Details on Warner Bros.’ 70th Anniversary Edition of Casablanca |

Warner Bros. will release a limited and numbered 70th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Collectors’ Set for the Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman classic Casablanca, on March 27, 2012. Here is an official synopsis for the release, along with images of the packaging and collectibles to be included with the set.

Casablanca: easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you’re wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), whose only hope is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a cynical American who sticks his neck out for no one – especially Victor’s wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart. Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo’s transport out of the country and bitter Rick must decide what counts more – personal happiness or countless lives hanging in the balance.

Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Casablanca marks its 70th anniversary as a beloved favorite with so many bonuses that no matter how often you’ve seen it, this beautiful 70th Anniversary (Limited and Numbered) Edition looks like yet another beginning of a beautiful friendship with an unforgettable classic.

Check out the trailer for Casablanca.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJvlGh_FgcI

Blu-ray Set Release Date: March 27, 2012
Original Release Date: January 23, 1943
Director: Michael Curtiz, who also directed The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), White Christmas (1954), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (1960), The Comancheros (1961)
Writers: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch, based on the play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison
Producers: Jack L. Warner, Hal B. Wallis
Original Music: Max Steiner

Special Features:

All new 2012 4k feature transfer on Blu-ray and standard format DVD
Limited and numbered for collectibility
Over 45 minutes of new, never-before-seen Bonus Content created for the 70th Anniversary release, with 2 new documentaries:
Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic
Feature retrospective on Director Michael Curtiz
3 feature length documentaries on a separate Blu-ray disc for nearly 9 hours of compelling , cinematic historical content:
Jack Warner: The Last Mogul
The Brothers Warner
You Must Remember This
All new collectible memorabilia:
Full size reproduction of the original 1942 film poster
62-pg, production art book that includes never-before-seen photos, personal memos, and archival documents about the production
4 collectible drink coasters

Casablanca takes place during World War II, when Europeans who were fleeing the Germans, sought refuge in America. But to get there they first had to go Casablanca and once they get there, they have to obtain exit visas which are not very easy to get. The hottest spot in all of Casablanca is Rick’s Cafe, operated by Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), an American expatriate, who for some reason can’t return there, and he is also extremely cynical. Now it seems that two German couriers were killed and the documents they were carrying were taken. Now one of Rick’s regulars, Ugarte entrusts to him some letters of transit, which he intends to sell but before he does he is arrested for killing the couriers. Captain Renault, the Chief of Police, who is neutral in his political views, informs Rick that Victor Laszlo, the European Resistance leader, is in Casablanca and will do anything to get an exit visa but Renault has been “told” by Major Strasser of the Gestapo, to keep Laszlo in Casablanca. Laszlo goes to Rick’s to meet Ugarte, because he was the one Ugarte was going to sell the letters to. But since Ugarte was arrested he has to find another way. Accompanying him is Ilsa Lund, who knew Rick when he was in Paris, and when they meet some of Rick’s old wounds reopen. It is obvious that Rick’s stone heart was because of her leaving him. And when they learn that Rick has the letters, he refuses to give them to him, because “he doesn’t stick his neck out for anyone.