Casablanca: The Complete Series

Yes, there really was an attempt made to turn the 1942 drama starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman—considered by many movie fans to be the quintessential Hollywood classic—into a TV series in 1983. David Soul takes the Bogart role as Rick Blaine, the expatriate American who owns the most glamorous nightspot in North Africa and makes a point of staying out of politics but manages to further the Allied cause nonetheless. Bergman has no counterpart in this show (Rick's got a new fling in every chapter), but Hector Elizondo is marvelous as Capt. Louis Renault, the very politic French cop who cooperates with the Germans while turning a blind eye to partisan activity. The series lasted a mere five episodes, which is no surprise since the scripts are pretty conventional and the Germans are mere cartoon characters. Soul is perfectly adequate as the taciturn Yank in a white tuxedo, but he's no Bogart. Scatman Crothers is criminally underutilized in the Sam role, singing “As Time Goes By” in the credits but seen all too briefly onscreen; and Ray Liotta appears in one of his earliest roles as Sacha, an excitable Brooklyn waiter. Optional, at best. (S. Axmaker)