I'm not a connoisseur of the Marx Brothers films, and therefore take delight in reading some of the reviews from other posters for this and other movies of theirs on this site. What I can say is that I enjoy their pictures, and "A Night in Casablanca" is no exception. With such a title, I might have expected more of a connection to the famous Bogart film (my favorite of all time by the way), but then again, that wasn't important. Sure it had scheming Nazis and exotic looking sets reminiscent of Rick's 'Cafe Americain', but the letters of transit intrigue is replaced by the search for a missing Nazi treasure, and even then, it's the antics of Groucho, Chico and Harpo that take center stage.
There might be fewer gags and one liners here than in their better hailed classics like "Duck Soup", but things get off to a quick start with Harpo's 'holding up the building ' gag in an opening scene. Groucho, ever with an eye for the ladies, remarks on a rear view of Nazi accomplice Beatice Rheiner (Lisette Verea) - "That reminds me, I must get my watch fixed". Later, appearing the worse for wear following some more commotion - "What happened, I was stood up by a woman and knocked down by a car." I got a kick out of the clever gag using the center leafless table during the packing/unpacking scene, featuring almost everyone in the story.
It would have been cool to have a cameo or two by some of the principals from Bogey's "Casablanca" like Sidney Greenstreet or Peter Lorre, but since that wasn't the case, you have decent support from Sig Ruman as undercover Nazi big wig Pfferrman/Stubel and Dan Seymour as Prefect Brizzard. Verea introduces "Who's Sorry Now?" in a singing number, sounding very little (at least to my tin ear) like the hit Connie Francis would make of it. All in all, the film is an entertaining hour and a half, and a pretty good send off for the Marx Brothers.
There might be fewer gags and one liners here than in their better hailed classics like "Duck Soup", but things get off to a quick start with Harpo's 'holding up the building ' gag in an opening scene. Groucho, ever with an eye for the ladies, remarks on a rear view of Nazi accomplice Beatice Rheiner (Lisette Verea) - "That reminds me, I must get my watch fixed". Later, appearing the worse for wear following some more commotion - "What happened, I was stood up by a woman and knocked down by a car." I got a kick out of the clever gag using the center leafless table during the packing/unpacking scene, featuring almost everyone in the story.
It would have been cool to have a cameo or two by some of the principals from Bogey's "Casablanca" like Sidney Greenstreet or Peter Lorre, but since that wasn't the case, you have decent support from Sig Ruman as undercover Nazi big wig Pfferrman/Stubel and Dan Seymour as Prefect Brizzard. Verea introduces "Who's Sorry Now?" in a singing number, sounding very little (at least to my tin ear) like the hit Connie Francis would make of it. All in all, the film is an entertaining hour and a half, and a pretty good send off for the Marx Brothers.