The way the personal and the political ultimately dovetail, compelling characters to make the most difficult of decisions for the greater good, cements Casablanca as one of the greatest films of all time.

It’s sometimes been said that the music of Casablanca is almost a character in the film in itself, and there’s a great deal of merit in that suggestion. So many of the film’s greatest moments seem inseparable from the music. As you play them over in your mind’s eye, the music is automatically there too; much of Casablanca seems inconceivable without it. First things first today: The Criterion Collection has just announced their April Blu-ray and 4K release slate and—as always—it’s another great list of titles. Invariably, the largest base-level improvements are overall fine detail (mostly a result of better disc compression and grain handling, explained There’s not a movie in history that has as many memorable quotes that have become as ingratiated into Pop Culture as those found in Casablanca. Winner of three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Director, the film has gone onto countless accolades aside from those bestowed by “The Academy… It’s almost instantly recognizable as perhaps the most popular movie ever made and it’s hard to imagine that the film stayed in Warner’s vaults because they didn’t know if the movie would work. Granted, the film did come out at the perfect time, just when World War II was beginning (for the United States), but it’s proven time and again that it has all the right elements that will likely last for years to come. Perhaps one of the best reasons the film works on so many levels is that it has a bit of everything. A movie like Citizen Kane, arguably the “greatest.. film ever made, works on as many levels too, but Casablanca has elements of drama, romance (naturally), action and even a bit of humor. As Roger Ebert states in his commentary, there’s never really been a negative review of the film, it’s truly the one movie that appeals to most every person, regardless of age, race or gender. The result of Casablanca's restoration is nothing short of dazzling. For the colorist, working on a restoration is not only about preserving a film's legacy, it also provides a unique opportunity for younger generations to experience these classic films for the first time. "My hope is that somebody younger is going to watch a movie for the first time and it still touches them, and it is still relevant," she says. "They don't want to watch it if it's unrestored."

4. The scenes and lines have passed into history

Eisenberg is no stranger to the responsibility of restoring the "fine china," as she lovingly refers to it, having previously worked on Oscar-winning films such as Carol Reed's Oliver! (1968), Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982), as well as modern classics like Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993) and Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995). But the condition of a film's original elements can vary, providing added challenges to the restoration process. 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. presentation may not be as immediately noticeable depending on your setup's maximum brightness level and native contrast, on a good-quality (and It also turns the night-club into a microcosm for the war, with it multinational clientele and the competing strands of partisanship, neutrality, aggression and political commitment.

Want GUARANTEED SUCCESS? Remove these ten words from your vocabulary| Transform your life INSTANTLYI have to say that it’s a shame that not many people turned up for this superb film during last night’s screening, sadly there were only four of us, but hey that’s fewer people to munch on noisy popcorn or slurp loudly with drinks. I have to say that couple that was in the screen with us last night was lovely to chat with before and after the film and they certainly seemed like fellow classic film fans. To a degree evident in few other dramatic films, the music of Casablanca has taken on a life of its own. The signature tune—“As Time Goes By” (originally written by one Herman Hupfeld for a now-forgotten 1931 Broadway show)—immediately evokes images of this film, as does one of its iconic lines of dialogue—“Play it, Sam.” However, the use of “As Time Goes By” almost didn’t happen, for Max Steiner (who wrote the score for Casablanca) didn’t particularly like the song. 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).

Few could embody the craggy and the taciturn quite like Bogey. By the time Casablanca was released, Bogart had established a reputation for taciturn, hard-nosed individuals via his portrayal of private eye Philip Marlowe in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Warner Night at the Movies - A series of authentic pre-show historical pieces to set the proper mood, with a helpful "Play Plot: What’s it about? Video: How does it look? Audio: How does it sound? Supplements: What are the extras? The Bottom Line Plot: What’s it about? If you are a fan of classic movies and Casablanca (80th Anniversary) is showing at a cinema near you, then go see it, this is how a film like this should be seen to appreciate a well-made movie that is certainly a joy to watch from start to finish.We’re taking it a little easy here at The Bits this week, especially in this stretch between the holidays, so that our whole team can relax, unwind, and focus on family and whatnot. But we do have a good post today with release news, a new disc review, and a bit of a look ahead at a few new 4K UHD catalog titles that we expect to arrive sometime in the new year. As always, let’s start with the review first... For Sheri Eisenberg, Senior Colorist at Warner Bros. Digital Imaging, her latest restoration is not only a personal favorite, but one that is widely considered to be one the greatest films ever made: Casablanca, which received eight Oscar nominations and won three Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay). Though Michael Curtiz's romantic drama was released in 1942, Casablanca's career-defining performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and oft-quoted lines ("Here’s looking at you, kid.") remain as timeless as ever. With the wider color gamut, previously unseen aspects of the film are now revealed. For a restoration like this, that can be both a blessing and a curse, revealing dated visual effects due to the technical limitations of the period — limitations that audiences would not have necessarily noticed at the time. It’s hard to imagine today the emotional impact Casablanca must have had on audiences in 1942, debuting as it did only a year after America’s entrance into World War II. Yet despite the film’s many obvious merits, it was only with Bogart’s death in 1957 that Casablanca came to be recognized as the classic it is. (The Bogart cult that surfaced on American college campuses in the late 1950s and early ‘60s seems to have provided the impetus for the film’s rediscovery and reassessment.) In the decades since, however, Casablanca’s ranking at or near the top of various “Best Films” lists has continued unabated. So it’s nice to see that historians and critics alike have finally caught up with what true film enthusiasts have known all along! source, the best-remaining element -- and the one primarily used for both masters -- is a nitrate fine grain master positive created in 1942 and

As mentioned earlier, the new 4K master created for this 80th Anniversary Edition differs from the 4K master used for Warner Bros.' 70th Despite having directed one of the most famous American movies in the history of Cinema, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone (aside from those who take movies Very Seriously, anyway) who knows of Michael Curtiz . Like most of the actors in ‘Casablanca’, Curtiz was a European immigrant (Hungarian, to be more specific), who had come to work in Hollywood prior to the start of World War II. In the ‘30s and ‘40s, Curtiz would prove himself to be something of a chameleon, directing dramas, musicals, and action pictures — seemingly without fuss; while he directed many movies before and after ‘Casablanca’, it’s this particular movie that would stand as his crowning achievement. The Warner press release states, "The new Casablanca4K 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 image 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..."From the instant the main titles roll, the boost in clarity and contrast is evident, and the elevated quality continues through the superimposed images and topographical map that comprise the prologue, the furor in the streets as the usual suspects are rounded up, and on through the rest of the film. Newcomer to Casablanca? Seen it dozens of times before? This one's for all of you. Here are five very good reasons why you can't miss the movie at Cineworld.improvement all around and, considering the previous Blu-ray scored perfect marks (which I've adjusted accordingly, since time goes by), it The cast of ‘Casablanca’ is immediately striking for three reasons: the star power of the leads, the synergy of the supporting players, and the fact that most of these actors are not American.