VHS : Marx Brothers - A Night In Casablanca [1946]

Rating: - Late Marx Bros - still funny
This was made in 1946 and its the penultimate Marx brothers film as far as I know. Whilst it doesn't stand up to comparison to some of their earlier classics, its still funny and in places a clever film.

Groucho, who was 56 when this was made, plays Ronald Kornblow a replacement manager for the recently murdered previous manager. Actually the plot really doesn't matter very much. What you need to know is that Groucho gets to deliver some classic one-liners:

Ronald Kornblow: You know, I think you're the most beautiful woman in the whole world.
Beatrice Rheiner: [eagerly] Do you really?
Ronald Kornblow: No, but I don't mind lying if it'll get me somewheres.

and perhaps my favourite

Mr. Smythe: Sir, this lady is my wife. You should be ashamed.
Ronald Kornblow: If this lady is your wife, YOU should be ashamed.

Harpo and Chico get to do their inimitable musical turns and theres a lovely set piece with Chico trying to translate Harpo's whistling into words. In fact there are a number of very clever set pieces which certainly make the film worth 3.5 stars.

On the downside some of the support actors were a bit wooden and a couple times the plot was explained to the viewer uneccessarily through the dialog. However overall this was better than I expected.

I strongly recommend purchasing this in the boxed that is available on region 2 which also contains 'A Day At The Races' and 'A Night At The Opera'.

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Rating: - The sun finally sets on the movie career of the Marx Bros.
I remember the first time I caught this movie on late night television after seeing countless previews showing the scene where the cop sees Harpo leaning against a building and makes the mistake of asking "What do you think you are doing, holding up that building?" Of course he is, and when he walks away the building collapses. Once I saw all of "A Night in Casablanca" I had the feeling that the best gag in the film had been ruined by all those previews. But having watched this film again I must admit that while The Marx Brothers look seriously old in this one, it is not that bad. But when you expect greatness on the basis of classics like "Duck Soup" and "Night at the Opera," it is hard to just accept an "average" Marx Brothers movie.

Certainly Groucho comes off fine in this one. After all, he is about to embark on a successful radio/television career as a master of the sarcastic quip on "You Bet Your Life." In this 1946 film he plays Ronald Kornblow, the new manager of a hotel where a "Casablanca" type plot involving Nazi spies is going on beneath his very nose (If you have never read the letter Groucho fired off when Warner Brothers got upset over the use of the name "Casablanca," then you have to track it down. The high point is when Groucho wants to counter sue because of the use of the word "Brothers"). Harpo as Rusty and Chico as Corbaccio both look very old and tired, and both their comedy and music routines do not have the sharp edge and polish we are used to. Being a dirty old man suited Groucho just as much as being a dirty young man, but while we continue to laugh at his brothers it is with a heavy heart because the end is in sight. We keep forgetting that the Marx Brothers were vaudeville stars for years before they ever made a movie so that their prime came earlier in their cinematic careers than it did overall. "A Night in Casablanca" is really the last true Marx Brothers movie and it should be the last one you watch, when the value is because it exists and it is one more opportunity to watch the boys romp around and cause havoc, and not because it is a classic of comedy.

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Rating: - HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU KID
The Brothers made 13 films between 1928 and 1950, this is not what true lovers of the Brothers consider a 'classic'. It was their second to last film with and only 'Love Happy' to follow. Legend has it that Groucho and Harpo made the movie to help Chico obtain further funds so he could then again lose them gambling. There are of course some funny moments to be found within, and as has been said before The Marx Brothers never appeared in a movie as wonderful as they were. Of note is that the Brothers received legal threats through the use of the word 'Casablanca' from Warner Brothers. Groucho fired back a warning on behalf of his siblings demanding that Warners cease and desist in using the term 'Brothers'!

Captain Jeffrey T Spaulding