A Night in Casablanca (1946)

Directed by Archie Mayo. Starring Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Sig Ruman, Lisette Verea, Charles Drake, Lois Collier, Frederick Giermann, Lewis L. Russell, Dan Seymour.

In a lightweight plot as much Hope & Crosby as those Marx lunatics, Groucho arrives as the new manager of Hotel Casablanca immediately after the war, where a Nazi war criminal (Ruman) is looking to make off with stolen priceless art hidden in the hotel. No great set pieces in the first of two Marx Brothers productions distributed by United Artists, but a mostly steady stream of chuckles from start to finish (along with a belly laugh here and there). The music breaks include the standard routines of Chico on the piano and Harpo on the harp, but they don’t overstay their welcome; best of all, the usual wimpy love story used to hold these contraptions together is relegated to the sidelines at nearly every turn. Ruman’s a good comic foil, but he’s no Margaret Dumont. Altogether, the comedy team’s best in almost a decade, with some of Groucho’s funniest wisecracks since those early MGM days.

67/100