Obviously, Casablanca is a well known film. Not all people might have actually seen it, but they know about it and can quote some famous lines from this film. I am pretty sure I had seen it a very long time ago in my youth and forgot about it. Not surprising since the film is clearly a film for adults and not children. My real awareness came after I had seen tributes, parodies and rip-offs of the film. The first one was Armaan (1981), a Bollywood film. Again, something I watched in my youth and didn't quite understand. Then there is the video game called Grim Fandango developed by Lucasarts. It's here when I realized how huge Casablanca was.
Now, many years later I saw a good price of the 4K UHD / Blu-ray disc and purchased it. Connoisseurs were claiming it's the best version out there. Since I don't own other copies, I gladly believe this is the case. And I can confirm that the disc is worth it. The image is crisp, and I can see that the HDR has a real impact on the colours. The sound is also amazing. While the film is in black and white, I can definitely say that the visuals pop. I had seen an enhanced and colourized video of a particular scene and even while it was defined it came across as weird. It didn't seem to represent the right colours, and in such cases they should not even bother and leave it in black and white. I think this 4K disc even could be used as a demo to convince people of this fact.
As for the film itself. I was pleasantly surprised to experience that it still holds up. It moves in lightning pace and is filled with iconic quotes and moments. Humphrey Bogart steals the show every time he is on-screen, but also demonstrates to have good dynamics between other characters. And there are a few colourful characters who might not be in it long enough but who still leave an impression somehow. If that is not peak storytelling, then I don't know what is. From start to end, I was enjoying the film wholeheartedly, almost making me sad about contemporary films and how they don't even come close.
Overall, if you are a cinephile and are collecting physical media, this 4K UHD / Blu-ray seems like a no-brainer. A must own!
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