BLU-RAY REVIEW

Casablanca: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition

Featured In Issue 166, April 2012

Picture3
Sound2.5
WSR Score5
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
Warner Home Video
(Catalog Number):
3000041747
(MPAA Rating):
Not Rated
(Rating Reason):
(Retail Price):
$64.99
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
122
(Color Type):
Black & White
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
Not Indicated
(Theatrical Year):
1942
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
03/27/12
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Michael Crutiz
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
(Executive Producers):
(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
DTS HD Lossless 1.0
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
(Japanese Language):
(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

From a play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, Casablanca is the American Film Institute's all-time Most Romantic Movie. (Tricia Spears)

Special features on Disc One include an introduction by Lauren Bacall; commentary by Roger Ebert; commentary by Rudy Behlmer; and "Warner Night At The Movies," which offers the Now, Voyager theatrical trailer, the "West Point Sends Her Men To War!" newsreel (SD 04:36), the featurette Vaudeville Days (SD 20:18), and the cartoons The Bird Came C.O.D. (SD 07:43), The Squawkin' Hawk (SD 06:41), and The Dover Boys At Pimento University (SD 08:58). Disc Two includes You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (SD 04:49:21) with the featurettes A Rising Power (1923-1937) (SD 56:24), War And Peace (1937-1949) (SD 01:01:15), Age Of Anxiety (1950-1960) (SD 58:57), Starting Over (1970-1990) (SD 56:38), and A Living Tradition (1988-2008) (SD 56:06); The Brothers Warner documentary (SD 01:34:19); and Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul (SD 57:41). The numbered limited edition giftset includes a 62-page hardbound book, a poster, coasters inside a leather case, two Blu-ray Discs™, and a DVD.

The 1.37:1 1080p AVC black-and-white picture shows its 70-year-old age, but remarkably the film has an engaging Americana look. A heavy layer of film grain is pronounced throughout, which enhances the agedness. The black-and-white photography is impressive and exhibits a well-balanced gray scale, with deep blacks and revealing shadow delineation. Overall, resolution is softly focused, yet clothing features always appear crisp without a stitch out of place. Dimensional depth is quite impressive. This is a true American classic that has never looked better on a home video format. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 2.0-channel monaural soundtrack is undistinguished, but dialogue is consistently intelligible, which is the prominent sound element. The other elements are compressed with dated fidelity. Still, this is very representative of what cinema sound was like in the 1940s. (Gary Reber)