Casablanca
(HD-DVD)
Picture:
B+ Sound: C+ Extras: B+ Film: B+
Just as
The U.S. was about to join the fight against the Axis Powers in World War II
whether this was realized at the time or not, Michael Curtiz had directed a
film so profound in its timing that it has become one of the quintessentially
defining classic of Classical Hollywood Cinema and American culture ever
since. Casablanca (1942) starts with the somewhat mysterious figure of
Rick (Humphrey Bogart) running his own club in a land far away from his home of
The United States. He has built a sort
of utopia where he sets the rules, bends them and is the all-powerful
proprietor of the place that bares his name.
He is in
it for the money, seems to enjoy the power and is also practicing (very
important) his own isolationism. It is
of his soul, but is highly symbolic of American policy prior to WWII. Suddenly, the one thing that he never
expected to happen happens. His old love
Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) turns up, now married en route though the country and
Rick’s Place. This racks Rick, who
suddenly finds he has not built the protective wall around him he thought he
did. Then it gets worse when his
American guests are joined by Nazi guests, whose dueling songs moment is one of
the most profound in all of cinema history.
Then it gets deeper.
It turns
out Ilsa’s husband Victor (Paul Henreid) is part of the Resistance against the
Nazis and even with Ilsa, Rick could care less and intends to stay
neutral. However, with the situation
becoming darker and grimmer, how much longer can Rick just stand aside while
his world and the world is about to tear open into madness?
Because
the Julius J. Epstein/Philip G. Epstein/Howard Koch screenplay has become so
referenced, quoted, spoofed, imitated, ripped-off, celebrated and replayed that
it is easy even if one loves the film to forget how powerful and profound the film
really is when you put all that aside.
It is a bold, amazing statement against fascism that has resonated
loudly ever since and dared to speak of a better world and life in the face of
the ugly, original, classical rise of totalitarianism when the outcome was far
from know; the sacrifice more of a nightmare than anyone knew at the time.
Of
course, the film is also a great romance and since the 1980s, there has been
this bizarre, sick and idiotic revision that it is only that. Unless you leave your brain at the door or
write off the politics as “old” or “dated” because WWII is over, there is no
way to miss the rest of the film. Unlike
the way the romances of Gone With The
Wind or even some of Dr. Zhivago
push the history to the background, the politics are more explicit here, but
denial is a powerful thing.
Of
course, with a supporting cast also all in peak form including Claude Rains,
Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre as one of the great such casts
in film history, you have talents bringing the film to life in a way few sound
films had ever managed to before.
Besides being a triumph of the studio system, it proves once again why
Curtiz was one of the best directors of his time (and even all time) and Warner
was always one of the great major studios.
Of
course, the actors were big stars and the talent and character they could put
into their character has rarely been seen.
It is funny, but if you try to assemble all the set pieces of Rick’s
club, they would never cohere into a real actual building. Though al the designs are terrific, the viewer
lands up creating their own version of the place in their mind, which is part
of the point. The great motion pictures
take you where you have never been before or are going to ever be able to go to
again. That is why people want to see
this film over and over again. It cannot
be duplicated, matched and there will never be another film quite like it. That is why it is a classic and the rarer
kind that is made with smart, mature adults in mind. Its arrival on HD-DVD means the disc has an
incredible legacy to live up to.
Early on,
there was an impressive transfer of the film in the 12” LaserDisc format of
this classic from The Criterion Collection, especially in their elaborate box
set. MGM/UA Home Video eventually did
their own box in the same format for the 50th Anniversary in 1995,
with a newer print and transfer. The new
version had some detail advantages, but the Criterion looked more film-like
with a deeper sense of Video Black and richer look in general. All the way to the most recent DVD edition,
the definition kept getting slowly better, but that rich Video Black look
(which was not the film a generation down it should not be) was never improved
much. So what do we get with the 1080p 1.33
X 1/4 X 3 digital High Definition release of the film?
Simple,
better definition than all the previous DVDs and the jump in definition finally
gives us Video Black that surpasses what Criterion achieved, except it is
deeper like real black & white should be and even more film-like with its
combination of the best Video Black and detail we will see for a long time in
this film next to a good 35mm print.
Cinematographer Arthur Edeson was from the early years of the silent
era, shot the 70mm version of The Big
Trail, original 1931 Frankenstein,
1933 Invisible Man and then some
classic Bogart films. That also includes
The Maltese Falcon. This is a man who knows who to shoot
monochrome and this transfer shows that more than ever before. Like the HD-DVD of The Adventures Of Robin Hood, (1938, reviewed elsewhere on this
site) that also has its 1.33 X 1 frame in a 16 X 9 frame and the more you look
in the middle, the clearer and deeper you can see it looks.
The sound
was originally monophonic and the standard DVDs offered standard Dolby Digital
1.0 Mono every time. No 5.1 upgrade was
or has been done, though the old 12” LaserDiscs had the advantage of PCM 2.0
16-bit/44.1kHz Mono, which was always better than the DVDs in both the
Criterion and MGM/UA cases. This Dolby
Digital Plus 1.0 Mono is an improvement over the old Dolby and pretty much is
the equal of the uncompressed PCM from the larger platters. The combination is very smooth and pleasant
for the most part and this critic feels like you can finally enjoy the film at
home in a presentation worthy of this classic including the classic Max Steiner
score.
Since
that larger Criterion set, there have been several Special Editions of this
film released. Nearly 65 years later, as
the film’s all-time greatness status has grown (surpassing Gone With The Wind in a recent survey), the extras have
followed. One of the newest extras is
one of the few brand-new theatrical Looney Tunes cartoon shorts since the
factory closed in the mid-1960s called Carrotblanca. It is an amusing, sometimes charming tribute
to this film with Bugs Bunny is more fun than you might expect. Other extras include an introduction by
Lauren Bacall, additional scenes & outtakes, Roger Ebert audio commentary,
second audio commentary by historian Rudy Behlmer, Bacall On Bogart documentary, You
Must Remember This tribute commentary, radio drama version made at the time
with the three leads, outtakes from Steiner’s scoring of the film, production
research gallery, theatrical trailers, 1955 TV adaptation of the film from Who Holds Tomorrow? series and a
featurette with Pia Lindstrom & Stephen Bogart appropriately called As Time Goes By. To have all this on one disc with the highest
performance playback of the film the original materials restored transferred
this well is another winner for HD-DVD.
Very
nice.
- Nicholas Sheffo
