Casablanca

CHICAGO – Every seasoned movie lover can attest to having a favorite shot in Michael Curtiz’s 1942 classic “Casablanca,” a picture practically overflowing with indelible imagery. The first appearance of freedom fighter-turned-café owner Rick (Humphrey Bogart) decked out in a white tux, the tearful letter that turns to literal tears in a rainstorm, the final walk through the fog…all unforgettable.

CHICAGO – Having written about DVDs for years, I’ve been lucky enough to receive and buy dozens of star-centered box sets: collections of films based around an actor or director ranging from Bette Davis to Mel Brooks. More often than not, the set is missing an essential film or two, features lackluster video/audio transfers, or includes bare-bones DVDs without bonus material. None of that is true about “Humphrey Bogart: The Essential Collection,” one of the best DVD box sets ever released.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO –Some of the best movies ever made are being released this week in a wave of four-movie sets distributed by Warner Brothers Home Video and under the label of “Turner Classic Movies: Greatest Classic Films Collection”.

CHICAGO – An edition of The Hollywood Reporter in January of 1942 announced that Warner Brothers was moving forward with a film called “Casablanca” and that it would star Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan and Dennis Morgan.