Dir: Archie Mayo | with Groucho, Harpo, Chico Marx, Charles Drake, Lois Collier | uS Comedy 85’
Although nothing else in A Night in Casablanca begins to measure up to the opening gag with Harpo holding up the building, it remains the last truly vintage film the Marx Brothers ever made; and became something of a cause celebre when Jack Warner protested at the use of ‘Casablanca’ in the title. (It even has Dan Seymour from the original.)
It follows the familiar pattern, right down to the usual bland male lead (this time it’s the turn of Charles Drake). The boys must have got a lot of satisfaction to get laughs at the expense of Nazis, especially Sig Ruman who declares that “it will sooth me to see someone in pain”, while the level of the humour can guessed from the amount of time the film devotes to him losing his toupee.@RichardChatten
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