Wow, this has to been seen to be believed. How do you start with the greatest movie ever made as a template and turn it into a cold war turd? Somehow they managed it for this TV remake filching the opening matte shot of the minaret from the 1942 original, even lifting the intro shot to Rick signing a voucher at the bar "OK Rick" before panning up to - a guy who ain't Humphrey Bogart. Not by a long shot... Apparently the makers of this disaster thought they could lift the premise to turn Rick and his Café Americain into a stop over locale for people escaping the Communist Iron curtain as a premise for a TV series. Gone is Ilsa of course, apparently either the events of the movie never happened or Louie and Rick came back to Casablanca and took up their old lives as though WWII had never happened. The result is horrible beyond words. I saw this on the 2003 2-DVD Casablanca set which is probably included as much for historical value as it is padding. I guess it serves to remind would-be remakers that imitation is the sincerest form of mediocrity. If you get the DVD, watch it last. Also on the 2003 "Casablanca" DVD the Screen Guild Theater Radio version with Bogart, Bergman and Henreid also made in 1943 for CBS radio is much more interesting, boiling the movie down to about a half hour of radio and a marvelous gem.
Review of Casablanca
