Casablanca Ultimate Collector Edition and Blu-ray coming

The legendary Casablanca, which film critic Leonard Maltin calls the best Hollywood movie of all time, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and winner of three Academy Awards including Best Picture, returns in a stunning new Ultimate Collector’s Edition on December 2, 2008, from Warner Home Video, just in time for the holidays. Casablanca Ultimate Collector’s Edition will also be available in Blu-ray Hi-Def for the first time ever.

Casablanca has remained a beloved favorite for almost seven decades, and was voted the screen’s greatest love story and the #3 film of all time by the American Film Institute. This classic wartime romance also took Oscars for Michael Curtiz (Directing); Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch (Writing – Screenplay) and the studio (Outstanding Motion Picture).

The luxurious Casablanca Ultimate Collector’s Edition looks like another beginning of a beautiful friendship. The premium giftset is elegantly boxed in an intricate laser-cut Moroccan design and will include such collectibles as replicas of actual props (Victor Laszlo’s “Letter of Transit”) as well as a number of Warner studio documents (an executive’s letter commanding a new PR image for Bogart from gangster to romantic lead; a note from producer Hal Wallis re-titling the film to Casablanca; and a memo from Wallis to Jack Warner strongly urging casting Bogart over George Raft). The DVD set will also contain a branded passport holder, luggage tag, photo book and a mail-in offer for a reproduction of the original movie poster. Additionally, with more than seven hours of bonus features (see below) along with a documentary on Jack Warner, no matter how often one has seen the unforgettable classic, there’s sure to be something to enrich the experience.