Michael Robinson
@eclipticevader7.bsky.social
Civ mil, polarization, natsec, & domestic politics |
Views own, not USG
Views own, not USG
the one that got away
November 20, 2025 at 7:50 PM
the one that got away
gotta keep reading
October 30, 2025 at 5:08 PM
gotta keep reading
The irony here being if [right] were the Army’s actual position then [left] wouldn’t need to be said anonymously
August 9, 2025 at 10:30 PM
The irony here being if [right] were the Army’s actual position then [left] wouldn’t need to be said anonymously
In every war college student there are two wolves
June 15, 2025 at 2:21 AM
In every war college student there are two wolves
MS Teams, 2031 CE:
January 24, 2025 at 12:34 PM
MS Teams, 2031 CE:
The film is seen as perhaps one of the most widely successful propaganda films in history, broadcasting to a reluctant America a role for itself in the world like Bogart's Rick. And still, on its own stands as a classic fixture of American cinema, despite accusations of its 'corniness'.
November 27, 2024 at 5:13 PM
The film is seen as perhaps one of the most widely successful propaganda films in history, broadcasting to a reluctant America a role for itself in the world like Bogart's Rick. And still, on its own stands as a classic fixture of American cinema, despite accusations of its 'corniness'.
By the film's end, Rick finally makes the choice to spirit Ilsa and Laszlo safely away. Walking into the fog with Renault, Rick's final quips presages the importance of the Allied cause.
November 27, 2024 at 5:13 PM
By the film's end, Rick finally makes the choice to spirit Ilsa and Laszlo safely away. Walking into the fog with Renault, Rick's final quips presages the importance of the Allied cause.
While freedom fighter Laszlo is nearly aways lit brightly on the film, Rick is often noir-ishly portrayed half in shadow, half in light, signaling the more ambiguous moral stance of the character and his reluctance to take a stand.
November 27, 2024 at 5:12 PM
While freedom fighter Laszlo is nearly aways lit brightly on the film, Rick is often noir-ishly portrayed half in shadow, half in light, signaling the more ambiguous moral stance of the character and his reluctance to take a stand.
Rick and Sam's "what time is it" conversation is often clocked as a goof -- it is night in Casablanca, and yet he says "I bet they're asleep all over America". This is instead a statement about the country being "asleep" in its isolationism to the horrors gripping Europe at the time.
November 27, 2024 at 5:11 PM
Rick and Sam's "what time is it" conversation is often clocked as a goof -- it is night in Casablanca, and yet he says "I bet they're asleep all over America". This is instead a statement about the country being "asleep" in its isolationism to the horrors gripping Europe at the time.
Rick's deeper nature as a broken, lapsed idealist is hinted at by Renault's comments that Rick ran guns to forces fighting the fascists in Ethiopia and Spain. Renault offer bluntly that "under that cynical shell, you are at heart a sentimentalist".
November 27, 2024 at 5:11 PM
Rick's deeper nature as a broken, lapsed idealist is hinted at by Renault's comments that Rick ran guns to forces fighting the fascists in Ethiopia and Spain. Renault offer bluntly that "under that cynical shell, you are at heart a sentimentalist".
Bogart's Rick captures the embodiment of pre-war US isolationism. When asked by Major Strasser if he can imagine the Nazis in Paris or London, Rick prevaricates; asked about New York, he replies only:
November 27, 2024 at 5:10 PM
Bogart's Rick captures the embodiment of pre-war US isolationism. When asked by Major Strasser if he can imagine the Nazis in Paris or London, Rick prevaricates; asked about New York, he replies only:
While the film's dark moments center on the despair of the refugees fleeing the wreckage of wartorn Europe, its lighthearted moments capture the excitement of departing emigres on their way to the US at last, including Carl's toast with the Leuchtags: "To America!"
November 27, 2024 at 5:09 PM
While the film's dark moments center on the despair of the refugees fleeing the wreckage of wartorn Europe, its lighthearted moments capture the excitement of departing emigres on their way to the US at last, including Carl's toast with the Leuchtags: "To America!"
Helmut Dantine plays the desperate Jan Brandel, the one that Bogart's Rick helps win at the roulette table to obtain an exit visa. At 19, the Austrian-born Dantine was part of the anti-Nazi resistance movement and was briefly imprisoned in a concentration camp outside Vienna before coming to the US
November 27, 2024 at 5:08 PM
Helmut Dantine plays the desperate Jan Brandel, the one that Bogart's Rick helps win at the roulette table to obtain an exit visa. At 19, the Austrian-born Dantine was part of the anti-Nazi resistance movement and was briefly imprisoned in a concentration camp outside Vienna before coming to the US
The lovable waiter Carl is played by S.Z. Sakall, a Hungarian-American actor whose German film career was cut short in 1933 when he was forced to return to Hungary. He fled Europe in 1940 with his wife for the US -- by the war's end, many of Sakall's family members died in Nazi concentration camps
November 27, 2024 at 5:08 PM
The lovable waiter Carl is played by S.Z. Sakall, a Hungarian-American actor whose German film career was cut short in 1933 when he was forced to return to Hungary. He fled Europe in 1940 with his wife for the US -- by the war's end, many of Sakall's family members died in Nazi concentration camps
Lebeau's husband at the time was Jewish actor Marcel Dalio, with whom she had fled Europe in 1940 arriving in Lisbon (the original proposed location for the movie's events) and plays Emil the croupier in Rick's cafe.
November 27, 2024 at 5:07 PM
Lebeau's husband at the time was Jewish actor Marcel Dalio, with whom she had fled Europe in 1940 arriving in Lisbon (the original proposed location for the movie's events) and plays Emil the croupier in Rick's cafe.
Madeleine Lebeau, who as in Yvonne is seen defiantly singing alongside the other emigres, had just fled Europe the previous year in a similar big to escape the Nazis -- tears, "not [..] of glycerin shed by an actress", but real ones, stream down her face.
November 27, 2024 at 5:07 PM
Madeleine Lebeau, who as in Yvonne is seen defiantly singing alongside the other emigres, had just fled Europe the previous year in a similar big to escape the Nazis -- tears, "not [..] of glycerin shed by an actress", but real ones, stream down her face.
In the famous "singing scene" in which the denizens of Rick's thunderously drown out the Nazi officers' Die Wacht Am Rhine with their powerful rendition of La Marseillaise, many of the extras in the room singing this retort were recent refugees from Europe.
November 27, 2024 at 5:06 PM
In the famous "singing scene" in which the denizens of Rick's thunderously drown out the Nazi officers' Die Wacht Am Rhine with their powerful rendition of La Marseillaise, many of the extras in the room singing this retort were recent refugees from Europe.
Conrad Veidt, who plays the immortal villain Major Strasser, fled Europe following Goebbel's purge of Jews in the film industry. Veidt was not himself Jewish, but left to protect his wife, who was. Veidt made certain in his US contracts that all Nazi roles he played must be villains.
November 27, 2024 at 5:05 PM
Conrad Veidt, who plays the immortal villain Major Strasser, fled Europe following Goebbel's purge of Jews in the film industry. Veidt was not himself Jewish, but left to protect his wife, who was. Veidt made certain in his US contracts that all Nazi roles he played must be villains.
Famously, the film's actors and staff were directly affected by the war, with many actual refugees fleeing persecution from the Nazi regime in Europe portraying the wayward emigres seeking passage to the US.
November 27, 2024 at 5:04 PM
Famously, the film's actors and staff were directly affected by the war, with many actual refugees fleeing persecution from the Nazi regime in Europe portraying the wayward emigres seeking passage to the US.
While much of the production occurred before US operations in the war began in earnest, the film's release was moved up to coincide with the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942.
November 27, 2024 at 5:03 PM
While much of the production occurred before US operations in the war began in earnest, the film's release was moved up to coincide with the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942.
🎥In honor of the 82nd anniversary of Casablanca's US release, some of the great (and real-life) things about the classic film🧵
November 27, 2024 at 5:03 PM
🎥In honor of the 82nd anniversary of Casablanca's US release, some of the great (and real-life) things about the classic film🧵