paul Henreid in this scene:

Tomorrow: Bob Uecker