We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Legend and Afterlife of Hollywood's Most Beloved Film

Casablanca is my favorite movie. Is it yours? Then you must read this great book. I have been highly entertained by the revelation of so many things about the film and its time that I had never imagined.Read the book, it is a true page turner, filled with fascinating details about the production, the actors, and the times, and then see the film again. You will appreciate it as never before.

I recently re-watched Casablanca for the first time in a really long while, and I loved it so much. Afterwards, I remembered this book that came out a couple of years ago about the film, so I decided to pick it up too. I definitely wanted to learn more about Casablanca, and just live in that world a little longer. And the book ended up being a good choice – it added a lot to my understanding and appreciation of the film. I enjoyed all the detail about, first the writing of the original play, then the various screenplays. And I especially enjoyed the ton of detail about all the supporting actors and bit players in the film, and their histories.The thing that surprised me most about the book was that it didn’t really have much detail about the day to day filming of the movie. There’s a lot about everything that went into preparing the movie, and a lot about people’s reaction to the film over the years, but the book is extremely light on topics like the direction or cinematography, the hard work of actually shooting the film. That was a slight disappointment, but maybe it was just impossible to find that kind of information after all these years.Another minor disappointment was that occasionally the book repeats small anecdotes, observations or facts. That made me feel like the editing was a bit sloppy. Nothing major, but the book could have been a bit tighter. Also towards the end of the book, as the author describes various revival screenings through the years, various later critic’s impressions of the film, maybe ten different parodies of the film, including a description of four different episodes of The Simpsons, and even spending some time on the relationships to the film of the grandchildren of people who worked on the script – there was definitely too much of this kind of stuff for me, which was far less interesting and coherent than the first eighty percent of the book that was really centered on what went into the making of the film.Anyhow, these are just nitpicks. If, like me (and like almost everybody who was seen it), you love the film Casablanca, you will mostly enjoy this book and probably get a lot out of it.

I've always loved this movie. This box set is a little pricey, but has a lot going for it.Casablanca is a blessed accident, a combination of people and events that produced on of Hollywood's greatest films, perfect for its time. It is the very opposite of the director-driven auteur movies, as so many hands touched this movie and yet the result is timeless. The script was developed from a play, Everybody Goes to Rick's, that arrived in Warner's development office on December 7, 1941. Only three or four of the actors were born in the US; most were actual refugees, like Conrad Veidt, who played Major Strasser, and were established actors in their own countries, who came to Hollywood to escape the Nazis.Also:1. The digital restoration is awesome. You've never seen this movie looking so good. Digital HD recording from a painstaking restoration of one of the original master prints. The detail, clothes, textures, and lighting jump off the screen.2. Two sets of commentaries along the way,and both offer different perspectives.3. A ton of documentaries on the movie and Warner Brothers are included. Only Warner Brothers could have made this movie.4. Bogart, Bergman, Henreid, Rains, Veidt, Greenstreet, Lorre ....5. A movie that captures America's change in sentiment from isolation to participant in World War II through Bogart's iconic portrayal of Rick.6. The Marseillaise scene.7. That perfect ending.If you love Casablanca, you deserve to own this. Highly recommended.

What this book does is make the reader appreciate the fact that Hollywood, as the US Congress, is just another 'sausage factory'. The production of a motion picture (especially Casablanca, it appears), as any piece of legislation, is involved with so many hands, with so many different agendas and points of view, that the outcome is just one unbelievable contortion that is usually far from the original, seminal story. And, along the way for this process, each individual feels he/she is brilliant and everyone else (either before or after) is a blind, ham handed fool. One other notable feature of the book is to illustrate how actors lose themselves in the alternate reality of picture making so much so that reality blurs. As one actor (Anthony Hopkins, I think?) once observed......."The only thing real to me is acting, but, by definition, that isn't real'. So, life is not real because it isn't acting, and acting is not real because it isn't life, it's acting". Knowing this, so, it becomes far easier to understand how a Jussie Smollett loses himself and can no longer discern what is real (the truth) and what is not real (the untruth). As for the book itself.....It's a casual read, but somewhat inflated by minutiae that only a very devoted Hollywood groupie would care about.......

Lots of unknown facts that make the film even more meaningful and interesting. This film is unique and special in so many ways and this book touched many of them. It is so interesting and fun that when I finished I watched the film again. I played it again

A present for my brother for Christmas. It was his favorite movie so I am sure he will enjoy the book.

Very well researched and written book. Lots of information on the subject and great as a resource for academic purposes let down slightly by the quality of the printing and paper.

Maravilhosa edição em capa dura com curiosidades e fotos incríveis sobre essa obra prima do cinema. Super recomendo este livro.

A lot of interesting information about the movie, especially the supporting characters in the film, and opinions by various people, not all positive. Casablanca is my favourite film ever, and I've read some of the stories and information from other sources, but for those who haven't read much about the movie, an excellent place to start

This is a really outstanding book