Casablanca is widely considered one of the greatest films in history, and its impact was such that it boosted the careers of most of its cast. Based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick’s, by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, Casablanca was directed by Michael Curtiz and released in 1942. Casablanca takes viewers back to 1941 and to the city of Casablanca, which at the time, was controlled by the French, to meet American expatriate and nightclub owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), Rick’s former lover who is now married to victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a Czechoslovak resistance leader.