A Night in Casablanca (1946) - film review

A gang of Nazis in Casablanca are planning to secure the management of a hotel so that they can get their hands on the priceless art treasures hidden in one of its rooms.  To do this, they murder a succession of managers of the hotel, but before their leader, Count Pfferman, can act, another manager is appointed in his place.  The new manager Ronald Kornblow has some interesting ideas for livening things up in the hotel, such as mixing up all the room numbers.  Unaware that he is to be the Nazis’ next target, Kornblow falls for the seductive charms of their accomplice, Annette.   Corbaccio, the owner of a camel rental business, learns the truth and offers his services as Kornblow’s bodyguard.  Kornblow insists that he doesn’t have a body worth guarding and is too busy being seduced by Annette to care about little things like armed assassins.  Corbaccio joins forces with Pfferman’s servant Rusty to save Kornblow and prevent the treasures from falling into the Nazis’ hands.  At least they try to...

The Marx Brothers’ penultimate film may not match up to their earlier achievements but it is a moderately enjoyable romp that could so easily have been a classic were it not for the needlessly convoluted plot and a lacklustre supporting cast.  Originally intended as a parody of the Bogart-Bergman classic Casablanca (1942), the film ended up as a generic pastiche of the film noir thriller, hence the muddled plot and stylistic noir touches that are uncharacteristic of a Marx Brothers film.  Groucho is on fine form and delivers the best gags.  By contrast, Harpo and Chico look as if they would rather be doing something else and offer few decent laughs.  They could have been replaced with Abbott and Costello and no one would have noticed.

Whilst the film was being prepared, Warner Brothers were concerned over what the Marxes were up to and wrote a letter requesting an outline of the plot for the film.  Never one to pass up the opportunity for some easy publicity, Groucho spun the line that Warner Brothers were considering legal action on the basis that they owned the exclusive rights to Casablanca, having made a film with that as its title.  Marx published a letter in which he berated the studio for their meanness, stating: “the average movie fan could learn in time to distinguish between Ingrid Bergman and Harpo. I don’t know whether I could, but I certainly would like to try.“  He added, in similar tongue-in-cheek vein: “You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about the name Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were.“  Warner Brothers chose not to respond and the threat of legal action failed to acquire any substance.

© Steve Chandler 2010

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