Casablanca (1942) (70th Anniversary Edition)

[Takeshi666]

Originally Posted by DetroitSquirreL

price just went up on Amazon pre order

glad I got my pre-order when it was lower

I think I placed my pre-order before they even had a price!

[Donat96]

A few days ago I traded the old Blu into Amazon for $51.70. So, basically I was able to upgrade for free. Just have to wait until the new edition is released. Unfortunately the trade-in value went down already.

[ShellOilJunior]

Warner Bros has included about 3-4 coasters with this new set and that's not even including the DVD's.

[Donat96]

From the news post:

Warner's new 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition presents an all-new 4K restoration of Casablanca. The exact technical specifications are still unknown for this three-disc set, but the package contains a number of bonus supplements, many of which were not available on Warner's previous Casablanca Ultimate Collector's Edition.

Introduction by Lauren Bacall
Two audio commentaries:
- Film critic Roger Ebert
- Film historian Rudy Behlmer
Roster for Warner's A Night at the Movies viewing mode:
- Theatrical trailer for Now Voyager
- Vintage newsreel
- Vaudeville Days short feature
- The Bird Came C.O.D. short feature
- The Squawkin' Hawk short feature
- The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals of Roquefort Hall short feature
Eight behind-the-scenes documentaries:
- Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of
- Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic
- You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
- The Brothers Warner
- Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul
- Great Performances: Bacall on Bogart
- You Must Remember This: A Tribute to Casablanca
- As Time Goes By: The Children Remember
Deleted scenes
Outtakes
Who Holds Tomorrow? feature
Carrotblanca Looney Tunes cartoon
Scoring the Casablanca stage sessions
Two vintage Casablanca radio broadcasts:
- 4/26/43: Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater
- 11/19/47: Vox Pop
The 70th Anniversary Edition of Casablanca streets on March 27th.

Still no mention of lossless audio, though we could probably assume so since it's a new disc.

[DetroitSquirreL]

soooo glad we finally have a date for this

[jtwise]

The transfer can improve since the last one?

[rezpekt]

Originally Posted by jtwise

The transfer can improve since the last one?

Yes, the old one is quite heavily DNRed.

[IndyMLVC]

I guess I'll have to import this. I have no interest in a big boxed set.

[jtwise]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

I guess I'll have to import this. I have no interest in a big boxed set.

Or wait for a single disc release...

[Strevlac]

Originally Posted by jtwise

Or wait for a single disc release...

Hopefully the UK version will have all three discs without the swag like Ben Hur.

[Blu-Velvet]

I really hope the extras are in HD this time. The previous Blu-ray transfer may not have been perfect, but it looked darn good, and unless the bonus shorts and documentaries are also HD on this version I can wait until the upgraded feature transfer gets a single-disc release. Of course if I hadn't bought the first "ultimate" release, I'd be getting this one its first week.

It's really a shame that the general public has virtually no consciousness of any movies made before STAR WARS, outside of a dozen or so classics that keep getting upgraded while others never even get released. Too bad Warner Archive isn't doing burned-on-demand Blu-rays from the HD transfers in their catalog. Now THAT would be something to celebrate!

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Strevlac

Hopefully the UK version will have all three discs without the swag like Ben Hur.

Exactly.

[Zydrate]

Any chance there will be an exclusive somewhere without the extras? Since Citizen Kane got a digibook at Best Buy recently, I am curious.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Zydrate

Any chance there will be an exclusive somewhere without the extras? Since Citizen Kane got a digibook at Best Buy recently, I am curious.

I'm assuming you mean without the swag, not without the bonus features I'm hoping the same thing...

[PRO-630HD]

The new 4K transfer is great, but with 4K bluray around the corner in 2013 I might just wait as I still have my hddvd.

[jaaguir]

Originally Posted by strevlac

hopefully the uk version will have all three discs without the swag like ben hur.

+1.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

The new 4K transfer is great, but with 4K bluray around the corner in 2013 I might just wait as I still have my hddvd.

4K Bluray? They have to be kidding. Physical media is dying, I can't believe they'll manage to milk another run of these titles out of everyone before it vanishes.

And apparently we'll have to buy new 4KHD TV sets and 4KHD Blu-Ray players.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...-def-2013.html

Laughable. Sounds to me about as promising as Digital VHS.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

4K Bluray? They have to be kidding. Physical media is dying, I can't believe they'll manage to milk another run of these titles out of everyone before it vanishes.

And apparently we'll have to buy new 4KHD TV sets and 4KHD Blu-Ray players.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...-def-2013.html

Laughable. Sounds to me about as promising as Digital VHS.

Agreed. Blu-ray is just getting going. Releasing it now is just stupid.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Agreed. Blu-ray is just getting going. Releasing it now is just stupid.

DVD had been out for 8 years when blu-Ray came out. Next year, will be 8 years since blu-ray came out. So is it that crazy for a higher resolution format to be coming out? I will stick with good ol 1080 for a while, but I'm not suprised higher resolution stuff is coming out next year.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Cook

DVD had been out for 8 years when blu-Ray came out. Next year, will be 8 years since blu-ray came out. So is it that crazy for a higher resolution format to be coming out? I will stick with good ol 1080 for a while, but I'm not suprised higher resolution stuff is coming out next year.

I'm just surprised because the marketplace is completely different. Blu-Ray was developed as a replacement for DVD, to continue the huge revenue stream the studios found, as they started drying up their well of catalog titles. The economy was flush and since DVD hadn't actually required people to update their TVs, it seemed reasonable to finally update them for the new disc format.

However now the economy is not nearly what it was, and the market for physical media is rapidly vanishing. DVD and Blu-Ray were heralded by massive pushes in Best Buy, Borders, Circuit City, Barnes & Noble, Tower Records, Virgin Megastore, etc. They're all now gone or in their death throes.

I find it hard to believe all but a small group of tech nuts will be willing to update their TVs yet again for this new format.

Don't get me wrong, I love films, and I love seeing them in increasingly higher quality. I've even given in and replaced most of my DVD library with Blu-Rays after seeing how immeasurably better they look.

But I just can't see this new format taking off in the eleventh hour of physical media as a format. Books, music discs, movie discs - they're all doomed to become a niche market like LPs soon, just for collectors.

Maybe this new format will serve those people, maybe they'll become known as "videophiles" . Maybe I'll even be one of them. But when you consider what a relatively small percentage of catalog titles are being released to Blu-Ray, how many catalog titles are still being released to DVD only, I just don't think this new format will have any noticeable impact.