In my youth two of the surviving Marx Brother films were never on television. One was ANIMAL CRACKERS. The other was A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA. Both had copy-write problems that took years to unravel. They only got released to the public again in the 1970s. Groucho was still alive when ANIMAL CRACKERS got released about 1973. He was not around for A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA.
Perhaps he would not have cared. He always thought the five Paramount films and A NIGHT AT THE OPERA and A DAY AT THE RACES were the best of the thirteen films he made. He always dismissed the films made after the death of Irving Thalberg because they were not made with the care Thalberg brought to "Opera" and "Races". That would include A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA.
It was not a fair statement, but in his later years the less attractive aspects of Groucho's personality came to the forefront. Groucho's ready wit delighted audiences, but he was very difficult to know intimately and like. Some of his statements (about director Sam Wood being a racist) are still questioned. His opinion of the post 1937 films is difficult to totally dismiss. AT THE CIRCUS, GO WEST, THE BIG STORE, and LOVE HAPPY had good moments in them but were decidedly weaker films than the first seven. But ROOM SERVICE and A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA were both successful comedies, if not as good as the first seven. Groucho's feelings about movie making post Thalberg was changed in one way that a number of his fans rarely think of. Thalberg's contract for the brother's joining MGM gave them a tremendous share of the profits (something that MGM head Louis B. Mayer was not thrilled about - and which helped determine his lack of interest in the brothers' subsequent films). Groucho's success in vaudeville, Broadway, and early films left him well-to-do, yet he, Chico, and Harpo, were still looking for work in 1936 - 1937. But the results of the first two films left all three brothers millionaires. They didn't have to keep working. In fact, their one film a year contract is ridiculous when compared to the existing contracts of W.C.Fields, Laurel & Hardy, and Wheeler & Woolsey, all of whom made two or three feature films a year. By the time THE BIG STORE was released (1941) the brothers (even heavy gambler Chico) did not require more money. Only in 1946, when Chico's gambling debts grew too big, did they agree to make a final film. Having relaxed for five years, and laid fallow as it were, the results were pretty good.
Look at it another way. After Zeppo left the team in 1933 there was nothing to suggest the brothers could not have split and gone separate ways. Harpo (like Zeppo) had appeared once in a film (a silent movie) without his brothers. Later on Howard Hughes tried to use him in the title role of Androcles in ANDROCLES AND THE LION. But that was his only attempt at a solo. Groucho actually did write a screenplay for a movie that was produced. He also published a book. In subsequent years Chico would take a band on the road. They could have separated. If they had, they could have made separate talkies. Groucho would (after 1946). Why did he wait until then? And once he got started, why was his number of solo film appearances so small (about five movies, as well as the game show YOU BET YOUR LIFE). Because he had no need to do so - he had enough money now.
Keeping this lack of need for making movies in mind it explains the better quality of NIGHT IN CASABLANCA. The film was not rushed but thought out. So Ronald Kornblow, the manager of the hotel in NIGHT IN CASABLANCA, is more memorable than...say J. Cheever Loophole in AT THE CIRCUS. His lines are better. The gags, such as Harpo's opening one of the collapsing house, or the packing/unpacking "ballet" at the expense of Sig Ruman's Nazi character, are far funnier than the best moments of the weaker films. The film is not flawless (the crashing of the plane onto police headquarters is too sudden to be fully effective - compare it with Laurel & Hardy's mad plane ride in THE FLYING DEUCES to see what I mean). But the flaws are not as bad as in GO WEST.
The topic of the search for post-war Nazi war criminals is not one to be considered humorous, but then the idea of suicide and dead bodies is not funny either - yet ROOM SERVICE's last half hour is hilarious regarding the latter. Here it is too, as the Nazis (Sig Ruman and his henchmen) live up to their personalities, but are shown to be capable of being flummoxed constantly. Watch Harpo get openly bored parrying the dueling strokes of one of the Nazis before an amazed Ruman.
As for Groucho, his attempts at sexual liaisons with the temptress Beatrice Rheiner (Lissette Verea)are constantly detoured or demolished by Harpo and Chico (and Chico even ends up with Beatrice at one point). No, this film is a worthy film for the brothers - their last worthy film.
Perhaps he would not have cared. He always thought the five Paramount films and A NIGHT AT THE OPERA and A DAY AT THE RACES were the best of the thirteen films he made. He always dismissed the films made after the death of Irving Thalberg because they were not made with the care Thalberg brought to "Opera" and "Races". That would include A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA.
It was not a fair statement, but in his later years the less attractive aspects of Groucho's personality came to the forefront. Groucho's ready wit delighted audiences, but he was very difficult to know intimately and like. Some of his statements (about director Sam Wood being a racist) are still questioned. His opinion of the post 1937 films is difficult to totally dismiss. AT THE CIRCUS, GO WEST, THE BIG STORE, and LOVE HAPPY had good moments in them but were decidedly weaker films than the first seven. But ROOM SERVICE and A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA were both successful comedies, if not as good as the first seven. Groucho's feelings about movie making post Thalberg was changed in one way that a number of his fans rarely think of. Thalberg's contract for the brother's joining MGM gave them a tremendous share of the profits (something that MGM head Louis B. Mayer was not thrilled about - and which helped determine his lack of interest in the brothers' subsequent films). Groucho's success in vaudeville, Broadway, and early films left him well-to-do, yet he, Chico, and Harpo, were still looking for work in 1936 - 1937. But the results of the first two films left all three brothers millionaires. They didn't have to keep working. In fact, their one film a year contract is ridiculous when compared to the existing contracts of W.C.Fields, Laurel & Hardy, and Wheeler & Woolsey, all of whom made two or three feature films a year. By the time THE BIG STORE was released (1941) the brothers (even heavy gambler Chico) did not require more money. Only in 1946, when Chico's gambling debts grew too big, did they agree to make a final film. Having relaxed for five years, and laid fallow as it were, the results were pretty good.
Look at it another way. After Zeppo left the team in 1933 there was nothing to suggest the brothers could not have split and gone separate ways. Harpo (like Zeppo) had appeared once in a film (a silent movie) without his brothers. Later on Howard Hughes tried to use him in the title role of Androcles in ANDROCLES AND THE LION. But that was his only attempt at a solo. Groucho actually did write a screenplay for a movie that was produced. He also published a book. In subsequent years Chico would take a band on the road. They could have separated. If they had, they could have made separate talkies. Groucho would (after 1946). Why did he wait until then? And once he got started, why was his number of solo film appearances so small (about five movies, as well as the game show YOU BET YOUR LIFE). Because he had no need to do so - he had enough money now.
Keeping this lack of need for making movies in mind it explains the better quality of NIGHT IN CASABLANCA. The film was not rushed but thought out. So Ronald Kornblow, the manager of the hotel in NIGHT IN CASABLANCA, is more memorable than...say J. Cheever Loophole in AT THE CIRCUS. His lines are better. The gags, such as Harpo's opening one of the collapsing house, or the packing/unpacking "ballet" at the expense of Sig Ruman's Nazi character, are far funnier than the best moments of the weaker films. The film is not flawless (the crashing of the plane onto police headquarters is too sudden to be fully effective - compare it with Laurel & Hardy's mad plane ride in THE FLYING DEUCES to see what I mean). But the flaws are not as bad as in GO WEST.
The topic of the search for post-war Nazi war criminals is not one to be considered humorous, but then the idea of suicide and dead bodies is not funny either - yet ROOM SERVICE's last half hour is hilarious regarding the latter. Here it is too, as the Nazis (Sig Ruman and his henchmen) live up to their personalities, but are shown to be capable of being flummoxed constantly. Watch Harpo get openly bored parrying the dueling strokes of one of the Nazis before an amazed Ruman.
As for Groucho, his attempts at sexual liaisons with the temptress Beatrice Rheiner (Lissette Verea)are constantly detoured or demolished by Harpo and Chico (and Chico even ends up with Beatrice at one point). No, this film is a worthy film for the brothers - their last worthy film.