Michael Curtiz's Casablanca

by Richard J. Anobile (Editor)

This wonderful edition Casablanca, from the Film Classic Library presents the most accurate and complete reconstruction of a film in book over 1,500 frame blow=up photos shown sequentially and coupled with the complete dialogue from the original soundtrack, allow you to recapture this film classic in its entitety..at your leisure.

Genres: Film

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Anobile pioneered the use of the movie frame blow-up technique to recreate entire films in book form. His books were valuable resources especially in a time before VCR's and DVD's and the internet. While they might be viewed as simplistic picture books now, they were an attempt at curating film at a time when it was often still an after-thought. Anobile has spent much of the rest of his life in film production.

Reviews

[David Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirty years after "Casablanca's" release, this stills-with-dialogue book was a novel way to relive the movie between TV airings or revival screenings; 40 years later, when the movie is a couple of clicks away and we can jump to key scenes, Anobile's book is admittedly superfluous. I liked it anyway; reading it took 90 minutes, same as the real thing, and let me experience an old favorite anew.

[David Horton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very special privilege to own a copy of this and other books in this series as they are hard to find. They were all the rage at my high school's library for some reason and maybe that explains my obsession with seeking out the entire collection (not quiet there yet). I give Casablanca full marks mostly for nostalgia's sake not to mention that it is such a top film. I take a mark off because here was a chance for Anobile to include English translations for the French and German dialogue and he didn't act on it. Perhaps his intent was to align as close as possible with the film viewing experience.

[J. Gaudet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole series provided a way to study a classic frame by frame before computers.

[Jeff Szpirglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the days before computer screen captures or DVDs, Anobile's books were a novel way to recreate the experience of a film at home on your own time. I collected a few of these titles over the years, but have only hung onto Casablanca as a curio from the pre-video era. The interview with Ingrid Bergman is also a plus.

[Joe Noir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and others like it, mostly edited by Richard J. Anobile, were all we had before home video.