Casablanca (Special Edition) (DVD)

...Running a bar in Casablanca is Rick, an American who left his home in mysterious circumstances and who has, apparently, spent the intervening years as an adventurer in Europe. His bar, named "Cafe Rick", is the centre of night life in the town, and anyone wanting to make a deal comes there eventually. On this particular night, German SS officers arrive in an attempt to recover stolen transit papers which would enable anyone holding them ...
...Resistence leader. Rick (played by Humphrey Bogart' is surprised when the Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) arrives at his bar in search of the documents, accompanied by his wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) - whom Rick had last seen as the Germans invaded Paris...
The film goes on to explore the relationship between Rick and Ilsa, and how Rick (who is in posession of the transit documents) deals with his mixed emotions at seeing Ilsa ... more

For ages, I owned a VHS of "Casablanca" and enjoyed digging it out every so often to watch when there was nothing better to do. The tape was of a perfectly acceptable quality, so when I finally got a DVD player, I resisted the urge to replace it with the DVD version and, instead, concentrated on getting films I didn't already have.
However, recently I found the 2 disc special edition online for £6.99 and thought it a 'must buy'. And I was right.
First, the contents of the set (note: this isn't the box set with additional items, this is the version in a normal plastic case)
On disc 1 is the film itself, in a Digitally re-mastered form; 2 commentaries, one by US film critic Roger Ebert, the other by film historian Rudy Behlmer; an introduction by Lauren Bacall (Humprey Bogart's widow) and two trailers. The second disc contains two documentaries, one about the film (and which was on the aforementioned VHS - though now I don't have to fastForward the tape to watch it!) and one about Bogart - both presented by Lauren Bacall; a short interview with the son of Bogart and the daughter of Ingrid Bergman; a "Looney Tunes" cartoon 'inspired' by the film; an episode of a US TV series based on the film (complete with sponsors announcements!), some out-takes and deleted scenes (without sound); audio extras include the Screen Guild Players radio version (featuring the three stars) and some out-takes and alternate version of songs from the film performed by Dooley Wilson ("Sam"); plus production stills and more.
The film, in case you are one of the very few who have never heard of it, is set in the North African town of Casablanca, which is the last step on the long refugee route out of German Occupied Europe; refugees gathered their, trying to make their way to Neutral Portugal and thus (hopefully) to America. Running a bar in Casablanca is Rick, an American who left his home in mysterious circumstances and who has, apparently, spent the intervening years as an adventurer in Europe. His bar, named "Cafe Rick", is the centre of night life in the town, and anyone wanting to make a deal comes there eventually. On this particular night, German SS officers arrive in an attempt to recover stolen transit papers which would enable anyone holding them to escape to freedom, and also to capture an escaped Resistence leader. Rick (played by Humphrey Bogart' is surprised when the Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) arrives at his bar in search of the documents, accompanied by his wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) - whom Rick had last seen as the Germans invaded Paris...
The film goes on to explore the relationship between Rick and Ilsa, and how Rick (who is in posession of the transit documents) deals with his mixed emotions at seeing Ilsa again.
The supporting cast is uniformly excellent, from Peter Lorre as the weasly "Ugarte", to Sydney Greenstreet as the rival bar owner Signor Ferrari and Claude Rains as the French Police Captain Renault, probably Rick's closest friend after Sam (played by Dooley Wilson) the piano player at Rick's cafe.
All the famous scenes are here, as are all the mis-quoted lines (Rick never says "Play it again, Sam"!) and the, by now, classic "As Time Goes By" threads it's way throughout the entire soundtrack, highlighing moments of emotion along the way.

I can't say anything about the commentaries I'm afraid as I haven't listened to them yet; however, knowing the people involved, I'm sure they are informative about the film!

The picture quality of the digital transfer is fantastic! I watched the film on a 21" CRT and the images in this 60+ year old Black & White film were pin sharp, movement was smooth and everything was clearly defined. This is how classic films should be seen (if they cannot be seen on a big screen of course!) and is everything a DVD should be as well. The sound (mono) is clear enough to get the most out of the dialogue and the music.
The menus are easy to navigate, and nicely set out.

The bonus features on Disc 2 are well worth watching; the first "You Must Remember This" recounts the story of how the film came to be and gives a fascinating insight into what the film could have been - Ronald Regan was originally considered for the role of "Rick"! Many of the surviving writers and casting people are heard in this documentary and there are some wonderful looks at how the writers got round various problems during the shooting.
The second documentary, "Bacall on Bogart" is an enjoyable look at the life of Humphrey Bogart, as seen by his wife Lauren Bacall. Again, clips abound (including some early movie appearences by Bogart!) and, although this isn't a "Warts and all" documentary, it is informative and with a great deal of respect to it's subject.

The film out-takes are bereft of sound, and this limits to a degree the interest - though there are subtitles, taken from the production script, that give a hint of what the scene might have been like originally; they are of interest but not something you'll neccessarily want to watch over and over again!

I've barely begun to explore the production stills, script pages and more that lurk in the gallery section, but I have watched both the "Looney Tunes" cartoon (fun, and respectful in it parodying!) and the TV episode (which jumps a good bit between scenes - I'm assuming because advert breaks were cut out, but the leaps between section of the story is jarringly obvious); the radio adaptiation I've heard elsewhere, and is a reasonable abridgement of the story (though it does lose something without the visual element)

Unfortunately, shortly after watching the DVD's the first time, my TV died; however, when I get a replacement, I'll be watching it again and will add to this review when I have done so, with further comments on the commentaries and stills galleries.

To conclude, if you've hesitated about getting this classic film, hesitate no more! The Special Edition is WELL worth the money, especially given the price you can pick it up for if you shop around! "Casablanca" is a film that should be in every collection - if only as a reminder of what a classic Black and White movie was like. 

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