I was looking back at an older blog post about my ranking if the Marx Brothers films and I think I ranked it lower than A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races.
Well, I don't agree with that anymore.
While I still think the films they did at Paramount (with the exception of the Coconuts) are their very best, I actually prefer A Night in Casablanca over either Opera or Races. Despite the fact most consider those two classics.
The problem with the films they did at MGM was despite their name being on the title, they really weren't the stars of any of those films. They became co-stars in their own movies to the sappy romantic leads. Whereas in the Paramount films you knew they were the leads.
I always preferred Harpo being a bit of a bastard in the earlier films rather than the child like sympathetic character MGM turned him into.
Having watched Casablanca (the Marx one not the one produced by those other Brothers) again several years ago, this almost felt like a return to the feel of the Paramount movies. True the Brothers are beginning to look a bit long in the tooth. But it does give them one last enjoyable outing. Which can't be said about any of their later films for MGM.
And best of all, that over baked glazed ham Allan Jones is nowhere to be found.
Give A Night in Casablanca another try. I did and I'm glad I did.
No comments:
Post a Comment