The dialogue was original to the film, but in terms of plot and characters, Umberto Eco actually thought that Casablanca was full of clichés, and that this was

The dialogue was original to the film, but in terms of plot and characters, Umberto Eco actually thought that Casablanca was full of clichés, and that this was the secret of his success: he titled his essay “Casablanca, or, The Clichés are Having a Ball” (1994), and wrote “Two cliches make us laugh. A hundred cliches move us.” https://biblioklept.org/2013/05/26/casablanca-or-the-cliches-are-having-a-ball-umberto-eco/ https://biblioklept.org/2013/05/26/casablanca-or-the-cliches...