DVD review: 'Casablanca' 70th Anniversary Blu-ray + DVD Combo Edition

Hard to believe it’s been 70 years since the director and the many credited and uncredited screenwriters of “Casablanca” struggled right up to the end of filming with the dilemma of whether to let

Should Rick, a hardnosed café owner who remains stubbornly neutral, selflessly allow Ilsa, his former lover, to get on that plane with her freedom-fighting, concentration-camp-escapee husband (Paul Henreid as the heroic Victor Lazlo), or should he selfishly keep her with him in Casablanca, an uncertain, tension-filled stopover haven for refugees fleeing Nazi rule?

The 1942 Michael Curtiz-directed film has been listed by the American Film Institute as the No. 3 best film of all time, and the screen’s greatest love story. It won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Lines such as “Here’s lookin’ at you kid” and “Round up the usual suspects,” and especially the song “As Time Goes By,” have become iconic in movie history (along with the infamous misquote, “Play it again, Sam).”

Warner Home Video is releasing a massive box set on Tuesday to commemorate the anniversary of this movie that is at once a tear-jerking love story and an inspiring narrative study in wartime sacrifice, with healthy shots of cloak-and-dagger intrigue and hardboiled action thrown in for good measure.