Casablanca has graced the screen for 75 years! (and it's my movie pick of the week)

If you can imagine a tense political climate, half of the world at war, and a general sense of fear and uncertainty at home and abroad, (it shouldn't be too hard to imagine) that was the atmosphere in the United States when Casablanca was released. Debuting on Thanksgiving Day in 1942, it is celebrating its 75th anniversary this week. This timeless classic is a wartime romance that was released in the midst of World War II. It was explicitly an anti-Nazi film, making it one of the most historically relevant and emotionally resonant stories to ever grace the screen.

Casablanca has been screened in theaters and on television more times than any other film in history. It is one of the most quoted movies and is frequently hailed as one of the best films of all time. In spite of all of its political themes, the characters and storyline aren't overshadowed by its agenda, beautifully developed, making it one of the best told stories in cinema history.

Ingrid Bergman stars as Isle, the wife of Victor Laszlo, a concentration camp escapee who is on the run from the Nazis during the early stages of World War II. They take refuge in Casablanca, Morroco, which is a French territory that has yet to be occupied by the Nazis, though their presence is still very much felt. Humphrey Bogart plays Rick Blaine, the elusive bar and nightclub owner in Casablanca

Rick and Ilse have a history that is marked by heartbreak and unanswered questions, which makes Ilse and Victor's arrival in Casablanca complex for everyone involved. Meanwhile, refugees from the war are trying to find an escape to America while the Nazi regime grows ever closer, impacting the lives of everyone in the story and beyond.

The film took home Oscars for Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Director, not to mention 5 other nominations and countless other awards. Whether you've seen the film one hundred times before, or you've never seen it, you'd be remiss not to take advantage of the opportunity to celebrate this iconic achievement in filmmaking on its 75th anniversary.

Here are some other interesting facts about the film:

- In the famous scene where the "Marseillaise" is sung over the German song "Watch on the Rhine, many of the extras shed real tears because many of them were actual refugees from Nazi persecution in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

- Many of the actors who played the Nazis were in fact German Jews who had escaped from Nazi Germany.

- Due to wartime restrictions on building supplies, many of the sets were reused from other Warner Bros movies.

- Warner Bros was the first studio to prohibit its films from being distributed in Nazi-occupied territories and Casablanca was not the only anti-Nazi film it produced during the war.

- Two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered the war, studios rushed to produce patriotic films including Casablanca

- In 2006 this film's script was named the best screenplay of all time by the Writer's Guild of America  - "Here's looking at you, kid" was improvised by Humphrey Bogart

- The film has six quotes on the American Film Institute's list of top movie quotes, more than any other movie on the list. Including these quotes with their ranks: (5) "Here's looking at you, kid." (20) Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." (43) "We'll always have Paris" (67) "of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

- In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked Casablanca as the #3 greatest movie of all time

- The script was written by twins Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein, the first and only (to date) twins to ever win an Academy Award