NIGHT IN CASABLANCA, A

“Groucho can still sling one-liners that thrill with deadly precision.” - AllMovie

Widely considered the best of the Marx Brothers’ later comedies, A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA was even celebrated by ultra-discerning critic Pauline Kael. The Marx trio 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. Groucho responded, "I am sure that the average movie fan could learn in time to distinguish between Ingrid Bergman and Harpo." Here, Groucho plays 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 three years later, but as any fan will tell you, A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA was the last Marx comedy that matters.