DVD/150: A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA (Archie Mayo, 1946)

The Marx Brothers quit films in 1941 but by 1946, Chico was in debt due to his gambling addiction so they returned to the screen with A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA.  Having lost their MGM contract, CASABLANCA was released through United Artists.

Their last few films had reduced budgets and their unique anarchic spark had been watered down by playing almost second fiddle to insipid romantic couples and the obligatory instrumental solos for Harpo and Chico.

A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA follows this pattern with them shoe-horned into a lacklustre espionage plot where ex-Nazis are killing recurring hotel managers who get in the way of them finding hidden Nazi loot within the Casablanca hotel. 

Enter Groucho as Ronald Kornblow, the new hotel manager, who joins forces with the ex-Nazi's bullied valet Rusty (Harpo) and camel taxi-owner Corbaccio (Chico) to get into various scrapes and unwittingly foil the baddies.

Shelf or charity shop?  I am still undecided... Groucho is always worth watching but the film has them revisiting earlier situations but with a tired air which probably reflects that Groucho, Harpo and Chico were respectively 56, 58 and 59 at the time of filming.  I suspect it will stay in my dvd limbo of a plastic storage box.