|
Author
|
Topic: A Night In Casablanca Derann reprint!
|
Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted June 19, 2018 11:37 AM
I’m surprised that I never did a review of this near classic Marx Brothers film …
“ A Night In Casablanca” (1946)
There were two main reasons why this film came to pass …
1. The popularity of the already beginning to be a classic film, Casablanca!
2. Chico was once again in trouble with his “bookies” and other debts that he owed to “various people”.
However, the Marx Brother’s as a team had never ruled out making more films but by this time, Chico and Harpo’s individual careers had already begun to falter, (now already teaming together as a nightclub act) and Groucho was already making feature films without his brothers which Chico and Harpo were not, as a general rule, capable of, (and Groucho was quick to skyrocket to further fame with "You Bet Your Life").
The team were already fed up with having others doing they’re writing as was evidenced by the last three poor Marx Brothers ventures at MGM, At the Circus, Go West and The Big Store, (though this had proved to be a big problem with not only the Marx Bothers but other teams such as Laurel and Hardy who had “creative control” taken away from them as well. Big paychecks for the comedy teams but poor films while at MGM).
So, when a decent script was written for the team for “A Night in Casablanca” they jumped at the opportunity, as well as decent paychecks! The script was well written for the three of them with sections for each of them to shine individually as well as a team.
There would be the “obligatory” but nnecessary “romantic/song” subplot, but fortunately for us, the Marx Brothers once again shine and fare far better than in the last three films.
Groucho insults his clientele as a hotel manager yet again.
Groucho lecherously pursues a lady.
Chico does his best to keep Groucho from the lady (who he wants as well).
Chico and Harpo do they’re best to insult Groucho as well as interfere in his life in general.
Harpo has his opportunities to shine as a silent comedienne as well as part of the team.
Harpo plays his harp.
Chico plays his piano.
Groucho plays everybody else.
The familiar plot elements that have served the Marx Brother so well and with the added element of the brother being topical to the times as there are German spies running around Casablanca (looking for hidden treasures in the hotel), works together brilliantly. It should be noted that this was actually made in 1945, during World War 2, but would not be released until 1946.
It even has Sig Runman, (who had been a "bully" in a number of the Marx Brrothers better films at MGM). The only sadness is that Margeret Dumont was apparantly unavailable to be in the
film.
A great bit of Marx Brother, to be sure and one of the rare near full length Marx Brother features, (apart from the rare “Day at the Races” as well as the even rarer feature of “Duck Soup”) on super 8.
This a feature film of the Marx Brother that has seen a number of releases on super 8 but fortunately it finally got a very good release.
Mountain Films of the UK was one of the companies that released this on super 8, (there was also a release of this on standard 8mm as well), and it was released in the 4X400t format as well as a 400ft release and a 200ft release, (with a title that told you nothing of the content of the 200ft).
This 4X400ft slightly edited feature is a very good example of this form of editing as, nearly none of the Marx Brothers is missing to this and just the needless romantic subplot
which, at the time, seemed necessary but lets face it, you watch a Marx Brothers film to see the Marx Brother and anything else is just a unnecessary distraction from why you see a Marx Brothers film in the first place. It flows very well with little evidence of the romantic subplot.
What should make collectors of this super 8 film quite happy is that, at some point, Derann films acquired the negative from Mountain Films for this print and they, as they often did, reprinted this for a Derann release. Note, they didn’t just sell Mountains own printed copies but made they’re own new prints.
This meant that Derann’s prints of this were definitely sharper prints as well as having a better contrast to the print as well which is not surprising in that, except for a few exceptions (Kempski’s original prints were better than Derann’s reprints … personal opinion), Derann’s prints were just better of other companies titles. The blacks are much richer as well. I have been informed that Mountain Films prints could vary a lot on each title depending on the film lab that was used, where Derann films would make the absolute best of the negative that they got ahold of.
Another big plus is that the soundtrack on this film is MUCH better, sharper than the original soundtrack on the Mountain release, which was somewhat fuzzy and at times quite hard to understand. No problems like this on this print. I should note that it does have a good deal of "surface hiss" still evident that I assume you couldn't get rid of, as it exists in the original source audio.
The Derann print was a black and white print on colour stock, but this was common in the 80’s into the 90’s and doesn’t effect the quality of the image in any perceptible way.
The only slight downside on my print is that, for some odd reason reel 3 of 4 the color film has a very bluish tint to it where the other reels look quite natural, and it's also a little dark and not quite as sharp as the other three reels but being that it isn’t a color film to begin with, it’s acceptable.
Also, I don’t if someone just omitted this on the Mountain films print that I originally had, but this print of “A Night In Casablanca” has the original British Film Board logos at the beginning, approving of it’s release, which is nice to see at the beginning.
So, if you love the Marx Brothers, if you love this film, than I highly encourage you to seek out this Derann re-issue of this very funny Marx Brother release.
A little shout out to Barry Attwood of Independent 8 from whom I bought this print from.
… and, as always
LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!!!
--------------------
"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted June 23, 2018 10:50 AM
High praise from you, Tom, and I do enjoy you're reviews as well.
If I ever get a chance, i would love to find a Derann reel number 3 of this feature to replace the sub-par one it has. I mean, compared to reels 1,2 and 4, reel 3, well, something seemed to go wrong with reel 3. this was originally on one 1200ft reel, but going from reel 2 to reel 3, that color and image change was fairly jarring. it actually works better on 4X400ft reels.
Tom, when you run you';re print of this, can you pay careful attention as to whether that short scene on the phones between Sig Runman (in the shower) and the lady working with him, is in you're print. I know that Derann used the Mountain negeative, so it follows that this short scene must have been in the original Mountain prints, but for some odd reason, I don't remember it.
--------------------
"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
