British Comedy Guide

A Night in Casablanca (1946)

The last film the 3 Marx brothers made (no Zeppo or Gummo) and was a sight better than some of the iffy MGM films they made, being back to what they did best. The routine of Harpo helping the pompous Nazi get dressed at the beginning of the film had me hooked. So funny 😆

Is that the one with the sequence where they jam all the tables into the restaurant?
Love that.
One day, a bold man will edit all those films (except possibly Duck Soup) into tight 30 min shorts.
So much brilliant material diluted by so much 2nd-rate padding.

Yes. Harpo and Chico need to raise some money quickly, so they turn the big queue to get into the posh hotel restaurant into a money spinner by taking back handers from the queuing guests and just keep packing them into and on the dance floor with tables and chairs, to which Groucho who was dancing with a dame he had his sights on remarked how much smaller dance floors are these days, leaving him and his lady the only ones dancing in the end - yes, so funny, and reminds of the other gag they did like that in A Night At The Opera, where they kept on getting various room service personnel to come to their small cabin with no one leaving to the extent that it just got ridiculous, and hilarious! 😂

When the assistant engineer turns up creases me up, and what Groucho says....................

The joy of this scene is the sheer amount of brilliant lines combined with the physical stuff.

I love the Marx Brothers and have all their films on DVD.

From the IMDb :- And that was a lot of money to turn down in 1946!

Trivia
According to The Marx Brothers biographer Joe Adamson, Harpo Marx was offered $50,000 to utter the single word "Murder!" in this film, presumably to add publicity value to the film by having him speak for the only time on-screen. Harpo declined the offer and never spoke publicly until a concert one year before his death. As he told reporters at the time: "I've spent 25 years creating the illusion that I can't talk. No matter what you write, they won't believe it's me talking. They'll think you made it up."

Quote: Lazzard @ 16th May 2023, 10:11 AM

Is that the one with the sequence where they jam all the tables into the restaurant?
Love that.
One day, a bold man will edit all those films (except possibly Duck Soup) into tight 30 min shorts.
So much brilliant material diluted by so much 2nd-rate padding.

This would be a good idea
I love Groucho, but have never really watched a whole Marx Brothers movie, I mostly know them from a few classic scenes
As time stretches farther they will just be more and more forgotten
Laurel and Hardy I still love but a lot of that is to do with the tea time showings they had of their shorts when I was younger, and of course Bilko still stands up very well.
But the Marx Brothers probably passed me by somewhat
As did the three Stooges but they are welcome to

Quote: Steve Sunshine @ 17th May 2023, 12:34 AM

This would be a good idea
I love Groucho, but have never really watched a whole Marx Brothers movie, I mostly know them from a few classic scenes
As time stretches farther they will just be more and more forgotten
Laurel and Hardy I still love but a lot of that is to do with the tea time showings they had of their shorts when I was younger, and of course Bilko still stands up very well.
But the Marx Brothers probably passed me by somewhat
As did the three Stooges but they are welcome to

Welcome to what? I don't think I've ever seen the Three Stooges. My dad loved the Marx Brothers so we'd always watch their films on TV together which in those days would've been very far and between.

Quote: Chappers @ 17th May 2023, 6:28 AM

Welcome to what? I don't think I've ever seen the Three Stooges.

I've never watched a Three Stooges film all the way through - just found the humour too childish

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