When she discovered that he was still alive, she left Rick abruptly without explanation and returned to Laszlo, leaving Rick feeling betrayed. At the time Ilsa first met and fell in love with Rick in Paris, she believed her husband had been killed. The letters are their only way to escape to America to continue his work. Laszlo is a renowned Czech Resistance leader who has escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. Ilsa Lund ( Ingrid Bergman) arrives with her husband Victor Laszlo ( Paul Henreid) to purchase the letters. Rick gravely warns him that "there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade." Soon the reason for Rick's bitterness re-enters his life. Strasser goes so far as to ask Rick if he can imagine the German war effort reaching the shores of the United States, even New York City. Among them is Major Strasser ( Conrad Veidt), whom has come to Casablanca for an inspection of his staff and who makes no effort to hide his suspicion of Rick. Unknown to Renault and the Nazis, Ugarte had left the letters with Rick for safekeeping, because ".somehow, just because you despise me, you're the only one I trust." Through Renault, Rick is introduced to the small company of Nazi officers who oversee Casablanca. A corrupt Vichy official, Renault accommodates the Nazis. However, before the exchange can take place, Ugarte is arrested by the police under the command of Captain Louis Renault ( Claude Rains). Ugarte plans to make his fortune by selling them to the highest bidder, who is due to arrive at the club later that night. They are almost priceless to any of the refugees stranded in Casablanca. The papers allow the bearer to travel freely around German-controlled Europe, including to neutral Lisbon, Portugal from Lisbon, it's relatively easy to get to the United States. Though we learn later that Rick once harbored enough idealism to put himself at risk to fight fascism, he's now embittered and cynical, professing to be neutral and detached: "I stick my neck out for nobody." Ugarte ( Peter Lorre) comes to Rick's with letters of transit he obtained by killing two German couriers. Most of them - gamblers and refugees, Nazis, resistance fighters, and plain old crooks - find their way to Rick's Café Américain, a swank nightclub owned by American expatriate Rick Blaine ( Humphrey Bogart). Many are transients trying to get out of Europe a few are just trying to make a buck. the early years of World War II, December 1941, the Moroccan coastal city of Casablanca attracts people from all over the world, particularly Nazi-occupied Europe. And when they learn that Rick has the letters, he refuses to give them to him, because "he doesn't stick his neck out for anyone". It is obvious that Rick's stone heart was because of her leaving him. Accompanying him is Ilsa Lund, who knew Rick when he was in Paris, and when they meet some of Rick's old wounds reopen. But since Ugarte was arrested he has to find another way. Laszlo goes to Rick's to meet Ugarte, because he was the one Ugarte was going to sell the letters to. Captain Renault, the Chief of Police, who is neutral in his political views, informs Rick that Victor Laszlo, a resistance leader from Czechoslovakia, is in Casablanca and will do anything to get an exit visa but Renault has been "told" by Major Strasser of the Gestapo, to keep Laszlo in Casablanca. Now one of Rick's regulars, Ugarte entrusts to him some letters of transit, which he intends to sell but before he does he is arrested for killing the couriers. Now it seems that two German couriers were killed and the documents they were carrying were taken. Now the hottest spot in all of Casablanca is Rick's Cafe which is operated by Rick Blaine, an American expatriate, who for some reason can't return there, and he is also extremely cynical. But to get there they would first have to go Casablanca and once they get there, they have to obtain exit visas which are not very easy to come by. During World War II, Europeans who were fleeing from the Germans, sought refuge in America.
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