Casablanca is far too optimistic to be a noir. One of the defining qualities of film noir is its bleak outlook on life. In a true film noir, the only way the hero can win is simply by surviving to make it to the next day. If he's really lucky, he'll get the girl and he'll bring a couple people to justice. But the decaying society, the corrupt system, the hero can't beat that. Look at the end of LA Confidential, when Exley realizes that he can't stop the corrupt system, but he can join it and lie to get a promotion (and continue to do good work as a cop). At the end of The Big Sleep, Bogey's go