I just found out that the color is really bad in the movie. No Sale for me!

Hey Groucho,

The movie was filmed in full frame only. It wasn't until television came along and used the same aspect ratio that the movie industry developed the widescreen ratio that we know and love today.

As for the DVD itself, I just went through everything except for the Bacall on Bogart and the non-Ebert commentary and here are my thoughts.

Video: Absolutely stunning. I cannot believe that this movie was made 60 years ago. It looks like it was filmed last week. I kept looking for artifacts and the like and I couldn't find any. 10/10

Audio: As far as I know, the audio is mono only. Fine by me as it sounded terrific. I didn't have any problems catching the dialogue. 10/10

Extras: The Ebert commentary is just as good as his Citizen Kane and Dark City ones. Entertaining to listen to. I do find it interesting that some of what he says contradicts what he writes in his Great Movies essay on his website and what Bogie and Bergman's kids say in another featurette.

The theatrical trailer and re-release trailer are cheesy, sure, but that is what all trailers were like then.

The outtakes and additional scenes were interesting to watch. Frustrating without audio, subtitles can only help so much.

Carrotblanca was hilarious. I forgot how much of Casablanca it lampoons and parodies. I wonder if this will be on the Looney Tunes shorts set in a few months.

Watching and listening to the radio show and television episode was fine but both lacked the magic of the original. I agree with Lauren Bacall in that Carrotblanca is the only homage that works.

It was interesting listening to the alternate takes of the music.

It was frustrating watching the production gallery notebook because it is self propelled. It goes by too fast for me to read everything.

The most pleasant surprise was getting the trailers for Yankee Doodle Dandy, Treasure of Sierra Madre, and Adventures of Robin Hood.

All in all, a 2-Disc set worth of inclusion in anyone's collection. Recommended as a must buy whether or not you've seen the film.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Just picked it up. The transfer is amazing - I compared it to the last release, and it's far cleaner, virtually free of blemishes. (Does anyone know whether this is due to using a superior source, or digital scrubbing?)

Haven't listened to the Ebert commentary yet - instead I listened to Rudy Behlmer's. It's a typical Behlmer commentary, a non-stop barrage of vintage facts and stories ... the highlight being Behlmer bursting out in song to illustrate Max Steiner's orchestration of "As Time Goes By." I'd wager he sings much better than Ebert.

The outtakes/deleted scenes are interesting, but there's nothing there that's going to radically change your view of the picture.

The special features are nothing really amazing, but it's such an improvement in picture quality that I don't mind the double dip in the slightest.

That whooshing sound is the humor flying over your head.

zeke,

thanks for the 'min'review. i am anxioulsly awaiting my copy from CH.

Picked it up today and this is my favorite Warner Two disc set since Citizen Kane. Both of the Commentary tracks were excellent. They couldn't have picked two better people to do them. The extra scenes and outtakes I really didn't think were that big of a deal, but everything else was amazing. Glad to see a classic movie get this kind of treatment.

I guess I'm the only one who's never seen Casablanca.

OK, here is why Casablanca won the Best Picture of 1943, when it premiered in 1942:

The Allies invaded Casablanca in real life on 8 November 1942. As the film was not due for release until spring, studio executives suggested it be changed to incorporate the invasion. Warner objected: an invasion was a subject worth a whole film, not just an epilogue, and anyway the main story of this film demanded a pre-invasion setting. Apparently he then gave in and Wallis prepared to shoot an epilogue where Bogart and Rains hear about the invasion. But before Rains could travel to the studio for this, David O. Selznick (whose studio owned Bergman's contract) previewed the film and urged Warner to release it unaltered and as fast as possible. Warner now agreed and it premiered in New York on November 26. The film did not play in Los Angeles until its general release the following January, and hence competed against 1943 films for the Oscars.

This is from the IMDB's trivia section for Casablanca.

The trailers for the upcoming Adventures of Robin Hood, Treasure of Sierra Madre, and Yankee Doodle Dandy have been restored and look mighty fine. It makes waiting for September 30 even harder.

Its great to see Warner making the effort to restore even the trailers of these classic films. Most companies have not bothered to restore trailers and they look pretty bad on DVD . It Happened One Night comes to mind.

I don't know, Siskel & Ebert sang when they guest starred on The Critic and sounded pretty good.

"The way he said 'Thumbs Up'... The way he said 'Thumbs down'..."

I guess I should have read Groucho's WHOLE post before I reply.

Doh!

NO, watch it now! Make the kids watch it too! Help prevent a generation that thinks "Dude, Where's My Car" is the height of cinematic excellence!

You mean it's not???

Hehehe, don't worry, this is one 22 year old who just got his Casablanca DVD ysterday and needless to say, I can't wait to break it in.

Although I do enjoy Dude, Where's My Car too?

"Dude! Sweet!"

I picked up the new Casablanca the other day, but haven't watched it yet. Glad to hear that everybody says it's such a great treatment of a classic.

Great treatment, much better image than the original release, very nice extras. However, did anyone notice a brief but obvious audio dropout in the scene where Karl and Victor come back to Rick's and Rick is watching from the second story?

Just spent the better part of the day going through this. Great edition. If you haven't picked it up yet, get off your duffs and do so right away.

I picked it up on release day and I still need to get to it. But, it's on the list I have of DVDs to watch. I think the list is down to around 50.... (sigh)