La Marseillaise

My favorite scene in all of the movies is the scene in Casablanca (1942) where Victor Laszlo tells the band “Play the ‘Marseillaise’. Play it.” When Rick says "Play it", you kind of getting the feeling that he has joined the fray.

But this great scene is really based on on a scene in The Grand Illusion (1939) by the great Jean Renoir. This anti-war movie was banned by both Germany and France (by France in 1940 because it was thought the pacifist movie might hurt with the war effort).




Two great scenes in two of the best movies of all time, but the Casablanca scene was really just a copy of the great scene in The Grand Illusion.

That being said, the Casablanca scene, directed by Michael Curtiz, is my favorite scene of all time. Curtiz cuts to the faces of the Germans, Louie, Rick, Victor, Yvonne, Victor, the band, the guitar singer, the crowd. The cuts are almost as effective as the music, but La Marseillaise is such a great song.