Rating: 
Summary: Top 3 For Sure!
Review: ... Some of the best and most quotable lines of all time. "I stick my neck out for no one" "...hill of beans" etc. And the singing of the French anthem over the nazis singing theirs never fails to put a lump in my throat. Keep in mind folks, the outcome of WW2 was still very much in doubt. Propaganda?...absolutely. But still one of the best ways to spend a couple of hours.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Transfer!
Review: The new digital transfer from the original nitrites is incredibly clear. The movie looks better than I have ever seen it. I haven't checked out the bonus material yet, but I screened the film as soon as I got it, and it looks awesome.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the first DVD
Review: Movie itself - it's still wonderful. But you knew that.New transfer - muuuch better. Less grain, little to no burns and or scratches, sound much better. To be honest, I was hoping for the same clarity as the rereleased and cleaned up "Sunset Blvd", but Casablanca is a much older film, so I will take what I can get. Extras - Haven't had a chance to listen to the commentaries tho the Ebert one scares me. The "Bacall on Bogart" featurette is cool and neat to see the few outtakes and deleted scenes. It is hard, however, to glean any new information about the actors and/or the making of the film after having read and/or seen all other documentaries and books (I have no idea of the validity, but "Round up the Usual Suspects" by Aljean Harmetz is an entertaining read) If you are a Casablanca fan and want the clearest copy of the film, then you need to add this to your collection. =)
Rating:
Summary: YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS as THEY PLAY IT AGAIN!
Review: What more can be said about "Casablanca"? I'm not even going to try. Instead I'm going to devote my review to the transfer quality and extras featured on this marvelous two disc set from Warner Brothers.
The film transfer has been upgraded from the previously issued disc, though in truth the latter wasn't too shabby looking either. However, this new DVD is flawless, exhibiting a gray scale, black and contrast levels that are absolutely bang on. A little edge enhancement crops up but nothing that will disappoint or distract you from enjoying Rick, Ilsa and the gang. The soundtrack has also been cleaned up and sounds crisp, vibrant and extremely well balanced.
EXTRAS: On disc one we get the feature (already discussed) plus the original trailer and the 1992 reissue, plus two distinct audio commentaries and an intro by Lauren Bacall that was recorded nearly a decade earlier. Disc Two features the previously available "You Must Remeber This", a documentary hosted by Lauren Bacall. Bacall also hosts a tribute to Bogie. There are outtakes and deleted scenes (fascinated) and two rarities; the Bugs Bunny spoof "Carrotblanca" and the pilot episode of "Casablanca" a television spin off from the mid-60's that never quite took off. There's also a stills gallery and some DVD-ROM junkets to explore.
The video quality of "You Must Remember This" is far better than as it appeared on the previously issued DVD. Edge enhancement and aliasing, which plagued the former, has almost been eliminated on this transfer. The rest of the suppliments have also been impeccably remastered.
BOTTOM LINE: I don't usually recommend buying up reissued discs because it's simply a studio's way of making more money on a title you already own. But in the case of this 2-disc set, I have to say that you will be making a great mistake if you don't junk your previous DVD and run out at this moment to snatch this one up. It represents the most definitive version of "Casablanca" ever presented for home entertainment. And "as time goes by", you'll want to "play it again." Trust me!
Rating: 
Summary: Good.
Review: A lot of people seem to consider this the "best movie ever", however, Kane it is not. Although I can't understand how anyone could possibly consider this the best, it is a good movie, upon which few improvements could be made. Compared to the best, this movie really isn't great, but compared to the stereotypical quality of a hollywood movie (in the 1940s or the 2000s), Casablanca really is a standout, especially in terms of execution, structure, and quality control and the cast are well suited to their roles. The biggest problem lay in the contents of the film. The movie maintains an emotional distance that even perceptibly cold films do not obtain - not once was there resonance in the characters or atmosphere, all the way to the thematically bittersweet but absurdly content resolution. Despite the potentially exploitable situations in the movie, you're left with that sense of contentment, neither the dialog nor most of the characters expressions reflect the emotions of the situation, not once was i brought to really consider the situation. This is both a good and a bad thing, while the viewer may remain constantly in safety, a movie of this sort is not at its best without a real sense of danger (not literal danger, but the sort of visceral danger that you find in comedy as well as drama), and therin is where Casablanca fails. So, Casablanca is a good movie marred less by studio hollywood's conventions (absurdly snappy dialogue, overly bombastic score, etc...) than its refusal to elicit any response from its audience. I'd say, rent this one, as you'll probably feel indifference at both its conclusion and the prospect of whether you'll watch it again or not.
Rating: 
Summary: If you love this film, don't buy this DVD.
Review: The Greatest American Film is destroyed by a choice of a critic who is chosen to do the commentary in this DVD set. How can they let Roger Ebert, which is considered the most stupid American critic nowadays, be a part of this masterpiece?
Rating:
Summary: Good movie
Review: This is the only moive I watched more than a dozen times
Rating: 
Summary: Best romance movie!
Review: The 5th best movie, next to 1st Godfather, Shawshank Redemption, 2nd G1odfather and Schindler's List! I'll give it 4.4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Do you need the DVD version if you already have VHS?
Review: I'm not about to waste your time, or mine, reviewing the "movie". If you've seen it, you KNOW it's one of the greatest movies of all time (many list it as Number 1). If you haven't seen it, then buy it. The real question for me, is it worth getting the DVD if you already have Casablanca on VHS? The answer, for me at least, is an unqualified yes. If you have a good crisp TV, with three comb filtering, such as a Sony Wega (I have a very good Sanyo), then there will be a much crisper and detailed picture. You can see it early on, particularly in the map of Europe and when Bogert signs a chit. Probably the BEST visual improvement of the VHS is the cloying and annoyingly overdone "soft focus" shots of Ingrid Bergman are not nearly so obvious or overdone in the DVD version. Why? I don't know, but perhaps the lack of crispness in the VHS causes the soft focus blur to be overly pronounced, like driving a car at night with an astigmatism which smears the headlights of oncoming cars. Additionally the dynamic range of the DVD is much more pronounced than the VHS and/or less compressed, so quietly spoken passages are much quieter and musical passages louder.
(This may NOT be a good thing, however, for the hard of hearing.<G>)
Rating:
Summary: "Welcome back to our side--this time I know we'll win"
Review: Paul Henried's last line to Humphrey Bogart points out that the great "Casablanca", lauded today as a romance, was in fact more importantly a propaganda movie. From our vantage point now in July 2003, it's all too easy sometimes to forget that the war was really raging when this movie was made, and that it was by no means certain that America would triumph ultimately against the forces of Nazi Germany. That reich had managed to conquer most of Europe--only England was able to fend off Hitler's machine. So that when Conrad Veidt's Nazi General Strasser asks Bogart's Rick how he'll feel when the Nazis walk into London, Rick's "I'll tell you when you get there" is a hopeful boast that England will continue to hold out. I try to enter into the mind of the times when I watch "Casablanca" to appreciate how the film was helping to allay the fears of its original audience. How awful to have lived during a time when the entire world was at war. Paul Henried's character in 1942 speaks in the future tense--"we'll win"; thank God we look back now and use the past--"we won". Of course, the romance of Rick and Ilse (Ingrid Bergman) is what everyone else is talking about. Probably this is a little anomalous, too, in the usual Hollywood movie--here it's the guy who got jilted, the guy who's crying into his whiskey, the guy who says hurtful, hurt-filled things. And the guy who must turn away love when it's his again. So Rick is a tragic hero for whom things aren't really turning out right. But he does grow in the movie. He learns that he must go on in his own development--before, he had sworn the piano player Sam never to play "As Time Goes By" again, but he has to get past those kind of self-imposed taboos, not only listening to the song again but taking an interest in humanity again. Bergman's Ilse is a more complicated character. She's torn between two men, her husband and her old lover. Other reviewers have said that "Casablanca" is a perfect film, but there is something that's a little off, and that's the relationship between Ilse and her husband, Resistance leader Victor Lazlo, played by Paul Henried. When they have scenes alone, he speaks of his love for her and she vows to stay by his side. It sounds like they've been through a lot together and are truly attached. However, their love is never shown as a romantic love; when he leaves her to go to a meeting of the Resistance in Casablanca, he kisses her on the cheek. Another time he kisses again, also on the cheek. Only Rick kisses her on the mouth passionately. I suppose this will make her look less like a two-timer to the audience, but it's a little too unrealistic to think that a husband will not kiss his beloved wife with any kind of ardor. I think this undercuts her dilemma of having to figure out which man to leave and which to cleave to. She should be truly romantically involved with both men, not merely "married" to Henried, but shown to be in an intimate relationship with him. Paul Henried is very likeable as Victor, but his character this way is constructed to be a hero without sufficient human roots. His greatest love capacity seems to be an altruistic one. Ilse's attraction to Rick is that with him, she's paramount while with Victor she places second to his love for the cause. In effect, what happens to Ilse is that she winds up being second with Rick too as he rekindles an interest in the cause himself. It would be interesting to explore what that would mean to her, that the war is robbing her of a fulfilling romantic love with both men. She could either become embittered or she could be ennobled herself, accepting that there is something bigger than herself that must take precedence. Rick "tells" her this at the airport, but it would be more effective if she knew it within herself as well. The film has her leave with her husband, but how will she really respond? These are plot considerations--what about everything else? Well, the acting in "Casablanca" is first rate all the way. I've always believed Warner Bros to have had the superior stable to MGM, and this movie proves that point admirably. It stands with "Adventures of Robin Hood" as having the best ensemble performance in Hollywood. Of course, appearing in both movies is one of my very favorite actors, Claude Rains. I just saw the movie last night on a pier in NYC, and his scenes consistently drew the most laughs and applause. In a way, he really runs away with the picture and was cheated out of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. It's the role of a lifetime, and he does all he can with it. Peter Lorre is wonderful in his early scenes with Bogart as the smarmy insecure Ugarte; he manages to convey his wish to impress Bogart with a lot of economy. Sidney Greenstreet is on target as the sensuous Fat Man. Smaller roles such as the wait staff and bar patrons are all well-executed. And Ingrid Bergman is simply luminous as Ilse. That scene in the Paris bar, when she brushes her hand against Bogart's cheek is pure movie magic--star quality all the way. Like just about everybody, I love "Casablanca" as one of Hollywood's very best achievements; I'm on their side, too, cheering all the way.
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