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| Humphrey
Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Peter
Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Paul Dooley |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Rick:
Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship...
An
American running a bar in Casablanca during WWII meets a former lover
and reluctantly becomes involved in the Resistance.
Close
to sixty years after its first release, Casablanca is still the
movie that has it all. More engaging than Citizen Kane, fresher
than Gone with the Wind, more romantic than The Maltese Falcon,
it's the culmination of everything the studio system was good at. With
bad guys, good guys, colorful and eccentric locals, and a legendary
romantic couple, it's the kind of Hollywood machine that will continue
to run like clockwork for decades to come.
If I had to single out the characteristics that make it such an irresistible
picture, even after years of endlessly repeated viewings, I would say
that for me the magic is in the writing and pacing. The marvelous wit
of the screenplay, impeccably performed by a perfect cast, gets all
the right accents in the hands of action director Michael Curtiz, whose
breakneck speed and eloquent framing and cutting grab you by the lapels
every time and ensure that you will keep watching, as time goes by. |
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Identical single-disc versions
have been available for Region 1 and Region 2 for some time.
More recently, Warner has released a two-disc Special
Edition for both regions as well. The single-disc release served
as the basis for this review.
The picture is presented
full-frame, closely approximating its original 1.37:1 aspect
ratio. The picture
was fully restored for the film's fiftieth anniversary, and the source
print for this transfer is therefore in reasonable condition.
Although there are no major flaws in the transfer, occasional
compression artifacts and a general softness do show up.
The monaural soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 1.0, with all
sound isolate in the center speaker. There is very little hiss and though
such an old soundtrack has a limited range and depth, all dialogues
sound crisp and clear, and the music also has a nice bright sound to
it with very little hiss or pop.
Lauren
Bacall hosts a glossy 37-minute featurette that doesn't provide much
more information on the film than what is generally known. It's a nice
introduction to the film for people who don't know anything about the
movie's many anecdotes and myths yet. And the end of the program provides
a great clip from the Bugs Bunny cartoon short Carrotblanca amonst
other homages that make one hungry for more. The theatrical trailer
is also included, and a collectable booklet with some more interesting
trivia on the movie's production. The
animated menus have a rather minimal design that superimposes an airplane
flying by and a few shots from the movie on top of a map of Marocco.
Dan Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001;
updated: November 6, 2003
Click
here for IMDB info on Casablanca.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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