Why would americans be drawn to the setting of casablanca?
If you are referring to the era of the famous film Casablanca, it was because it was during war time in neighbouring Europe. Casablanca is in Morocco – a French colony at the time. France was under control of the Vichy government (collaborators with the Germans). Morocco was sort of under the Vichy, but had more freedoms and therefore more ludicrous economy for fugitives, contraband, and as a vacationing area for those profiting from the war.
