PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Casablanca: 60th Anniversary Special Edition (1942)

Casablanca: 60th Anniversary Special Edition (1942)

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Released 11-Nov-2003

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Romance Main Menu Audio & Animation
Introduction-Lauren Bacall (2:05)
Audio Commentary-Roger Ebert, film critic
Audio Commentary-Rudy Behlmer, film historian
Listing-Cast & Crew
Theatrical Trailer-1.33:1, not 16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 2.0 (2:16)
Theatrical Trailer-Re-release trailer 1992 (2:52)
Awards
Trailer-The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Treasure of Sierra Madre
Featurette-The Children Remember (6:47)
Deleted Scenes-2 (1:41)
Outtakes-(5:00)
Audio-Only Track-Scoring stage sessions
Featurette-Bacall on Bogart (83:37)
Featurette-Making Of-You Must Remember This: The Making of Casablanca (34:40)
Audio-Only Track-Screen Guild Theater Radio Show - 1943
Featurette-Television adaptation - 1955 Who Holds Tomorrow (17:54)
Featurette-Cartoon homage - Carrotblanca (8:04)
Production Notes-(12:31)
DVD-ROM Extras
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 1942
Running Time 98:24
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered
Dual Disc Set
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4,5 Directed By Michael Curtiz
Studio
Distributor

Warner Home Video
Starring Humphrey Bogart
Ingrid Bergman
Paul Henreid
Claude Rains
Conrad Veidt
Sydney Greenstreet
Peter Lorre
Case ?
RPI $24.95 Music Max Steiner


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
French
Italian
German
Spanish
Arabic
Dutch
English for the Hearing Impaired
Italian for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Famed movie critic Roger Ebert in his commentary concludes along the lines of "When asked to name the greatest film of all time, I say Citizen Kane. If I am asked to name the film I enjoyed the best of all time, I would say Casablanca". I have never understood the reason why Citizen Kane is consistently ranked as the greatest film of all time, although I have only ever seen it once. Up to now I really could not pass comment upon Casablanca, for the simple reason that I had never seen it. Okay, calm down - I am about to explain that I simply never had the time nor access to a video of the film to do so. It has always been on that list of films I wanted to see but never got the time to watch. So when it came up for review in its 60th Anniversary Edition, it was a chance to change all that.

    Not that I was completely unaware of the film, and indeed I had seen bits and pieces of it over the years. To be completely ignorant of the film is virtually impossible in this day and age, as it is arguable that no other film has so insinuated itself into popular culture as Casablanca. It contains many, many classic lines that we all know, love and misquote: "Here's looking at you, kid", "Play it, Sam", "I stick my neck out for nobody", "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine", "Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time" and more all spring to mind - even though I have never seen the film! It seems rather ironic that I can barely quote any line from my two favourite films of all time, yet know and quote lines from a film that I had never seen until this review session...

    Since there is absolutely nothing that I could possibly add to the myriad of words that have been written about Casablanca, I will not bother adding anything in the way of a plot. However, just to honour the obligation to provide one, I will just borrow that which Michael D provided for the original release of the film over three years ago.

    Casablanca is set in Casablanca, in non-occupied French Morocco during the Second World War. The setting lends itself to this type of story. Casablanca is a mysterious, exotic locale with a colourful rag-tag bunch of miscreants and refugees as inhabitants, many fleeing the Nazi war machine. The inhabitants of Casablanca can be divided into two camps: those desperate to get a visa so they can escape to America, and those that make their living from providing these visas by means fair or foul.

    Rick (Humphrey Bogart) is the cynical owner of Rick's Cafe Americain, a world-weary soul who "sticks his neck out for nobody". Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), one of the leaders of the underground movement in Europe, enters Casablanca, attempting to get to America. Rick has in his presumed possession some Letters of Transit which would guarantee safe passage to whomsoever carries these letters. Victor wants these letters and is willing to pay any price for them. But, there is a complication. Victor's wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) was previously involved with Rick, under tragic circumstances. Here we have a classic love triangle; two letters, three people that want the letters. What will Rick do?

    Whilst this is the role that drove Humphrey Bogart to the top of the A list at the time, the film succeeds due to the overwhelming quality of nearly all the main cast. Of particular note are Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet - two of the best character actors around - but that is not to ignore Claude Rains either. The weak link is, as suggested by Roger Ebert, Paul Henreid who really does not seem to suit the role of the underground leader at all (even allowing for the improbabilities of the film). However, the luminescent Ingrid Bergman almost makes up for that weakness entirely... which probably also accounts for why even the lousiest looking effects of all time in a major motion picture classic are accepted!

    Generally considered one of the great films of all time and included in more "top" lists than probably any other film, Casablanca is one of those classic films that should be in every DVD collection. The original Region 4 release was not exactly the greatest effort ever released, but this new 60th Anniversary Edition release is an entirely different animal. Do your significant other the proverbial favour - buy it.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    You may recall that the original release of the film on Region 4 DVD was quite resoundingly panned by Michael D for its poor video transfer. Whilst perhaps the most damning of the local reviews of the DVD in that regard, there were certainly others who had a variety of not nice things to say about the video transfer. As I have not seen the film before, I cannot comment upon how the old transfer compares to this new, restored image. However, judging by the comments passed by Michael D, the difference is like chalk and cheese.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and it is not 16x9 enhanced. This is very close to the theatrical ratio of 1.37:1.

    Apparently the restoration of the film comes from Lowry Digital Images who were responsible for the terrific restoration jobs on North By Northwest and Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs amongst others. With that sort of pedigree you would be expecting something terrific here. And to some extent this is a terrific restoration - just not in the league of the aforementioned films. Nonetheless, it is doubtful the film has ever looked this good since its premiere. Barring the obligatory soft focus whenever Ingrid Bergman is in close-up (courtesy of the old gauze filter), this is a generally quite decently sharp transfer with way too much detail for its own good (it ruthlessly exposes those rubbish effects). Shadow detail, so important to the film as Roger Ebert repeatedly points out, is generally very good but just on the odd occasion it slips a tad, such as at 35:00. Hey, I have to complain about something! Grain levels are generally very good with only a couple of places where the grain becomes obvious (46:00 being one example).

    The black and white tones are generally pretty good, although at one point around 35:00 the blacks have a whitish tinge to them. Other than that the only real issue is a slight problem with the contrast at 69:25. Beyond that I found the grey scales to be very nicely handled, with the result that the overall feel of the film was quite natural (well, as natural as monochrome can be!).

    The only possible MPEG artefacts in the transfer were some instances of loss of resolution in pan shots at 7:44 and 41:32, amongst others. They are only possible, however, as the problem could be inherent in the source material. Film-to-video artefacts were surprisingly minimal in the transfer, something that I was not really anticipating. Indeed, so good is the transfer in this regard that there really is nothing much to report at all. The only possible issue was some very minor aliasing here and there in the odd straight line and some general, and very minor, shimmer in clothing. Film artefacts are much reduced by the restoration job, with the only problems of note being some obvious remaining film dirt around 88:25 creating the "dirty window look" and what appears to be some film damage at the base of the frame around the 39:00 mark - although to be honest the latter has me a little perplexed. It almost looks like a reflection from something but not being familiar with the film I really don't know what - water outside the window being my best guess though.

    This appears to be a Dual Layered DVD. I did not notice any layer change during playback of the film (three times) and with the total disc running to 5.30 GBs of data it is possible that the film is mastered on the one layer with all the extras on the second layer.

    There nine subtitle options on the DVD. Naturally enough I stuck with checking out the English efforts - of which I have no complaints whatsoever.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are five soundtracks on the feature DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack, a French Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack, an Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack and two English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtracks. I listened to the English soundtrack and the two Audio Commentary soundtracks. You can rest assured that the English soundtrack is the original soundtrack for the film - it features some rather obvious background hiss throughout. Generally this is nothing more than a very mild annoyance at normal listening levels but if you are a person who likes to crank the sound up a bit, then be prepared to be assaulted with the hiss. Rather amazingly, the slight background hiss is about the only real problem with the soundtrack.

    Despite the inherent limitations of a sixty odd year old mono soundtrack, the dialogue comes up quite well in the transfer and there are certainly no problems understanding what is being said. The audio sync seems to be pretty well spot on, with just the odd mild indication of a very slight ADR problem here and there.

    The score comes from Max Steiner, but of course everything musical about Casablanca almost begins and ends with that song. It is quite interesting to note that Max Steiner was dead set against the use of As Time Goes By but due to the nature of the beast in those days, ended up not just suffering a song he did not want but making it the core theme for the entire film. I would seriously doubt that the film would have survived as a classic without the score that Max Steiner composed. About the only problem with the score is that it does not really get its just deserts from the mono soundtrack.

    Since we are talking about the original mono soundtrack, it seems pointless to raise any complaints over it. After all, sixty years is a long time in the art of sound recording and the limitations of the day were doubly compounded by the fact that war time materiel issues would have just about been biting when the film was made. Sure it lacks a bit in the dynamic range but all things considered, there is really nothing to much complain about here.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    After the slightly lacking package afforded the original Region 4 release, this new 60th Anniversary Edition is much more palatable for a film of this stature.

Menu

    Featuring some reasonable audio and animation enhancement on the main menu on disc one (disc two just has audio), these are quite well done. The only real issue I have is that the audio level on disc two is way above that of the actual features - most annoying, especially as the sound is rather hissy at the high volume level.

Disc One:

Introduction - Lauren Bacall (2:05)

    With an obvious choice of person to host an introduction, this segues straight into the film if you select it from the main menu. It is presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, and features Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Nothing much wrong with it at all.

Audio Commentary - Roger Ebert (Film Critic)

    One of the doyens of film critics presents one of the most interesting audio commentaries that I have listened to. Almost of the style of a lecture whilst the film is playing, he draws your attention to a lot of stuff about the film that might escape your notice otherwise. He also fills in a chunk of background information about the film and staging. Whilst some of it may destroy the illusion that the film seeks to create, in the overall sense this is a very informative and engaging effort that fans of the film should really enjoy.

Audio Commentary - Rudy Behlmer (Film Historian)

    Presented in a similar lecture style with a bit more emphasis on the film itself, including the casting and a bit more from behind the scenes, this too is quite an informative effort. The only problem is that his presentation is a little drier and therefore just a little more wearying straight after the previous effort. Still, I would suspect that if this were to be listened to on its own rather than straight after the Roger Ebert effort, it would come over in a far better light. Certainly from an information point of view, he offers probably more than Roger Ebert does.

Trailer - The Adventures of Robin Hood (3:59)

    This is the good old Errol Flynn version from 1938, arguably the best of the Robin Hood films, which I was staggered to see was in full colour - I have only ever seen it in black and white and assumed that it was a black and white film! Aside from also being from the Warner Brothers stable, the connection to Casablanca is that the film was also directed by Michael Curtiz. Considering its age it is in pretty good nick and there is nothing really to complain about - a few obvious film artefacts notwithstanding. The sound is a little brittle but hardly surprising given the age of the source material.

Trailer - The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (2:42)

    Coming from 1948, the connection here is of course Humphrey Bogart. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, the sound is Dolby Digital 2.0. The trailer suffers somewhat from grain at times and has poorish contrast at times too. With a few film artefacts, this is probably no worse than expected for a trailer of its age.

Listing - Cast and Crew

    Just a one page listing? Where are the biographies of the stars? The filmographies of the main players? A sadly wasted opportunity and to a large extent a pointless waste of time and space.

Awards

    A listing of a few of the accolades the film has garnered, including three Oscars from 1943 (including the big one, Best Picture).

Theatrical Trailer (2:16)

    Want to know how bad the film could have looked? Just check out this rather aged looking original release trailer - very poor compared to the feature. Softish image overall with a few film artefacts floating around, matched to a rather muddy sounding soundtrack. It is presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, whilst that muddy sound comes to us courtesy of a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack (that really is nothing more than mono tricked into two channels).

Theatrical Trailer (2:52)

    Whilst this 50th Anniversary re-release trailer from 1992 is generally better in quality, it is still far from perfect and still not in the same league as the feature. It suffers somewhat from film artefacts, as well as some rather shockingly obvious telecine wobble in the credits. It is presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, and also features a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack (thankfully of somewhat better quality). This is a carryover from the original Region 4 release.

Disc Two:

Featurette - As Time Goes By: The Children Remember (6:47)

    Featuring interviews with Pia Lindstrom (Ingrid Bergman's daughter) and Stephen Bogart (Humphrey Bogart's son), this gives a rather different perspective on the film. Their different insights include some reminiscences derived from what their parents told them. The quality is excellent and the content different. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Deleted Scenes (1:41)

    Given that the film is well over sixty years old, it seems quite staggering that two deleted scenes, or additional scenes as they are referred to on the DVD, exist. Whilst the film exists however, the sound does not and so they are presented here in silent form with fixed subtitles derived from the shooting script used to provide the dialogue. The reason for deletion seem fairly obvious from what is offered here. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Considering the age and rarity, they are in pretty good nick.

Outtakes (5:00)

    Almost as unbelievable as the two deleted scenes is this little collection of eight outtakes from filming. Don't expect the sort of stuff you find on a Jackie Chan DVD, but in their own way they provide an interesting insight into how different the golden age of film was from today in this regard. You do have to watch quite closely to see some of the flubs, and dissolving into laughter was obviously not a part of making mistakes in those days. Also lacking sound, these do not have any subtitles either. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Not in quite as good a condition as the deleted scenes, with a few more film artefacts present, they nonetheless are still quite decent if a little grainy at times.

Audio-Only Tracks - Scoring Stage Sessions

    With no time encoding possible, I would guess that these eight tracks - six vocal tracks from Dooley Wilson with piano accompaniment and two instrumental tracks - run for about sixteen minutes or so. The actual tracks are:

    Featuring some obvious ingredients from Rice Bubbles, with the added pleasure of rather noticeable hiss on the instrumental tracks, the technical quality leaves a bit to be desired (though not unexpectedly so given the age of the source material). The tracks play over the menu listing, which is not the most imaginative way of presenting such material, and can be played individually or sequentially.

Featurette - Bacall On Bogart (83:37)

    A very welcome inclusion on the DVD since no one knew Humphrey Bogart better than his wife, Lauren Bacall. An interesting, personal account of his life mainly through the stage plays and films he made, complete with excerpts from more than a few of his films. Aside from the contribution from Lauren Bacall, we also get to hear from Alistair Cooke, Richard Brooks, John Huston, Katharine Hepburn, Peter Bogdanovich, Julius J. Epstein, Ingrid Bergman, Van Johnson and Budd Shulberg. A fascinating and interesting effort that was made in 1988. There are some audio sync problems with some of the film excerpts, most notably those for Casablanca, but not really annoyingly so. There are also plenty of film artefacts in the film excerpts. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Featurette - You Must Remember This: A Tribute To Casablanca (34:40)

    The other significant carryover from the earlier Region 4 release, this is another retrospective look at the film featuring interviews with some of the players involved in the gestation (Julius Epstein and Howard Koch for instance) all narrated by Lauren Bacall (of course). As Michael D mentioned in the original review, the quality is not up to what I would have expected for a 1992 production with some obvious colour problems compounding some very digital looking imagery. Once again the presentation is a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Notwithstanding the video problems, the featurette is informative and interesting.

Audio-Only Track - Screen Guild Theater Radio Show - 1943

    Featuring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid reprising their film roles in this rather revised adaptation, this above all demonstrates why the film itself is so great. You cannot see the way Bergman looks at Bogart and all the words in the world cannot replace that. Frankly, it is boring and a waste of time but others will likely disagree vociferously. Playing the whole thing over the menu really does not aid the situation at all - maybe if there were a few photographs of Ingrid Bergman to look at, things might have been improved.

Featurette - Television Adaptation - 1955: Who Holds Tomorrow (17:54)

    If the previous audio-only track was not the best, at least I can say it was better than this appalling adaptation. With the story modernised to bring it into the Cold War period, and horribly condensed, the whole thing ends up worse than a 1970's airline meal. Very, very bland and unpalatable. The highlight is perhaps the cigarette advertising included at the start of the show. The presentation is again in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. The sound is very poor with some patently obvious drop outs, especially at 2:50. The transfer also features plenty of mild aliasing.

Featurette - Cartoon Homage - 1995: Carrotblanca (8:04)

    If the previous featurette was the nadir of nadirs for the extras package, then this is almost the piece de resistance of the whole shebang! Whilst produced after the legends of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons could be involved, this is a very, very good spoof on the film. Tweetie doing Peter Lorre doing Ugarte is a scream - an obvious highlight. Whilst the video presentation is still the same as everywhere else, the sound is Dolby Digital 5.1 - although not much use is made of it. Whilst not classic Looney Tunes itself, it certainly is very clever stuff. Unfortunately the transfer suffers a little from aliasing and some obvious loss of resolution in camera movements (which made my eyes go real funny watching it).

Production Notes (12:32)

    Actually something of a misnomer in most respects, this self running programme features 94 individual images covering memos, behind the scenes photographs, posters, lobby cards and promotional photographs of some of the cast. Some of this stuff is very fascinating, but you will need to pause the playback to be able to read all the memos in their entirety - and it is well worthwhile doing so.

DVD-ROM Content

    Allows you to visit the Warner Brothers website where you can do the usual sort of pointless stuff that such websites offer. Latest DVDs takes you to a place where you can actually get more details about the DVD. Really, the whole thing is pointless (as usual for such stuff). Requires the loading of InterActual before you can do anything.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    From what I can determine from the reviews of the equivalent Region 1 release, the Region 4 release misses out an:

    Otherwise the differences are the usual soundtrack and subtitle options. Since the reviews indicate a very similar standard of video and audio transfer, there is little to choose between the two versions.

Summary

    Casablanca done properly. Just buy it. Did you need to get this far to work that out?

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris (Biological imperfection run amok)
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-1600, using S-Video output
DisplaySony Trinitron Wega (80cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationYamaha RXV-795
SpeakersEnergy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL

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