Casablanca (The Film classics library) [Paperback]

Richard J. Anobile (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Pan Books (1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330242148
• ISBN-13: 978-0330242141
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,003,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Friendship, December 21, 2009

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Tom Without Pity (A Major Midwestern Metropolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casablanca (Paperback)

This is a review for the Avon Books paperback edition of "Michael Curtiz's
Casablanca" which was edited by Richard J. Anobile and was published in 1974.

This book is a successful attempt to recreate watching the film classic without having access to the actual movie. According to the back cover it has over "1,500 frame blow ups, every scene, every word of dialogue."

Mr Anobile and whoever else was involved in putting this book together did an excellent job and so far as I can tell, CASABLANCA is all here except the sound of the actors voices and the fine WB orchestral soundtrack.

Of course all of this was accomplished to give enthusiasts a feeling of watching the film at home because, in 1974, unless your local TV station scheduled CASABLANCA, you couldn't watch it. There were no VCRs or Beta machines. and certainly no DVD players and Blu-rays were one of Ming the Merciless's secret weapons, I think.

So I guess that you just hot air popped some corn, put on your trusty CASABLANCA soundtrack LP and started turning the pages on this volume.

Nowadays, of course, CASABLANCA and most any film you want is available for home viewing in one form or another and a book like this may seem a little superflous. But if you value the images filmed in CASABLANCA having this volume is like having a photo album or scrapbook of it at your fingertips available for leisurely browsing whenever you want to visit your old friends Rick and Ilsa.

In fact, you could take it to Rick's with you and although Mr. Blaine isn't running a library I don't think that anyone would object if you discreetly paged through it while sipping a libation. Just be certain not to let the papers that you thought were safely tucked away in the pages of this this volume fall out and land on the floor. You never know who's watching and you don't want to be without your letters of transit while in Casablanca.