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Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Lisette Verea, Charles Drake ... see more see more... , Lois Collier , Dan Seymour , Lewis L. Russell , Frederick Giermann , Sig Rumann , Paul Harvey , Marx Brothers , Harro Meller , Ruth Roman , David Hoffman

After a five-year absence, the Marx Brothers returned to the screen in the independently-produced effort A Night in Casablanca. Originally conceived as a parody of Casablanca (with character names lik... read more read more...e "Humphrey Bogus" and "Lowen Behold"), the film emerged as a spoof of wartime melodramas in general. Someone has been methodically murdering the managers of the Hotel Casablanca, and that someone is escaped Nazi war criminal Heinrich Stubel (Sig Ruman). Disguised as a Count Pfefferman, Stubel intends to reclaim the stolen art treasures that he's hidden in a secret room somewhere in the hotel, and the only way he can do this undetected is by bumping off the managers and taking over the hotel himself. The newest manager of Hotel Casablanca is former motel proprietor Ronald Kornblow (Groucho Marx), who, blissfully unaware that he's been hired only because no one else will take the job, immediately takes charge in his own inimitably inept fashion. Corbacchio (Chico Marx), owner of the Yellow Camel company, appoints himself as Kornblow's bodyguard, aided and abetted by Stubel's mute valet Rusty (Harpo Marx). In his efforts to kill Kornblow, Stubel dispatches femme fatale Beatrice Reiner (Lisette Verea) to romance the lecherous manager, leading to a hilarious recreation of a key comedy sequence in the Marxes' earlier A Day at the Races. Arrested on a trumped-up charge, Kornblow, Corbacchio and Rusty escape in time to foil Stubel and his stooges. As in most Marx Brothers epics, A Night in Casablanca includes a tiresome romantic subplot, this time involving disgraced French flyer (Pierre) and his faithful sweetheart Annette (Lois Collier). Though hampered by listless direction and witless one-liners, A Night in Casablanca contains enough hilarity to compensate for its many flaws; some of the best visual gags were conceived by an uncredited Frank Tashlin, including Harpo's legendary "holding up the building" bit. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flixster Users

70% liked it

7,118 ratings

Critics

57% liked it

7 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min.

Directed by: Archie Mayo

Release Date: May 10, 1946

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DVD Release Date: May 4, 2004

Stats: 238 reviews

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Chico, Lisa Verea and Groucho Sig Ruman and Harpo Lisa Verea and Groucho A Night in Casablanca A Night in Casablanca Lisette Verea Lisette Verea
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Flixster Reviews (238)

  • ajv2688
    October 21, 2010
    ajv2688
    Not the best of the Marx Brothers movies, but it is really funny, and I recommend seeing it if you're a fan.
  • flixsterman
    June 8, 2009
    flixsterman
    Now I love the Marx Brothers but this feels a little forced. This isn't horrible, not by a long shot, but it's no Duck Soup either. Sort of a conglomerate rehash of bits we've seen before.
  • hypathio7
    January 12, 2010
    hypathio7
    The Marx Brothers financed this production themselves and took some of the comic bits on a touring stage show again to test them. This extra work pays off. There was a four year gap since The Big Store was released and over ten years since their first MGM picture, A Night at th... read moree Opera. This movie has a slight flavor of the classic Casablanca, but it really has its own story without just spoofing the Bogart film. For once the romantic couple of Pierre and Annette played by Drake and Collier are not pushed to the forefront unnecessarily. They have no solos or duets to steal screen time away from the brothers. Having Sig Ruman back again for the brothers to harass with loony antics is almost as good as having Dumont. He is a Count, a former Nazi staying undercover at a hotel in Casablanca. The Count has been ordering a series of hotel managers murders because a treasure has been hidden on the premises. The Count has Beatrice, played by Verea, in on the plan to snatch the treasure. She is seductive, funny, and much more striking as a female lead than Collier. Harpo briefly serves as the Count's manservant. Chico hangs around with no real reason for being there, but later assigns himself as a bodyguard yet again. Groucho is Kornblow, the schmuck hired as the new hotel manager. Eventually Harpo discovers the treasure by accident, but takes a time out to play another beautiful piece on the harp, Groucho escapes a few attempts on his life, and the wisecracks and timing of the comic routines are restored to their former glory. Harpo driving the Count and his other servant mad, Harpo reprising a game of charades with Chico, Groucho taking revenge on a customer for calling him clerk, the bits on the elevator, Groucho carrying too much stuff from room to room for a date with Beatrice, the boys unpacking the Count's suitcases, and some of the business on the plane are great comic set pieces. Far better than their previous three movies.
  • 9876a
    June 14, 2008
    9876a
    --Call me Montgomery.
    --Is that your name?
    --No. I'm just breaking it in for a friend.
  • placeinthesun455
    August 3, 2010
    placeinthesun455
    though it's nothing particularly new and the humour isn't really natural and free-flowing, this is still a pretty hilarious movie. the trunk scene and the Chico-Harpo exchanges are definitely the standouts. not especially memorable in all truthfulness, but "average" or "late ca... read morereer" Marx Bros. comedy is still worlds better than a lot of crap that comes out today
  • jam233
    July 20, 2009
    jam233
    Very underrated Marx Brothers comedy, It's one of their best films with many unforgettable gags and one liners. Harpo is at his best. Laugh out loud funny. Just wonderful.
  • 01MovieMan
    December 4, 2008
    01MovieMan
    This is a very funny movie

    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...( read more read more... )," wrote the usually cantanker... read moreous 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
  • DustinPrewitt
    August 15, 2007
    DustinPrewitt
    the Marx brothers are a little out of place (and starting to show their age) in an exoctic post-WWII adventure film... but despite a formulatic plot (with a few holes in it) and forced moments, its still full of alot of good laughs
  • americanchick0440
    May 30, 2007
    americanchick0440
    This movie is a hilarious, rib-cracking escapade of jokes and punch lines. I enjoyed watching it immensely!

View All A Night in Casablanca Reviews

Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz
March 16, 2008
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The slapstick comedy antics and string of relentless Groucho one-liners seemed more tired than subversively funny. Full Review

Mark Bourne
April 6, 2006
Mark Bourne, DVDJournal.com

Point some of that blame at the cumbersome screenplay and lackluster director Archie Mayo, a.k.a. 'that fat idiot' to Groucho, who said Mayo 'emasculated' the picture. Full Review

Walter Chaw
August 30, 2004
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

An undercooked espionage spoof that takes meek aim at Casablanca a time or two but generally just plays like the mercenary piece of garbage that it is. Full Review

Ken Hanke
November 20, 2003
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Penultimate Marx Bros. film suffers by comparison with their glory days, but still worth a look.

June 19, 2008
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

March 25, 2006
New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Jeffrey Westhoff
August 12, 2005
Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

No review available.

Emanuel Levy
June 27, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Nell Minow
February 25, 2005
Nell Minow, Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

No review available.

January 26, 2006
Time Out

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Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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A Night in Casablanca Trivia

  • The line, "Play it again, Sam," never actually appears in the movie Casablanca. It does, however, appear in which Marx Brothers movie?  Answer »
  • In the Marx Brothers film, A Night in Casablanca, what piece of music does Harpo play, on the harp of course.  Answer »
  • Which three Marx brothers' films are set extensively in a hotel?  Answer »
  • In which film did the line "Play it again, Sam" appear?  Answer »
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