Comparing 'Casablanca' to '1984' How can a hero survive in a world gone mad? Both Casablanca, the classic 1940s film, and hailed as the greatest movie ever by some, and 1984, a piece of classic literature by George Orwell, also seen as being one of the most important novels of the 20th century, revolve around a world in chaos, where no one trusts anybody else, and a war wages on within and without. In 1984, Winston hides from a totalitarian, thought controlling government, that is out to stomp out all aggression against the Party. Rick dealt with a world rocked by the impacts of World War II, where ever