A Night in Casablanca
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| A Night in Casablanca | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. |
|
| Directed by | Archie Mayo |
| Produced by | David L. Loew |
| Starring | Groucho Marx Harpo Marx Chico Marx Charles Drake |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | May 10, 1946 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 85 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
A Night in Casablanca (1946) was the twelfth Marx Brothers' movie. The film stars Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, and Harpo Marx. It was directed by Archie Mayo and written by Joseph Fields and Roland Kibbee.
[edit] Story
The story takes place in Casablanca after World War II. Two managers of the hotel have been murdered and they hire Ronald Kornblow (Groucho) as the new manager. The villain of the movie is Count Pfferman, also known as Heinrich Stubel, (a Nazi) played by "Sig Ruman," (the same actor as Siegfried Rumann from A Night at the Opera). As a treasure of priceless objects stolen by the Nazis is hidden there, the Nazis want control of the hotel.
The film contains the song "Who's Sorry Now?" with music by Ted Snyder and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. It is sung in French by Lisette Verea playing the part of Beatrice Rheiner, and then later sung in English (see image). Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 is played twice, once by Chico on piano as an intro to the Beer Barrel Polka, and again by Harpo on the harp.
As in A Day at the Races, Harpo uses charades to tell Chico about the plot to undermine (or kill in this case) Groucho's character.
[edit] Controversy
A popular myth (spread in part by Groucho himself) surrounding the movie is that the Marx Brothers were threatened with a lawsuit by Warner Brothers for the use of the word "Casablanca" in the title, it being an infringement on the company's rights to the 1942 film Casablanca. Groucho responded with a letter asserting that he and his siblings had use of the word "brothers" prior to the establishment of Warner Brothers (and many others had before that), and often the story is told that Groucho threatened a counter-suit based on this assertion.
The true story is that the original storyline for the film was intended to be a direct parody of Casablanca, with characters having similar sounding names to the characters and actors in the 1942 film. (Groucho said an early draft named his character "Humphrey Bogus".) Warner Brothers did not actually sue, or even threaten to, but did issue a formal inquiry to the Marx Brothers concerning the plot and script of the film.
The Marx Brothers exploited the situation for publicity, making it appear to the public that a frivolous lawsuit was in the works, and Groucho sent several open letters to Warner Brothers to get newspaper coverage. These letters were among those donated to the Library of Congress by Groucho, and reprinted in his book The Groucho Letters (1967).
In the end, the matter died without legal action, and the storyline of the film was changed to be a send-up on the genre rather than Casablanca specifically. [1] Interestingly enough, Warner Brothers now owns the rights to this film.
[edit] External links
- A Night in Casablanca at the Internet Movie Database
- A Night in Casablanca at the TCM Movie Database
- The Warner Brothers story at snopes.com
- The letter to Warner Brothers
| The Marx Brothers |
|---|
| Chico Marx | Harpo Marx | Groucho Marx | Gummo Marx | Zeppo Marx |
| Films with Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo |
|
Humor Risk (1921) • The Cocoanuts (1929) • Animal Crackers (1930) • |
| Films with Chico, Harpo, and Groucho |
|
A Night at the Opera (1935) • A Day at the Races (1937) • Room Service (1938) • At the Circus (1939) • |
