A Night in Casablanca
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Movie Reviews of A Night in Casablanca
Movie Review: Not Quite Great but Quite Good Late Marx Bros.
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Movie Review: The Fab Three.
Summary: 4 Stars
While "A Night in Casablanca" is not the Marx Bros. at their best, it still has enough chuckles and gags to amuse Groucho, Chico and Harpo's legion of fans. Sure--it doesn't compare to "Horse Feathers", "Monkey Business", "Duck Soup", "A Night at the Opera" or "A Day at the Races"--but--to be fair--how many comedies do ?All three of "Minnie's boys" have a chance to shine in this wacky hotel farce set in "exotic" Casablanca. What fans will appreciate most is that the Marxes are on screen for most of the film. For this viewer at least, some of their MGM films were spoiled by saccharine romantic sub-plots, with some boring young tenor of the day crooning to a starlet. While there is some music in this film--including expected turns on piano by Chico and on harp by ( duh ) Harpo--it doesn't detract from the fun.
Groucho shines as the new hotel manager--Harpo is valet to a very suspicious-looking German ( Sig Ruman, hamming it up wonderfully )--Chico seems to be a con-man, intent on ensuring that Groucho does not meet the same nasty fate of previous hotel managers. Of course, we have the usual number of pompous, arrogant people who run head-long into Groucho's rapier wit. I did miss Margaret Dumont though.
The quality of the DVD is excellent--crisp B & W picture--clear mono sound.
Groucho, Chico and Harpo were quite simply three of the funniest human beings of the 20th century. While "A Night in Casablanca" is not a top-tier Marx movie, it will still provide you with a lot of amusement, and deserves a spot in your classic comedy DVD collection.
Movie Review: Pretty funny
Summary: 4 Stars
Except for the numbers with the clothes and the airplane which were comical at first but then endless, I think this movie almost ranks with their first 5 (or 4 not counting Duck Soup, which I don't). It was really funny. The brothers were a little long in the tooth by 1946 and it showed, which made their capers seem more childish and dumb than childlike and elfin, but I thought the flick was pretty funny. It was a serious plot (murders, nazis), and once again Harpo got knocked around instead of doing his usual former fey bit of chasing and scaring the pants off girls. The old Marx trademarks were gone (except once, Harpo put a girl's thigh into the palm of his dangling hand, but alas, it was only to catch her cigarette in his shoe, and she wasn't annoyed), but I laughed a lot, didn't recognize the names of the authors, liked Harpo's and Chico's musical numbers, liked all the sight gags, thought some of the lines (a lot of them, actually) were really witty and generally had a good time. I think these (except the 7 disc set which I haven't seen) are the only DVDs of these movies available, but I'll tell you anyway that there are (at least not in Opera or Casablanca) no papers in the DVD cases with notes or scene indices. They are nicely done sets, but I thought that was a little cheap, especially considering what these flicks cost. One last note. The first 5 Marx Bros movies were crowded, loaded, rife with incidents and pranks and jokes and stuff. This and Opera (I bought but have yet to watch Races) seem pretty thin, sparse and barren, particularly in comparison.Movie Review: Should have been their swan song
Summary: 4 Stars
Of course, this could never compare to their first 7 films, but even considering the general sub-par/hit and miss quality of their post-1937 features, it is pretty good. It is a bit startling at first to see how old the three of them look; of course they were already middle-aged when they made the move from vaudeville to silver screen, and they weren't senior citizens in this film, but the visible aging is still a bit of a shock to behold. Apart from that, it's a very solid enjoyable story, a former Nazi having taken on a secret identity in postwar Casablanca and the efforts made to expose and bring him to justice, with the slight sub-plot of the young soldier Pierre (another bland Zeppo replacement) who knows about the hidden treasure this Nazi has, and that proving it will prove he acted patriotically during the war by crash-landing the plane instead of flying the loot over to South America like he'd been ordered to do at gunpoint. Maybe not as inspired or sharp as their earlier films, but there are some delightful magical moments here, many of them borrowing from gags they'd done years earlier. It should have stayed that way, a poignant swan song and summing up of their entire career, one last magical hurrah, instead of being followed by 1949's abysmal 'Love Happy.'Movie Review: Classic Comedy!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
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!!!