Celebrating the 80th anniversary of its 1942 release, the legendary Warner Bros. film Casablanca will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on November 8, it was announced today by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Starring Academy Award winners Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, critic Leonard Maltin calls Casablanca “the best Hollywood movie of all time.”
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.
About the Film:
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.
Casablanca Ultra HD Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray disc and Digital contain the following previously released special features:
- Commentary by Roger Ebert
- Commentary by Rudy Behlmer
- Introduction by Lauren Bacall
Casablanca Blu-ray disc and Digital contain the following previously released special features:
- Warner Night at the Movies
- Now, Voyager trailer
- Newsreel
- Vaudeville Days (1942 WB short)
- The Bird Came C.O.D. (1942 WB cartoon)
- The Squawkin’ Hawk (1942 WB cartoon)
- The Dover Boys at Pimento University (1942 WB cartoon)
- Great Performances: Bacall on Bogart (1988 PBS special)
- Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You’ve Never Heard Of
- Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic
- You Must Remember This: A Tribute to Casablanca (1992 TEC documentary)
- As Time Goes By: The Children Remember
- Deleted Scenes
- Outtakes
- Who Holds Tomorrow? (1955 “Casablanca” TV episode)
- Carrotblanca (1955 WB Cartoon)
- Scoring Stage Sessions (audio only)
- Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater Radio Broadcast – 4/26/43 (audio only)
- Vox Pop Radio Broadcast – 11/19/47 (audio only)
- Trailers
