Regular Price $19.98

Starring: Groucho Marx,  Harpo Marx,  Chico Marx,  Charles Drake,  Lois Collier, 
Directed By: Archie Mayo, 
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Release Date: 1946-05-10
Studio: Warner Home Video
Format: Black & White,  Closed-captioned,  Color,  DVD-Video,  Subtitled,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about A Night in Casablanca

Description
Marx Brothers comedy has them ferret out Nazi spies in a Casablanca hotel.

Amazon.com
A Night in Casablanca may not qualify as a Marx Brothers classic, but it's certainly the best of their latter-day comedies. "This picture is funnier than all but a handful of their earlier ones," wrote the usually cantankerous Pauline Kael, and she's right. The Big Store would have been the final Marx movie, but that disappointment, and an attractive new deal with United Artists, prompted the Marx trio to bring freshly anarchic energy to this post-war spoof of wartime intrigue, prompting Warner Bros. (producers of Casablanca) to threaten legal action over the title, to which Groucho responded, "I am sure that the average movie fan could learn in time to distinguish between Ingrid Bergman and Harpo." As it happens, Night bears only passing resemblance to the Bergman/Bogart classic, with Groucho playing the new manager of a hotel in Casablanca, where several previous managers have been murdered while a scheming villain (Marx regular Sig Rumann) plots to steal the hotel's cache of Nazi treasure. Chico and Harpo are up to their usual antics (including piano and harp interludes, respectively), and they all give Rumann the runaround in the film's funniest and most perfectly choreographed scene. The brothers made their final film together with Love Happy three years later, but as any fan will tell you, A Night in Casablanca was the last Marx comedy that mattered. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews for A Night in Casablanca

Classic Comedy!!!
I thought this was a pretty funny Marx Brothers movie! My favorite is Groucho, he's always hilarious! When two managers from a hotel have been killed, Kornblow becomes the new manager. Rusty and Corbaccio become his bodyguards and protect him against hot women and food. A Nazi named Pfefferman, also known as Heinrich Stubel has been killing the other managers so he can become manager and take all the treasure that's hidden in the hotel. The Marx Brothers use their unorthodox ways to stop him. If you love classic comedy and the Marx Brothers, you'll love A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA!!!A Night in Casablanca

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, which also contains 'A Day At The Races' and 'A Night At The Opera'.
A Night in Casablanca

Not Quite Great but Quite Good Late Marx Bros.
Too many of the lines are anything but gems (Chico: That's not-a my wife. That's-a my camel). The movie is stylistically dominated by its framing melodrama. Harpo and Chico are starting to look old. The climax is almost completely devoid of anarchic fun. Nazis trying to kill Groucho are a questionable substitute for Margaret Dumont. Yet despite these drawbacks, "A Night in Casablanca" is clearly the brothers' strongest outing since "A Day at the Races" and is some ways even better: Groucho doesn't snivel, the romantic leads can act but don't sing, the musical interludes are brief and entertaining (Chico has two in a row, the second using some much-needed new business) and there is a much higher percentage of comedy vs romantic plot.

And much of the comedy is quite good. Some of Groucho's banter with would-be femme fatal Beatrice Rheiner (played handsomely by Lisette Verea in her only American--and only sound--movie role) has an existentially knowing edge to it that suits Groucho's more mature character. Harpo has a great dueling scene early in the film. Chico, the most under-appreciated brother, gives a characteristically effortless performance. And the scene where the brothers drive the villain half insane by secretively unpacking his luggage around him is better than anything in their previous four movies.

Groucho, incidentally, gives what is arguably his best acting performance.

This movie is no where near as great as their early Paramounts but it's still a surprisingly entertaining comedy for a team coming back from retirement following a precipitous decline in the quality of their work. Highly recommended.A Night in Casablanca

A Night in Casablanca 1946
Groucho (1890-1977) , Chico 1887-1961 , Harpo 1888-1964...Uh-oh ! it's the Nazi vs. nutsies when legendary Marx Brothers foils Axis criminals during A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA . As the manager of the hotel swirling in intrigue , Grochy is up to his fake mustache in joyful if unfilled Lechery. Chico -heywatzamatter-becomes Groucho's bodyguard by self-decree. Harpo , pantomime's clown prince, says more whistle and gestures tahn most comics say in pages of dialogue . When this 1946 film began production Warner Bros. threatned suite saying the title infriged upon the studio's famed CASABLANCA . Groucho fired back: *You probably have the rights to use the name WARNER, but what about Brothers ! Professionaly , we were before you were* .Hight Quality Transfer . Recommended
A Night in Casablanca

You want a manager that doesn't steal money? Good day, gentlemen.
Beatrice Rheiner: I shall be in the Supper Club.
Ronald Kornblow: The Supper Club?
Beatrice Rheiner: Yes. Will you join me?
Ronald Kornblow: Why? Are you coming apart?

The Marx Brothers remain one of the greatest comedy teams the world ever had; and they work hard in this film to keep their reputation. A Night In Casablanca holds your attention and the comedy remains worthy of all five stars. Lisette Verea shines as the Nazi femme fatale in on the plot to transport Nazi loot to a place where the former Allies forces could never reach it; and Sig Ruman turns in a very convincing performance as the inept Nazi spy who couldn't get his shoes tied even if you did it for him while he simply watched.

At first glance the film appears to be based upon the Warner Brother classic entitled Casablanca; but aside from taking place in a hotel in Casablanca the similarities diminish greatly. Groucho Marx plays Ronald Kornblow who takes a job as manager at the Casablanca hotel; Kornblow is unaware that the three previous managers have been murdered in just the last six months. Soon after, however, a hotel worker named Corbaccio, played so ably by Chico Marx, finds out that Kornblow could be murdered, too; and he essentially enlists himself as Kornblow's bodyguard. Meanwhile, the Nazis, led by Nazi spy Heinrich Stubel who masquerades as Count Pfferman, go after much more than Kornblow. The Nazis desperately want stolen treasure hidden in the hotel so they can abscond with it. Can Kornblow, with the help of Corbaccio and Harpo Marx playing the Nazi spy's valet Rusty, thwart the Nazis and prevent them from getting the stolen treasure out of the hotel Ronald Kornblow manages? Will Lisette Verea as the campy Nazi femme fatale Beatrice Rheiner seduce Kornblow so that Stubel can murder Kornblow, too?

The quality of The Marx Brothers' comedy deserves five stars, too. Harpo does a great "collapsing building" gag; and Groucho's one liners will always make you laugh. Harpo even gets a wonderful opportunity to play the harp!

I will not give anything away here, folks, but suffice it to say that the choreography is superlative in Heinrich Stubel's hotel room when he and his Nazi followers want to pack their things to run away with the stolen goods. The ending fight scene at the airport stuns you to the degree at which you couldn't take your eyes off the screen even if you were paid very good money to do so. In addition, the cinematography is excellent; the airport scenes show great forethought and clever planning. The film is in glorious black and white; and I think black and white suits this picture more so than color ever could have. Indeed, black and white serves to add a cracked and campy romantic quality to what is already a hilarious picture. Excellent!

A Night In Casablanca also introduces the song entitled "Who's Sorry Now?" This song went on to become a classic; and the song also subtly refers to the people who are really sorry at the end of the picture.

Unfortunately, the DVD extras don't relate to the film. However, they are enjoyable. There's the short entitled So You Think You're A Nervous Wreck and, of all things, a Bugs Bunny cartoon!

Overall, A Night In Casablanca shines as one of the last great comedies by The Marx Brothers. Fans of The Marx Brothers will love this picture as they laugh their way through it. People who enjoy screwball comedy will also enjoy this movie.
A Night in Casablanca