Has anyone noticed that the After the Warner Brother Fanfare for Casablanca, the Arabian motif in the main title sequence just until the La Marseillaise theme appears to have been lifted from Max Steiner earlier 1934 score for the Lost Patrol....Max borrowed from himself I assumed..... I just stumbled upon the older film on Warner Instant Archive since I am more than familiar with the 1943 soundtrack...
I had a friend, the late Harry Mules, who pointed this out to me in 1973! Harry was a huge Steiner fan and recorded off TV every Steiner film on Boston TV in the 60s and 70s. He knew Max's scores inside and out.
The rhythm pattern is the same, but the initial melody line is descending in THE LOST PATROL while it is ascending in CASABLANCA. The subsequent chord progression leading to the LOST PATROL march and LA MARSEILLES is identical. While the motif was used throughout THE LOST PATROL, it only appeared in CASABLANCA's curtain raiser.
