It's a Wonderful Life Notes

In 1919 there was a deadly worldwide flu pandemic

Great Depression began with a crash in 1929

Draftees were ranked according to physical qualifications – 1A meant fine, 4F meant one was unfit

Japanese kamikaze pilots would divebomb ships, began late in the war

It’s a Wonderful Life was filmed just after WW2, which is when the films starts and ends

Casablanca Notes

Casablanca was made during World War II

Casablanca is located in Morocco

Morocco was a French province

Many people escaped France by way of Morocco, then Portugal, and then to the US

The Germans captured Paris

France was divided up into two parts during WW2, Occupied France (controlled by the Germans) and Vichy France (which was Free France, though in name only)

Germany and Italy fought on the same side for most of the war

The US did not join the war right away

A number of people, including Charles Lindburgh, did not want the US to join the war - they saw it as a European conflict. Some of those people were accused of sympathizing with the Nazis

Very few members of the cast of the films were American

La Marseille, the French national anthem, is the best national anthem by far