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Ghost Canyon

Casablanca: 4K UHD
(Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, et al / 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital / PG / (1942) 2022 / Warner Bros.)

Overview: Casablanca: easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you’re wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), whose only hope is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a cynical American who sticks his neck out for no one - especially Victor’s wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart.

Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo’s transport out of the country and bitter Rick must decide what counts more – personal happiness or countless lives hanging in the balance.

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Verdict: Warner Bros. is expanding their 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray catalog offerings this month with the release of the always-beloved Casablanca (80th Anniversary Edition) in the expansive 4K Ultra HD video format this November 8th, 2022.

For my money, this Casablanca [4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital] combo pack sharpness takes a fairly large step forward from others in their 4K Ultra HD catalog and even comes with HDR (High Dynamic Range) for the complete 4K Ultra HD experience, of course.

So, what we have is Casablanca presented to us as a two-disc combo pack with a sheet for a Digital HD Copy. Other stand out points you should know are: Codec: HEVC / H.265, Resolution: Native 4K (2160p), HDR: HDR10 Aspect ratio: 1.37:1, and Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1.

Featuring Dolby Vision and HDR10 for brighter, deeper, and way more lifelike colors, as with most all 4K UHDs, everything that we watch features these qualities - but somehow, this film gloriously shines within them all.

Noticeably crisp with the overall clarity receiving an obvious boost here on this release, what is more is that it is enjoyably noticeable.

For as well as some new nuances to the somewhat drab palette courtesy of Dolby Vision we also get to witness sudden bright pops of, well, I would say color, but here it is more like a brighter white; such as the excellent I Still Love You scene, where Bogart is being told that if he doesn’t help them, they could both die in Casablanca, and he retorts, What of it. I’m gonna die in Casablanca. It’s a good spot for it!

Indeed, the picture enjoys the fruits of the added resolution in terms of bringing out the aforementioned extremely fine facial and some of the faded, murky white-graded material. Such as the now infamous Here’s Looking At You, Kid scene, where the pair pull up at a fog-laden airport. But now that fog has, for want of a better term, lifted in his density and the picture is brought to us all that more sharper due to this wondrous 4K transfer.

As for the audio, well we have a veritable mini smorgasbord of choice here: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit), French: Dolby Digital Mono, Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono and Italian: Dolby Digital Mono.

Overall, this is a very strong 4K HDR Blu-ray presentation, and, for the most part, the audio track remains fairly similar to its DTS-HD counterpart; with much of the action occupying the surrounds with outstanding directionality and placement where effects flawlessly pan between the sides and rears.

As for the movie itself, well, there is no term to describe this other than classic, but not the type of classic that a film like THE WIZARD OF OZ or GONE WITH THE WIND are. That is because when this film was being made, it was just another assembly line production from it’s studio (Warner).

When you see it today, the cast appears so great that you would think it was something special, but this supporting cast, great as it is, worked together often. But what this has in common with the WIZARD is a great script.

The writers of CASABLANCA came up with a script that tops all other films in classic moments of quotes that have become a part of Americana. So many quotes from this film are used in other films and media that they have become cliché almost. Even miss-quotes like Play It Again, Sam from this film have become American folk-lore.

Round up the Usual Suspects has become it’s own film later along with You & Me, Kid and the list goes on and on. Other than the Great Oz, these quotes just flow from this film to 100’s of other works since this film was made.

What makes this film really special is the unfulfilled love between Bogart and Bergman’s character that is left hanging at the end. In an era, where love always had to have a happy ending, this movie gloriously leaves us with people in love who are forced away from each other by circumstances beyond either of their control.

This theme is closer to real life than most Hollywood products of any era. Almost everybody can identify with it because haven’t we all had a love in our life who we yearned for very much, but due to circumstances beyond us, we never had a chance to fulfill? That is too me what makes this film stand above all others.

This is a film that has action, but not much of it. This film has comedy, but only enough to make the film great. It has subtle patriotic themes that carry the film along. Most importantly, this film has the heart of every viewer who ever watches it because the film, by accident, touches themes that many films aspire to reach, but never achieve.

Ironically, this all happened by the greatest of chance and rarely has any movie ever come close to what this film is. If I were a filmmaker, actor, or had a career in this industry, this would be the film I wish I had worked on. Nothing gets better than this one.

Casablanca: 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray disc and Digital contain the following previously released special features:
1. Commentary by Roger Ebert
2. Commentary by Rudy Behlmer
3. Introduction by Lauren Bacall

Casablanca: Blu-ray disc and Digital contain the following previously released special features:
4. Warner Night at the Movies
1. Now, Voyager trailer
2. Newsreel
3. Vaudeville Days (1942 WB short)
4. The Bird Came C.O.D. (1942 WB cartoon)
5. The Squawkin’ Hawk (1942 WB cartoon)
6. The Dover Boys at Pimento University (1942 WB cartoon)
5. Great Performances: Bacall on Bogart (1988 PBS special)
6. Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You’ve Never Heard Of
7. Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic
8. You Must Remember This: A Tribute to Casablanca (1992 TEC documentary)
9. As Time Goes By: The Children Remember
10. Deleted Scenes
11. Outtakes
12. Who Holds Tomorrow? (1955 “Casablanca” TV episode)
13. Carrotblanca (1955 WB Cartoon)
14. Scoring Stage Sessions (audio only)
15. Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater Radio Broadcast – 4/26/43 (audio only)
16. Vox Pop Radio Broadcast – 11/19/47 (audio only)
17. Trailers

The winner of three Academy Awards® including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, Casablanca was directed by Michael Curtiz (Captain Blood, Mildred Pierce, White Christmas) from a screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch. The screenplay is based on “Everybody Comes to Rick’s”, an unproduced stage play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. The film was produced by Hal B. Wallis (The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Maltese Falcon, True Grit).

The cast also features Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Dooley Wilson.

Casablanca was voted the screen’s greatest love story and the #3 film of all time by the American Film Institute (AFI). The classic wartime romance also took Oscars® for Michael Curtiz (Directing); Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch (Writing - Screenplay) and the studio (Outstanding Motion Picture).

In 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected the film as one of the first for preservation in the National Film Registry for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

The new Casablanca 4K Ultra High-Definition image was restored and remastered from a 2022 4K 16bit film scan of the best-surviving nitrate film elements. The 4K-scanned digital images went through an extensive digital restoration process to clean and repair the picture for an unprecedented and pristine ultra-high-resolution presentation.

The restored images were then graded in High Dynamic Range for today’s premium 4K display experience, providing the highest fidelity in image contrast and detail retention. This work was meticulously handled by Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging. The original theatrical mono audio has also been newly restored as well, providing a richer and broader frequency response than previously possible.

Ultra HD* showcases 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and a wider color spectrum, offering consumers brighter, deeper, more lifelike colors for a home entertainment viewing experience like never before.

Casablanca will be available on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack for $24.99 ERP and includes an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc with the feature film in 4K with HDR and a Digital download of the film. Fans can also own Casablanca in 4K Ultra HD via purchase from select digital retailers beginning on 11/8/22.

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