Casablanca (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray) [4K UHD]

I received this yesterday (the 4k release), and it is simply amazing. I love this movie and have watched it dozens of times, so I wondered if it was worth buying it again in 4k.Very definitely!!!It was like watching The Wizard of Oz in 4k after watching that movie almost every year for 60 years.It is truly like watching them for the first time. There is so much more in these movies than you've ever seen.I viewed the movie on a Samsung 65" S95B OLED TV, using a Sony - UBP-X800M2 4K Ultra HD Hi-Res Audio Blu-Ray Player, a Sony - 7.2-Ch. with Dolby Atmos 4K Ultra HD A/V Home Theater Receiver, 4 Klipsch - Reference Series Dual 6-1/2" 400-Watt Passive 2-Way Floor Speaker and a Panasonic center speaker. The room where this equipment is set up is small with excellent acoustics.These classic films definitely benefit from 4k, and it is a pity that more from this era have not been released. The filmmakers went to great lengths to create realism in dressing the sets, which can now be fully seen and appreciated. The use of extras was seemingly boundless. The result in Casablanca is an amazing realism. I have been to Morocco, and was amazed at how real the street scenes in the movie seemed. I forgot I was watching a movie.Although I've loved this movie, it increasingly seemed 2 dimensional and a bit like a comic book.This 4k version gives the movie its full force and power. This is a dark, brooding movie of people trapped in a strange place during war, subject to cynical evil forces. It now comes across as one of the first of the film noir genre.Rather than being cartoonish, as it can appear in earlier copies after multiple viewings, the movie now comes across as quite serious drama. It is quite powerful and at times disturbing. The depth of the fine performances is for the first time revealed. There is far more than the dialog that was all we previously got. For example, you can hear them sigh as they are exasperated with the frustration of their seemingly hopeless situation as refugees.The eye movements of the actors are now shown, revealing the depth of their acting and the full immersion in their roles. In addition, we now see that the actors in the background, who are not involved in dialog, nonetheless react to those who are.All of this reveals a richness in the performances .With the improved audio and good equipment, lines are heard for the first time that actors muttered or said under their breath with a sigh.The end result was that though I thought I knew this movie by heart, I had no idea how much more was there.I highly recommend that this movie be purchased along with the best possible viewing and sound equipment. It is worth every penny. It is probably a better viewing and sound experience than even when the film was first shown in a theater with a dim image and distant speakers behind the screen. I.e., better than ever.A message to the studios. These movies from the 1930-1950s were the finest ever made. They were about writing and acting, a seemingly lost art in the age of special effects and comic book characters.You should be proud of them. Instead, you are slighting them by not releasing them in 4k. Please restore and release more of the amazing movies from that era. Please. Do it because it's the right thing and to honor the legacy you are now the custodian of.I am sure I speak for others in asking for 4k releases of Gone With The Wind, Notorious, North by Northwest, All About Eve, Now Voyager!, The Grapes of Wrath, Yankee Doodle Dandy and How The West Was Won, among others.

Cannot be argued or even debated. The best movie ever made.I wish I could get a brain wipe and forget everything I know about this wonderful film so I could see it for the first time again. Occasionally, I'll get to watch it with someone that's never seen Casablanca. They're always impressed. I've seen Casablanca in movie theaters about a dozen times. But I still like watching it on an HD television. A masterpiece film. The picture and sound are flawless on the Blu-ray. Indistinguishable from state-of-the-art.

This classic love story for the ages still shines bright on this 4k HDR10 disc. From the outstanding picture remastering where every detail in Rick's nightclub pops like your there, to every detail of clothing, to the achingly detailed teared up eyes of Ingrid Bergman to the stunning clarity of the 2-channel mono DTS-HD soundtrack it would be hard to imagine a better version of this wonderful film. The heavily, greyed out foggy airport scene at the end is now so much clearer and beautifully rendered with no noise and great shadow detail. There are great special features ported over on the included Blu-ray as well as feature length commentaries by Roger Ebert and Rudy Behlmer on the 4k disc. I could go on and on. The main thing is run don't walk to grab this great disc. A true must have for any movie lover's collection!

I originally watched Casablanca many years ago when I took Film Lecture as a course in college (when I was a teenager). I had not understood the complexity of the story and the sacrifice that Rick and Elsa were each making for a cause greater than either of them. It was well worth watching again with the experiences and mindset of an adult.

What else to say, other than this being one of the best films of all time. The picture quality and 4k master of the film is stunning, as is the sound. It looks fantastic. A must have for a cinephile.

As Time Goes By, Casablanca remains a timeless example of serendipitous movie-making, where every part of the craft falls into place like it was meticulously planned. Of course, it wasn't; often the exemplary cast received their script for the day's shoot just minutes before Michael Curtiz called "Action!" That, and being shot out-of-sequence, as most movies are, the actors often had no clue what was going on or how it would all fit together. Yet, the action is carried forward by the witty and often humorous dialogue and Curtiz's crisp direction (he was an action director after all) that we, the audience, unlike some of the characters, are never "waiting, waiting, waiting, in this Casablanca," but are carried along as if an invisible witness to era now past, and to those whose courage made a positive difference to a world falling into flame. Casablanca is a testimony to the best of those of that time and calls forth from our hearts the desire, that we, too, when the time comes, may stand fast and honor those who have gone before us.