Rick's Place Was Never Like This

 

A Night In Casablanca (1946) – The Marx Brothers take on Nazis in post-war North Africa in search of a hidden treasure.

Directed by Archie Mayo Starring Grouch, Chico and Harpo Marx

Why I Liked It – An overlooked Marx Brothers classic!

The original concept was to parody the classic Humphrey Bogart movie “Casablanca.” In the end, the studio decided to avoid copyright issues and make a more “original” movie. Which doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of sly nods to the other movie.

Instead of a cafe run by a mysterious American, you have the Hotel Casablanca. A hotel which has lost several General Managers to mysterious causes. Despite maneuvering by Count Pfefferman (played by the talented character actor Sig Ruman) to take over, it is Mr. Kornblow (Groucho) who arrives to become the hotel manager. Pfferman is actually a famous Nazi, Heinrich Stubel, who is looking to reclaim a treasure trove hidden somewhere at the hotel. Kornblow resists all the attempts to get him out of the way in typical Groucho Marx fashion. Assisted by Carbaccio (Chico), who runs the local camel taxi service and Rusty (Harpo), who is Pfefferman’s mute (of course) valet.

This movie is often overlooked on the list of the best of the Marx Brothers movies. It comes later in their careers (they had retired by this time and came back to deal with Chico’s financial issues), but holds up with the rest. “Duck Soup” is often listed as their best movie, which has never made sense to me. The Paramount movies with Irving Thalberg are the best by a large margin to my eye. This is the closest to the feel of the Thalberg classics. Groucho is ridiculous as always, muttering, leering, and fleeing in confusion. Chico plots, connives, and plays a mean piano, while Harpo is outrageous and silent (more on that in a minute). You get all the things you expect, Groucho’s sarcastic asides, Chico “shooting” notes, Harpo finding and playing a harp. There’s a romance sub-plot with a young pilot who has figured out what’s going on with the hotel manager’s deaths and the treasure, and a beautiful young girl. The rest is not as relentlessly paced as earlier movies, but fares well overall.

There are several interesting tidbits here. Character actor Dan Seymour plays the Police Prefect. If you’re of a certain age, or are a fan of the 1960s “Batman” television show, Seymour played the villainous “King Tut.” Amusingly, he also appeared in the Bogart “Casablanca”. The real oddities here center on Harpo Marx. Harpo’s silence was a characteristic that the actor maintained even during public appearances. They offered him $50,000 to say a single word in this movie (“Murder!”). That’s the equivalent of about $700,000 today. SPOILER ALERT (he declined). Fans will also note that Harpo’s hair is wrong here. In the past, he always wore a blonde wig. For some reason, they decided to dye his real hair and mimic the wig. It looks odd.

If you love the banter and slapstick nature of the Marx Brothers, this is a solid movie to include in your viewing. If you’ve never seen Groucho, Chico and Harpo and would love to figure out the reputation, I’d point you towards either “A Night At The Opera”, or “A Day At The Races”, but you won’t go far wrong with this one, either.

Rating – **** Recommended