| In the film Casablanca's "battle of the anthems" scene, some actors seem truly moved as they sing La Marseillaise. Is what we see on the screen genuine emotion captured on the first take, or just good acting repeated over several takes?
Thanks for the A2A; I did a little digging into this a few years ago after hearing Ebert attribute some of the emotion in this scene to how many of the actors were affected by the Nazis. Here's the detail I was able to find: Paul Henreid - 'Victor Laszlo'. Austrian, half-Jewish, left Austria in 1935 as an avid anti-Fascist. Conrad Veidt - 'Major Strasser'. German, married a Jewish woman and fled Germany after the Nazis took power. Had it written into his contracts that he would only play Nazis if they were villains, and donated much of his income to anti-Nazi causes. Trivia: was the highest-paid actor in the movie! Peter Lorre - 'Ugarte'. Hungarian, of Jewish descent, was a star in Germany but fled after the Nazis came to power. S.Z. Sakall . - 'Carl'. Hungarian, was a star there and Austria but fled after Hungary joined the Axis in 1940. All 3 of his sisters died in the concentration camps. Madeleine Lebeau . 'Yvonne'. French. Fled the Nazis after the fall of France, had only arrived in Hollywood a little before filming. Trude Berliner . 'Baccarat player'. German, Jewish, fled Germany after the Nazis came to power. Lotte Palfi Andor . 'woman selling diamonds'. German, Jewish, fled Germany after the Nazis came to power. Helmut Dantine . 'Jan Brandel'. Austrian anti-fascist, was imprisoned in a concentration camp: was able to flee to the US due to family influence. Marcel Dalio . 'Emil - Croupier at Rick's'. French, Jewish, a star in French cinema, married to Madeleine Lebeau above. Fled with her, got by in Hollywood via bit parts like this. [Edit]Thanks to Karen Kinsey for pointing me to several more: Louis Arco. 'Refugee at Rick's'. Austrian, fled after the Nazis came to power. Ilka Grüning. 'Mrs. Leuchtag'. Austrian, fled after the Nazis came to power. Ludwig Stössel . 'Mr. Leuchtag'. Austrian, fled after the Nazis came to power. Hans Heinrich von Twardowski. 'German officer with Yvonne'. German, fled shortly before the Nazis came to power. Wolfgang Zilzer. 'Man with expired papers'. Married to Lotte Andor (above). American-born, moved to Germany at age 4, of Jewish heritage, was able to make it back to the States at age 36 in 1937. [Edit]Thanks to Patrick Young for adding another: Curt Bois . 'Pickpocket' (above, in the middle; he's warning the Englishman about pickpockets, while picking his pocket). German, Jewish, fled Germany after the Nazis came to power.
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