There have been some ridiculously bad ideas swirling around the Hollywood studio systems over the years. I mean, ideas that are so mind-numbingly putrid you begin to question the sanity of whoever came up with them. None are quite as preposterous as this.
In an in-depth article penned by New York Post film critic Lou Lumenick about various attempts to extend the classic story of Casablanca, it’s suggested that Cass Warner – granddaughter of Warner Bros. co-founder Harry Warner, would be open to a possible sequel that’s based on an old treatment credited to Howard Koch, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of the original film.
The treatment, cooked up by Koch decades ago, would resume the action 20 years after Rick and Ilsa’s famous goodbye. “Here’s looking at you, kid,” Rick (Humphrey Bogart) proclaims to the love of his love (played by Ingrdi Bergman). Well, in Koch’s Return to Casablanca, Ilsa and the son she conceived with Rick, named Richard, would return to North Africa to try and locate the boy’s missing father. Koch, for a while, penned a sequel that made room for original Casablanca stars. He started rewriting it after Bergman passed away in 1982.
Koch disapproves of Cass Warner’s attempts to get a Casablanca sequel up and running in time for the studio’s 90tht birthday. “Casablanca without Bogie, Bergman and Claude Rains just won’t be Casablanca,” the screenwriter said, and he’s absolutely right. Though there is a lot of speculation in Lumenick’s story, and it’s really just a comprehensive rehash at the attempts to capitalize on the legacy of Casablanca, the sequel talk should stop. Now. Don’t do it, Warner. Ever. It’s a terrible idea. Leave Casablanca alone. Forever. Thank you, in advance.
