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Casablanca 70th Anniversary Limited Edition Box Set

post #1 of 100
1/2/12 at 4:48am
Thread Starter 
http://www.amazon.com/Casablanca-Anniversary-Limited-Collectors-Blu-ray/dp/B006BG7RI0/ref=xs_gb_20_left-3_6_B006BG7RI0?pf_rd_p=451293501&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1CN58QVM60BE3D7AA7QP

The new Casablanca set is up for preorder at Amazon. No release date yet. There is a video showing what is in the set. You get 2 blu ray discs , one for the movie, the other for extras. Also a DVD for the movie. It comes with a poster, 4 coasters, and a 60 page book. List price is the same as Ben Hur, $64.99. I don't see a listing for the extras on the extras disc yet.
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post #2 of 100
1/2/12 at 7:02am

This has not been officially announced yet though we

expect a press release shortly.

 

I did want to let all of you know that I spoke with the

studio recently about this release.  There has been a

significant amount of money and effort poured into 

remastering this title since it's last Blu-ray release.

I am being told that the efforts resulted in what the

studio felt was a remarkable improvement.

 

There was great concern about re-releasing this title

without there being a benefit to consumers who 

already had purchased it previously on Blu-ray.

 

 

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post #3 of 100
1/2/12 at 9:56am
I hope there is an option for those who just want the improved Blu-Ray, and have no need for a DVD, coasters, posters, or a giant box that's difficult to shelve.
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post #4 of 100
1/2/12 at 10:01am

Coasters.  For the love of God.

 

If the transfer itself earns kudos from the reviewers I trust, then I'm in for a discs-only release, even if I have to wait a bit for it to materialize.

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post #5 of 100
1/2/12 at 4:36pm
As this is probably one of my top 10 favorites, I'll be on this one in a heartbeat , even though I have the last collector's edition as well as HD-DVD.
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post #6 of 100
1/2/12 at 4:45pm

Can't wait! The last release looked more digital, less filmlike and had dnr artifacts. Also, a lossless mono track would be awesome!

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post #7 of 100
1/2/12 at 9:38pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chas in CT View Post

Coasters.  For the love of God.

If the transfer itself earns kudos from the reviewers I trust, then I'm in for a discs-only release, even if I have to wait a bit for it to materialize.

There is always the UK. If the past is any indication, Warner has been issuing movie and extra only sets of what has been big box only releases in the US. Warner Bros releases have also been region free. There is also the possibility that Target, Best Buy, or Walmart will have an exclusive movie only edition. I don't think there will be a long wait for a movie only or a movie plus extras edition.
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post #8 of 100
1/3/12 at 12:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein View Post


I am being told that the efforts resulted in what the
studio felt was a remarkable improvement.

There was great concern about re-releasing this title
without there being a benefit to consumers who 
already had purchased it previously on Blu-ray.

The last time I watched my blu-ray, I thought the movie looked great and I'm wondering how much better they could make it? I too share the studios concern about "there being a benefit to consumers" who have already bought the blu-ray. Perhaps they could do some sort of discount to current owners. I'm really skeptical they can improve the movie so much that I'll feel I have to have it.
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post #9 of 100
1/3/12 at 3:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein View Post

This has not been officially announced yet though we

expect a press release shortly.

 

I did want to let all of you know that I spoke with the

studio recently about this release.  There has been a

significant amount of money and effort poured into 

remastering this title since it's last Blu-ray release.

I am being told that the efforts resulted in what the

studio felt was a remarkable improvement.

 

There was great concern about re-releasing this title

without there being a benefit to consumers who 

already had purchased it previously on Blu-ray.

 

 


Ron,

 

Please get with the program.

 

We're all very excited.

 

This is WB...

 

and it's an Anniversary.

 

Many of us have our hats at the ready, as the final episode of Harry Potter

will have it's fifth anniversary in five years!

 

Should be available for pre-order shortly.

 

smile.gif

 

RAH

 

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post #10 of 100
1/3/12 at 4:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Angell View Post

The last time I watched my blu-ray, I thought the movie looked great and I'm wondering how much better they could make it? I too share the studios concern about "there being a benefit to consumers" who have already bought the blu-ray. Perhaps they could do some sort of discount to current owners. I'm really skeptical they can improve the movie so much that I'll feel I have to have it.

They can lay off of the massive image manipulation and present something that at least looks like film.
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post #11 of 100
1/3/12 at 4:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Calvert View Post


They can lay off of the massive image manipulation and present something that at least looks like film.



I thought the last BRD looked fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crawdaddy

 

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post #12 of 100
1/3/12 at 5:51pm
I thought the last blu-ray of Casablanca looked just about perfect. The film is very clean of course, but the grain looks just about right, and I've never noticed any artifacts. Nothing there to complain about, and I'm not really sure what they could do to improve it, unless they consider removing the grain to be an improvement.

I must say I'm always amused when they save a whole blu-ray for just the movie, particularly a film with the running time of Casablanca.The previous blu-ray, the movie takes up about 14 gigs, but even with the bitrate maxed out, it would take up just a little over half of a BD50.

Doug
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post #13 of 100
1/3/12 at 5:59pm
with the thousands of unreleased films that WB owns, and a good release of Casablanca already out there? I'm not really with the program even for the sake of humor on this one...Love the film. But enough is enough. Get us a Danny Kaye boxed set of blus instead.tongue.gif
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post #14 of 100
1/3/12 at 6:08pm
Isn't it a little redundant to include a DVD and coasters?
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post #15 of 100
1/3/12 at 6:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by benbess View Post

with the thousands of unreleased films that WB owns, and a good release of Casablanca already out there? I'm not really with the program even for the sake of humor on this one...Love the film. But enough is enough. Get us a Danny Kaye boxed set of blus instead.tongue.gif

I agree, but unfortunate its a matter of what sells. Another version of Casablanca will move large numbers of units, a Danny Kaye set won't.

Doug
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post #16 of 100
1/3/12 at 6:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Newcomb View Post

Isn't it a little redundant to include a DVD and coasters?
laugh.gif
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post #17 of 100
1/4/12 at 5:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by benbess View Post

with the thousands of unreleased films that WB owns, and a good release of Casablanca already out there? I'm not really with the program even for the sake of humor on this one...Love the film. But enough is enough. Get us a Danny Kaye boxed set of blus instead.tongue.gif

Are Danny Kaye movies now owned by Warners?
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post #18 of 100
1/4/12 at 5:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin9 View Post


Are Danny Kaye movies now owned by Warners?


Certainly not all of them. Paramount would own The Court Jester, and doesn't MGM have Hans Christian Andersen? Those are certainly the two I'd want on Blu-ray.

 

Fox put On the Riviera out on DVD in their Marquee Musicals series.

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post #19 of 100
1/4/12 at 7:40am
This transfer will have to show a very noticeable improvement for me to bite on an upgrade over the existing BD, as I am quite satisfied with the current disc. And I will definitely wait for a non-"Box 'o Crap" release, as I did the last time with Casablanca.
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post #20 of 100
1/4/12 at 4:45pm
I'm not sure which disc you guys are watching but the current BD of Casablanca doesn't look like any 35mm film I have ever seen. It looks like video, pretty much exactly like Warner's previous master of Citizen Kane. Are we now OK with mastering vintage films with significant image manipulation (noise reduction and sharpening techniques) in the digital realm? Because I thought from the controversy surrounding Citizen Kane we weren't.
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post #21 of 100
1/4/12 at 5:50pm

Thank you.  I've been wondering about the incredible divergence of opinion on this.  We're talking about the earlier big box set with the passport holder, right?  I have it, and I guess I'd better sit down and actually take a look at it since I haven't ever done so.

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post #22 of 100
1/4/12 at 6:42pm
Another edition of Casablanca, while "The Wind" "Greed" "The Big Parade" "The Crowd" are unavailable on DVD or Blu-ray, and "The Magnificent Ambersons" can only be had as a bonus feature.

If it weren't for Warner's Ultra Resolution process for restoring technicolor pics, I'd tell them to go fuck themselves.
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post #23 of 100
1/4/12 at 7:25pm
Watching my HD-DVD of Casablanca again tonight, which I always thought looked great, I'm thinking maybe it does look a little video-like compared to the best recent HD transfers. And since playback stopped at 45:00 with a disc error code (this has been happening with my HD-DVDs, lately) it looks like I'll be buying the new blu-ray.
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post #24 of 100
1/4/12 at 10:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Calvert View Post

I'm not sure which disc you guys are watching but the current BD of Casablanca doesn't look like any 35mm film I have ever seen. It looks like video, pretty much exactly like Warner's previous master of Citizen Kane. Are we now OK with mastering vintage films with significant image manipulation (noise reduction and sharpening techniques) in the digital realm? Because I thought from the controversy surrounding Citizen Kane we weren't.

I have the box with the luggage tags and the lobby cards. I don't see any noise reduction or sharpening. Though there is dirt and dust removal, there is still some visible if you look closely, and the grain layer is quite apparent and looks perfectly natural to me for a black and white film stock with a strong silver content.

I wouldn't compare it to Citizen Kane where everything looked scrubbed and there was no film grain visible. Not even close.

Doug
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post #25 of 100
1/5/12 at 2:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Calvert View Post

I'm not sure which disc you guys are watching but the current BD of Casablanca doesn't look like any 35mm film I have ever seen. It looks like video, pretty much exactly like Warner's previous master of Citizen Kane. Are we now OK with mastering vintage films with significant image manipulation (noise reduction and sharpening techniques) in the digital realm? Because I thought from the controversy surrounding Citizen Kane we weren't.



Actually, that's a question I want to ask you after comparing Casablanca to Citizen Kane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crawdaddy

 

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post #26 of 100
1/5/12 at 2:26am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas Monce View Post


I have the box with the luggage tags and the lobby cards. I don't see any noise reduction or sharpening. Though there is dirt and dust removal, there is still some visible if you look closely, and the grain layer is quite apparent and looks perfectly natural to me for a black and white film stock with a strong silver content.
I wouldn't compare it to Citizen Kane where everything looked scrubbed and there was no film grain visible. Not even close.
Doug


 

Neither would I.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crawdaddy
 

 

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post #27 of 100
1/5/12 at 7:01am

Casablanca is a bit of a problem title, as the original elements were over-printed, with replacement sections the norm.

 

The most recent Blu-ray does a very nice job of evening out the problems.

 

IMHO, what we do not need is another Blu of Casablanca, especially when there are superb films with Mr. Bogart that need to be released on Blu.

 

How about:

 

To Have and Have Not

Key Largo

 

RAH

 

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post #28 of 100
1/5/12 at 7:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Harris View Post

Casablanca is a bit of a problem title, as the original elements were over-printed, with replacement sections the norm.

 

The most recent Blu-ray does a very nice job of evening out the problems.

 

IMHO, what we do not need is another Blu of Casablanca, especially when there are superb films with Mr. Bogart that need to be released on Blu.

 

How about:

 

To Have and Have Not

Key Largo

 

RAH

 


There you go as well as The Big Sleep.
 

 

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post #29 of 100
1/5/12 at 7:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas Monce View Post

I have the box with the luggage tags and the lobby cards. I don't see any noise reduction or sharpening. Though there is dirt and dust removal, there is still some visible if you look closely, and the grain layer is quite apparent and looks perfectly natural to me for a black and white film stock with a strong silver content.
I wouldn't compare it to Citizen Kane where everything looked scrubbed and there was no film grain visible. Not even close.
Doug

Are you talking about the 70th Anniversary release? Here's a quote from the HTF review:
Quote:
Video Quality: 5/5
Accurately framed at 1.33:1 and presented in 1080p with the AVC codec, the film image is impressively clean and devoid of physical defects. Black levels and contrast are consistently strong, and lovers of black-and-white imagery should thrill to the beautiful rendering of Gregg Toland's cinematography. Detail is similarly impressive - particles of snow and textures in fabrics and skin in particular - though the frequent deep focus cinematography also becomes a showcase for the transfer's high resolution (there's softness or haziness in some shots, but due to the era's special effects methods, not the transfer). In certain high contrast scenes, like in the newsreel screening room, there appears to be some ringing along silhouettes, but otherwise there are no indications of digital sharpening. Likewise, with consistent and healthy levels of film grain, viewers should have no concerns about excessive noise reduction measures.

I skimmed the thread and didn't find any complaints about the video quality, but I might have missed them.

Since it's only available in big box 'o stuff, I don't have it yet.
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post #30 of 100
1/5/12 at 11:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Crawford View Post


There you go as well as The Big Sleep.
 

 



Thank you! 

 

I was thinking it, but the thought didn't make its way to my fingers.

 

"Then she tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up."

 

 

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