http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038777/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 After a five year layoff and a promised farewell from the screen, The Marx Brothers, influencing countless rock artists in the future, break their promise and give the public more. Hey, I'm glad they broke their promise because A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA is a good film. If I were to write a short review, I'd sum it up like this - take away the first eight or ten minutes that focuses heavily on the romantic couple and replace the ending action sequence with something more comedic and we have a perfect Marx Brothers movie. As it stands now, I will not write a short review, so I will do more than state the bread's a little moldy but the meat is wonderful.
The romantic couple have no sappy lines towards each other. The country was in a different place in 1946 than it was during their MGM days, so the sappy lines are more jingoistic in nature than romantic. Frankly, these two characters were completely unnecessary and fortunately do not have much to do with the middle of the film. The plot itself could have easily been carried by the brothers and actually is carried by the brothers for a good portion of the film. As for the ending, it's not bad as an action sequence, I just would have preferred something more comedic in nature, think the end of GO WEST.
OK, the bad stuff out of the way, there is plenty of good stuff to go around. We get a good old fashioned charades game between Chico and Harpo like in the Paramount days, always a welcome sight. The funny payoff is a few minutes later, Harpo tries to communicate in the same way towards Groucho, only to have a bewildered Groucho response. Really funny seeing poor Harpo extracting such effort to communicate for nothing.
The scene in the hotel room where they keep messing around with the Nazi's packed things without getting caught is a comic sequence of pure genius. It is extended brilliantly and never gets old. Harpo hiding inside the top of the trunk and slamming the lid on the Nazi's fingers is always good for a laugh, but I think my favorite part is Groucho assuring Chico inside the closet everything will be OK because he's hidden in closets before. Whether intended this way or not, it feels like a reference to Groucho's closet scene with Thelma Todd in MONKEY BUSINESS.
I also want to give a shout out to Sig Ruman as the Nazi enemy. He appeared with the brothers as the enemy in a lot of the MGM's and always did a fine job. He actually has quite an impressive filmography overall, so he deserves a mention for sure. Lisette Verea as Beatrice is a more than worthy femme fatale for Groucho, frankly as good as Thelma Todd was, so it's a bit shocking to see this is her only American film credit. I don't know if this was a personal choice or whether she was blacklisted or what, but she's great here.
Speaking of her, classic exchange between her and Groucho.
Groucho: "Do you know I think you're the most beautiful woman in the world?"
Beatrice: "Really?"
Groucho: "No, but I don't mind lying if I think it will get me somewhere."
Other highlights include Harpo's as usual awesome solo, the sword fighting scene, and Harpo in the hotel room pinned against the wall. I never noticed this before, but when Harpo is pinned against the wall by all those shoes, he's not just acting silly, he's actually shining all the shoes! Notice the strategically placed brushes on his head, hands, and under his armpits so when he moves around, the shoes are being shined. Oh, and the food tasting scene does a great job featuring all three brothers - it's chaos again reminds me of the Paramount days.
A DAY AT THE RACES would be a perfect 10 if they could have trimmed the fat. A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA would be a perfect 10 if it started and ended better, but oh friends, let's be thankful for that extended middle. Next week is LOVE HAPPY, the conclusion of our Marx Brothers discussion. It's been a lot of fun, guys. Thankfully we got plenty more Stooges and Laurel and Hardy left to fill the void.
8/10