Casablanca was not originally intended to be anything inspirational or spectacular. The following the film gained was not built into the movie beforehand. I really like this quality and think it brings a whole new level to watching it. The film, however, is interpreted in many different ways and is really deeply analyzed by some to have far deeper meanings than originally intended. Umberto Eco explains that the film deals with the idea of sacrifice and it's connections to war. This idea of sacrifice is seen as romantic which expands the original intention of the film, which was to be a simple romance set in Casablanca fueled by the recent Allied invasion of North Africa. Howard Koch, one of the screenwriters of the film, considers the film a sort of political allegory, comparing Rick to president FDR. FDR and Rick both initially rejected the war (FDR waiting till Pearl Harbor and Rick initially claiming his neutrality in the conflict.) Overall, I really think the film was overanalyzed and held to be something far higher than it was originally intended. I'm all for artistic interpretations of film, but I feel that early films were too superficial to be analyzed at that deep of a level.
