The Marx Brothers Secondary Video Media (1950-1951) Review

After what is considered the last Marx Brothers film, though in truth a Harpo solo, Love Happy, the boys got busy with solo projects. Groucho had some movie star juice left in him, but the others went round to the world of television, never to return to the movies. You Bet Your Life will be covered another day.

CHICO

Papa Romani

Papa Romani is on its face a little odd. While the title character and his wife are extremely Italian, the setting and their children are in contrast very American. A believable patriarch character being forged from someone like Chico is quite the feat in its own right, with him still able to express a lot of the quirks he had in the movies. Jeff Silver as the son, Mickee, has a few good comedic moments. Less can be said for the daughter Lucy, played by Alice Ann Kelley. Another surprise about this episode is after a dry first few minutes, it gets much better. Papa with the broom and bits like the soup joke are very funny. The main detractor is how often multiple characters are yelling, with it sounding very grating. Argentina Brunetti as Mama Romani often raises her voice and it gets very tiresome.

Chico has to share screen time with some others. While that can be a shame as you’re probably watching this for him, the minor players are great. Margaret Hamilton is glorious in her role as an inept and self centered neighbor. She about makes me wish she had been Mama Romani, but then she wouldn’t be able to be this role. There’s a great dynamic of her giving over-intrusive instructions, which Papa doesn’t seem to mind, but he also misunderstands. William Frawley’s ridiculous confrontations with Hamilton are joyous. It seems there were only ever two episodes of Papa Romani, with the other being lost. That’s a shame as there’s a lot of potential here. Imagine a show where Papa Romani is living near a bunch of people played by Hollywood stars? Maybe Groucho and Harpo can appear once in a blue moon?

The episode might seem dull at first, that it would just be about Mama being afraid of the phone, but it escalates in unexpected ways and is overall very funny.

SPOILERS

Papa is a bit of an asshole, trying to get his wife to use the phone. The telephone man says they should keep in touch, then he never reappears. That is an amusing thing you see in 50s media, where there’s more familiarity between people, where a phone man will want to keep in touch with random employees. Unfortunately, Papa turns down money when offered, unlike in the best movies. Chico would never do that! It is a little horrifying that Papa got in legal trouble over essentially a misunderstanding, and also that apparently someone can be freed by a threat being made at the police.

The College Bowl January surviving episode

The College Bowl is a proper Chico Marx-led sitcom that’s unfortunately improper as often as it can. Despite a full season of episodes having been made, only two survive. To cover the earlier of the two… the acting and dialogue aren’t exactly Oscar worthy, take as example the scene of a guy who spends all his money on hot fudge sundaes, Chico’s hamburger joke, and Chico describing the college; which seemed like it was set up as a big laugh moment, but the material and the performance are simply extremely run of the mill. Even the studio audience rarely laughs, or gives weak ones. I can forgive the extremely, extremely generic plot and the bad acting, if this served to give Chico good lines. He can’t even get that. Instead he’s the “older man giving wisdom” type. Why make Chico a voice of reason? He’s famously self-centered and idiotic. Leave the moralizing to Tom Bosley. All the other performances are worse.

The musical numbers often come in suddenly. During Tommy’s first, he sounds like he forgot he was supposed to sing, starting strangely, and also was warming up on his first few lines. To stretch for positives, bits like Chico talking about his past in Italy could be worse and with more work could’ve been a good joke or character moment. The singing is not special, but it’s not as bad as it could be. Everybody’s voices and singing ability are decent enough that they aren’t hard to listen to. Andy Williams would later go on to have a very successful career. He’s easily the best singer in this show.

While Papa Romani was surprisingly good, this episode was much worse than you’d expect, with its elements as milquetoast as possible. Running for the least favorite part is when Tommy stands on a table. Disgusting.

SPOILERS

You’d expect Tommy to either go with the manager and be shown to regret it or be given a reason to not go with him. Here, Chico lies about him, Tommy gets upset, then acts like Chico is a sage and takes his advice. What changed his mind? You’d think he’d be extra against listening to Chico. The manager didn’t do anything to seem particularly untrustworthy. A possible reason for him changing his mind, though not a believable one, was because his girlfriend called him a bully. What did he do that could possibly be considered bullying? The manager also said he needed a fighter, but then seems fine going without one when Tommy decides to stay.

The College Bowl finale

After sitcoms got a reputation of being far too nice and friendly and happy, we started getting “subversive” sitcoms that generally have more cynicism. The Marx Brothers seem like the type to make one of those subversive or parody sitcoms. Thus, it’s weird seeing Chico slot so much in as a participant of basically the most generic sitcom you could imagine. This episode at least has the benefit of dishonesty saving the day. The jokes are a little better than last time, but still nothing worthwhile on their own. The chain joke is smirk-worthy. “You better say some more because I no understand what you just said” is an alright line. The songs are generally better than last episode and also better than any other element of the series. It’s amusing hearing the various players sing, only for Andy Williams to get a section and blow everyone else out of the water. There’s a point where Johnny starts dancing, before a fade stops us from seeing it.

Almost all of these two episodes being set in one location is suffocating. It’s not a very interesting set, so it gets really hard to look at. You could believe the show was unsuccessful because it’d be irritating for someone to get through a season of it. Chico’s line about everybody helping each other is reminiscent of a classic scene from 2003’s The Room. Chico at one point mentions having sandwiches, but they have no payoff, as if said payoff was cut. They do sound good, I’d like to have one. When Chico talks to the audience at the end, he’s obviously looking at his lines offscreen.

Chico twice refers to his name, both times using the “Chicko” pronunciation, while everyone else says “Cheeko”. Apparently Chico has been working at the College Bowl for thirty years. Overall, a show consistently of the quality of this final episode would still be too poor to tolerate, but as a single episode it looks good in comparison to the previous adventure. Still, it’s nothing anyone needs to see.

SPOILERS

Pacing-wise, it’s awkward the investor is given a reason to not open a rival store and decides not to do it all in the same scene, instead of having that be two scenes. It’s sweet that in the previous episode, Chico gives some money to help out a friend, and here the college kids all use money to help him out. You do warm up to the love being displayed, even if it’s a little manufactured. It’s wholesome to see Chico given the tickets to visit Italy.

HARPO

All-Pure Evaporated Milk & Foster’s Freeze commercials

SEX! And Harpo! You got to respect how blatant the sex appeal is in these, clearly targeting this milk product to a male audience. The first two All-Pure Evaporated Milk skits are the best, feeling like cogent pieces of comedy. The third and fifth are essentially just a woman talking about the product with Harpo off to the side. The fourth is in the middle of those two. In the first skit, why would the woman scream when Harpo goes to get his kiss. He didn’t seem like he was going to kiss her specifically, and based on the situation it is socially acceptable for him to pucker his lips. The contest prize was kissing the other woman she was next to. The Foster’s Freeze commercials don’t even show Harpo doing anything funny. All he does is pose!

GROUCHO

Groucho is really phoning it in in Mr. Music.

Double Dynamite seems pretty fun, based on the trailer. Groucho pulls off some laughs. Amusingly, Groucho and Frank Sinatra were both in adaptations of the play Room Service. Both those adaptations and this movie were made by RKO. Sinatra was also in The All-Star Bond Rally, which features Harpo.

Stars of Bedlam: The Rise & Fall of the Marx Brothers (2021-2022) Review

Groucho (yes, Groucho!), Harpo, Gummo, and Lou Levy (top to bottom)

Stars of Bedlam: The Rise & Fall of the Marx Brothers is a fascinating read that details exactly what it says on the tin. The writer, who goes by “the Holy Bee”, details the story of the brothers from when their parents were born, and more extensively when Chico and Groucho began their careers, from around 1905 all the way to about 1930. You’ll note that that’s not when the brothers broke up (Depending on how you look at it, it’d be 1941, 1949, or 1961; I’d go with the first). Part 7 of this eleven-part story is when things get much brisker. Admittedly, that is essentially “the point”. As the Holy Bee states, the “rise” from 1905-1930 is not so well documented, with the only recordings of the group being the first two movies, Too Many Kisses, and a little home movie footage; the earliest of which is from 1925.

Starting around the start of the movies, other history books pick up and continue on, probably because we can actually see what they’re referring to. Even then, the “fall” isn’t covered so much either. The coverage of the Marx Brothers’ poor later films have the excuse of being something you can watch, thus that’s why the old plays are covered in detail, while the movies are in much less. However, the eleventh and final installment covers about thirty years, starting with the beginning of the brothers’ last film, Love Happy. There’s a decent amount of 60s and 70s material, and a lot of 50s, because they were tv stars. While you could say, “But that stuff is viewable!”, the behind the scenes stories aren’t so documented and a good chunk of the tv content is indeed missing or unavailable.

The first six parts make you hunger for more of the brothers, especially from that timeframe. “Why couldn’t television or the internet have been around, at least sound cameras, so the Marxes youthful anarchy could be viewable?” Some have speculated that a lot of their greatest moments are on the stage and are lost to documentation. Even if they were replicated in the movies, there would be factors working against them being as good or accurate. While each part of this biography is reasonably long, time isn’t wasted, with lots of juicy information that details our understanding of what this group would’ve been like. One favorite is James Beury and the $10,000 story, which seems like it was taken from a comedy. Zeppo apparently was briefly working with the group in 1914 and 1915, which is sometimes overlooked. It’d be nice to know why, especially as he’d later hang around sketchy characters.

There’s little on what Gummo was like on stage. Maybe the info here is all that we got, but if not there should’ve been more included? We get excerpts from an interview where Gummo basically says it was right for him to be removed from the act. He is funny there, so more of that interview would probably be worth including, for the sake of giving him a presence. At least we know he can get a laugh in how he discusses himself.

Past 1930, you get a good understanding of how the brothers deal with different egos, who often have power; movie producers, directors, women, responsibilities of being a public figure. It seems that if the brothers were well to do financially and never had to worry about money, Room Service could’ve been their last film. We get a little on how they felt about having to go on, especially Groucho. Groucho can seem very sad in his older years, battling loneliness and the public image of being a character he’s grown beyond. His self destructive behavior apparently drove people away, but the specifics should be there. Did he say or do anything different from one wife to another? Was there a final straw? If so, what was it? Did he have moments of extreme weakness? If so, what? One really good story not in here was that the solo film Copacabana was reasonably successful, with people emphasizing him being a duo with Carmen Miranda. It seems Groucho didn’t want to be in a group and didn’t continue a potentially very lucrative career path. Why he wouldn’t in detail would’ve been a fascinating read, at least mention that incident.

The Holy Bee essentially doing reviews of the movies does feel out of place, especially after so many installments pre-anything to review, but that might be worthwhile to their fanbase. The series generally takes an objective look at the brothers, not being opinionated. The reviews can at times drown out the biographical part and once there are no more movies, the last segment is somewhat bullet point. Perhaps they didn’t feel anything was worth adding? A 2014 biography of theirs called Zeppo = Zero? A Totally Unexamined Life covers many tidbits not in Stars of Bedlam. Maybe they were excluded because they were already there, but the consequence is that Zeppo does seem strangely absent, especially because his dedicated post was reasonably quick and brisk.

When Groucho dies, that’s essentially treated as the end of this story, with Zeppo’s later death almost a footnote. Despite Gummo and Zeppo’s lack of attention, Minnie did get a reasonable amount of coverage when she was alive. There’s a photo to commemorate Minnie, Frenchie, and the three main brothers when they go, but not for Gummo, Zeppo, and Margaret Dumont. The quality of Holy Bee’s writing is demonstrated due to how heartbreaking it is to get to the point where everyone is falling under poor health and ultimately dying. Based on this look into their lives, those deaths feel personal, especially as the three main brothers were all working the year before their passing.

OVERVIEW

For a Marx fan, Stars of Bedlam: The Rise & Fall of the Marx Brothers is definitely worth a read, as is Zeppo = Zero? A Totally Unexamined Life, which perhaps should be read as a spiritual twelfth part, due to covering the end of the life of the last lasting Marx brother. Despite some spelling mistakes and other mentioned criticisms, it does collect so many goodies, both stories and high quality photos.

There’s some nice information on the dates and roles of people that worked with the Marxes, sometimes considered at the time to be just as important and starring in the act as the brothers themselves. I will flex my love of graphs and include a table of membership. This article was not my only source for it and there could be inaccuracies.

The Marx Brothers Secondary Video Media (1921-1949) Review

Humor Risk (1921)

Despite what people say, this is a great, great film. Zeppo’s dance number and Harpo’s harp solo are only some of the many highlights. You don’t even mind that the latter one is completely silent. I think I still prefer its sequel, A Night on the Balcony Floor (shame those bellends didn’t trust us to know what a mezzanine was).

The Paramount trailers

Paramount pretty boldly calls the Marx Brothers the funniest men on Earth after they made two films. Animal Crackers is called “Cocoa-nuttier than ever”. Amusingly, Zeppo doesn’t appear in Monkey Business’ trailer’s scenes from the movie. To be fair, Chico and Harpo aren’t shown doing anything funny, only a bit of music. My favorite part was when we saw the brothers in chairs facing away from the camera, then a wipe transitions them to now looking at it. The Duck Soup trailer is gloriously manic, just like the movie. If I watched the trailer back then without having seen a Marx movie, I’d really want to see it. I could not find trailers for the other two films.

1930s studio shorts

The old short films that basically serve to say, “These are the stars we have!” are a fun novelty, though the smaller the dose the better. They are admittedly boring, despite being valuable historical artifacts. Sometimes an announcer cracks a lame joke. In Hollywood on Parade B-5, Fredric March and Chico Marx seem to be having a lot of fun. Everyone else, not so much. In the “Search for Beauty” contest, some of the girls come off as pretty awkward. As would later be done in Copacabana, the song “Go West, Young Man” is mentioned. Chico’s costume is the best by far. What was the point of Wonderland of California? It doesn’t even showcase stars. The camera records things that feel completely random. Seeing 30s color footage of Animal Crackers is quite the treat, though.

La Fiesta de Santa Barbara visually looks quite good. There’s also some nice music. It is a little silly that a short about a non-white place would feature a white singer. It will not be the last short here to mention this being a place where “Men are men”. What does that have to do with anything? It also won’t be the last to mention Jack Benny. Ted Healy acts like he’s trying to steal the show. He was unsuccessful. A favorite bit of the short is when someone thinks he was in A Night at the Opera. He also says the movie features the four Marx Brothers, instead of three. To my pleasant surprise, Chester Conklin and Buster Keaton appear in this film. This is more of a Buster movie than anyone else. He gets a few fun moments, like looking for the bell he’s supposed to ring and the final joke. His vocal is very wooden, despite being an adept speaker in his sound movies. The film’s Marx connection is a few seconds near the beginning of Harpo (who does essentially nothing).

Sunday Night at The Trocadero is pretty bourgie. Groucho doesn’t get to be funny, though you do see him without a real or fake mustache. A guy does what would pass as a JFK impression. The Joe E. Brown joke is a favorite, while the blackface bit is not. The movie got a vocal laugh from me with, “One of you boys will be left to pay the check, while the other takes her home. Or maybe the girl will have to pay the check, while the boys take each other home.”

1930s miscellaneous

In “Wallace Kelly Movie Collection”, we get a cameo from Groucho’s book, Beds. In 1933, we get some nice bits of the four Brothers at an event (sourced from The Unknown Marx Brothers). That, and especially Groucho, Harpo, and Jackie Cooper’s go kart race really deserves to be restored and made more accessible. “Harpo Marx returns from stay in Russia” is a lot of fun. It’s only a minute and it features Harpo doing some typical shticks. It’s very amusing, though the women chasing isn’t my cup of tea.

The MGM (& Room Service) trailers

It’s great we got the brothers roaring in place of Leo the Lion preserved in the A Night at the Opera trailer. Harpo’s bit is especially good. Sadly, the trailer spoils the Stateroom scene. A Day at the Races uses footage from the very end of the movie. Room Service’s trailer spoils the movie. Groucho’s first scene in the Go West trailer is better than in the movie. There’s more comedic punch here. The introductions to the Marx Brothers in these trailers is reminiscent of the opening credits of the Paramounts, with their faces matched to their names in a punchy sequence. It’d be nice if the MGMs had this more interesting style in the movies.

It’s amazingly ironic when a man mentions that Sarah Bernhardt had announced her retirement over ten times, with the trailer then asserting that the featured film, The Big Store, will be the brothers’ last. Of course, it turned out to be their third last. This almost seems like a Marx joke, that they’d essentially have this punchline setup here that would years later be paid off with the release of A Night in Casablanca. Groucho calls it their “first farewell picture”. Store’s trailer is probably the best trailer of the lot due to the brothers filming new footage for it.

1940s studio shorts

The Miracle of Sound is in its own right a pretty quality short. It’s a charming and concise way to discuss sound technology. Not that it’s super technical or detailed, but for what it is it shines above the other studio shorts by being more focused on communicating a specific thing. The brothers are only represented by a little bit of Go West footage. It’s fun to hear things about controlling the volume of the actors’ voices. One film is noted to be “Happily Starring… Joan Crawford”.

1940s miscellaneous

Harpo got around doing little appearances. War Bond Rally (1943) features a few nice seconds of Harpo being silly. He’s only around briefly, and within the first few seconds. Stage Door Canteen has a fun Harpo cameo, with him doing a few of his bits (just like in the earlier “Russia” clip). The All-Star Bond Rally looks gorgeous, having a noir look. There’s also a special effect of photos of women talking that’s very convincing. No clue how they did that. Bob Hope is pretty dreadfully unfunny here, but he does get a good line roasting Bing Crosby. Crosby’s singing is also terrible, why not get anyone else to sing it? That being said, the song itself is no classic. Frank Sinatra does a great job at his. Harpo’s harp solo is beautifully melodic, well matching the tone of that dark visual aesthetic. He seems more proficient than in the Marx movies. This is possibly his greatest visually recorded solo of the 20s-40s.

Groucho singing “O The Desert O The Prairie” with Carole Landis is such a fun clip. Their energy is infectious. It’s unfortunate the quality is poor and they’re both looking at scripts, though they don’t act like they’re tiredly shooting off lines. “Chico Marx (1947)” is pretty nothing. Chico’s performance of “Matilda” is sadly very short in A Year to Remember. It’s a fun piece. The audio quality also leaves something to be desired. In his apparent first television appearance, Chico does a Love Happy bit pretty much just as it’s done in the movie. In 1949 newsreel footage, he gets a laugh or two.

Post-MGM trailers

A Night in Casablanca’s trailer also contains spoilers for some reason. It’s odd that the trailer for a movie like Copacabana would claim to be one of the greatest comedies ever, as if anyone would actually believe that. That’d cause audiences to be annoyed when it obviously fails that incredibly high standard. It’s nice seeing some of the footage in Love Happy not on the Blu-ray. The ending of the trailer does include some personal favorite bits from the film.

Bill Marx’ presentation of Home Movies

It’s so special seeing video footage that pre-dates The Cocoanuts. Hopefully earlier footage is found. The best bit in this collection is some video and audio of Harpo playing the harp, sadly it’s partially interrupted by Bill. Another highlight is Harpo doing play performances. He does a bit from A Night in Casablanca with his son. You might be able to infer that my least favorite part is when Harpo appears to lift up women’s dresses in a situation where their only real recourse is to laugh it off. To give him the benefit of the doubt, that whole bit could’ve been scripted. If not, that’s extremely creepy. More home movie footage not in that specific DVD release includes more tennis with Charlie Chaplin, early color Groucho, the three brothers relaxing in costume, and more of Harpo’s Moscow harp solo.

OVERVIEW

Over the course of all this footage is a secret Harpo short. In La Fiesta de Santa Barbara, he’s vacationing and later is at a presentation in War Bond Rally. He arrives home in Harpo Marx returns from stay in Russia. Once back, he does his normal shtick in Stage Door Canteen, where he runs off, he then runs into The All-Star Bond Rally. You could say afterwards he presents scenes with his brothers from The Big Store or while “vacationing”, he got into the misadventure he did in Too Many Kisses.

The necessity of seeing these shorts can be debated. They obviously have an appeal to fans. If you’re desperate for more Marx, they’re worth a look. Sometimes you’re only getting seconds or scenes from their movies. For the record, it appears that the brothers’ only appearance in Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983) is their lion roaring from the Opera trailer.

Too Many Kisses (1925) Review – And Too Little Harpo

Harpo Marx in the film

“You sure you can’t move?” A sentence that has been etched in film history.

A criticism I’ve levied at the Marx Brothers is that their best and most famous films would have less impact if you’ve never seen a 20s or 30s movie, especially with their first two. Thus, if one wanted that context and as quickly as possible, Too Many Kisses is about the perfect choice. It’s not too long, it has many of the same problems as 20s shlock cinema, and it features Harpo Marx. He does get to do a miniscule amount of Harpoing, so you can enjoy some crumbs of the Marx Brothers history before you watch their proper vehicles.

This film does indulge in some outdated (in some places) beliefs about sexuality. “I wish there was some place in the world where women didn’t exist ~~ I’d give it to you for your birthday.” This comedic line is seemingly supposed to be overall taken straight. Richard Dix is Richard Gaylord, Jr., a man under siege from his father for his fraternizing with women. Movies where women are treated as a prize to be won or something that can be taken by a man and there’s nothing she can do is incredibly tired. If you remove that, there’s very little left of note. It’s not like there’s some razor sharp laughs here. Instead you get a macho all-American lead, fighting instead of solving problems, and non-consensual kissing.

Gaylord goes to a place with interesting oddities. Everybody takes a nap for two hours mid-day (in what looks like the scorching heat), they apparently tolerate a man that kills people over minor offenses, and seem to blindly follow whoever is seen as top dog. These concepts don’t serve much function and could’ve made for funny or endearing scenes. Even the main, and comedic, premise of Gaylord having to not be romantic with any girls is almost completely undetailed. When it is, it’s played straight.

This is overall a drama and many of the jokes are pretty nothing. A few are chuckle worthy, like how Gaylord cheers up a baby, Gaylord’s knife trick, “Artist!”, and Joseph Burke as Mr. Simmons on top of a carriage on a bumpy road, impossibly sticking his head in a wagon, with his dialogue intertitle shaking. The blue tint to the film looks nice, with Harpo captured very well in it. Bits like this make me wish he got to lead at least one silent film, possibly with this film’s director, who does a good, but undistinguised job.

Harpo as “The Village Peter Pan” earns a smile in a scene where he doesn’t really do anything funny, but he for no reason disregards the social understanding and is a bit of a destructive force, possibly for his own amusement. This is very prophetic of the movies to come, though perhaps this was included as a representation of his then stage-only character? That is unlikely, as he’s not asked to do anything else that might make him feel like himself (unless you count him playing a ladder like a guitar for a second). He also is interrupting a dramatic moment to do almost nothing, with this having no influence on the plot. Perhaps this role was written, then he was considered appropriate to fill it?

SPOILERS

For valid reasons, Simmons wants to get Gaylord away from his love interest, Frances Howard as Yvonne, then they stay in her vicinity for a month. There is well earned suspense when Gaylord is with Yvonne and the antagonist is nearby. “Will he catch him?” The contradiction of this sort of society is painted when William Powell as Julio will claim to be honorable and only fight, often to the death, if someone agrees to. After Gaylord agrees, Julio kidnaps him, tries to force a woman to marry himself, plays dirty when forced to fight, and calls Gaylord a coward for not wanting to fight initially.

Gaylord is seemingly portrayed as right for eventually giving into fighting Julio. Him and his father take much pride in beating up Julio, partially needlessly. Yvonne says Julio will kill him if he accepts a fight, so urges him not to. After Julio gives some weak insults, Gaylord seems to have slight trouble resisting the urge to fight, then Yvonne says she’s okay with him doing it. She has no reason to believe that Gaylord would be able to beat Julio, she’s just apparently too offended on his behalf. It’s hard to take these sorts of tropes seriously, but they can make for unintended comedy. How did anyone at the time not lose investment immediately? “I’m so defensive of you that I’ll put you in a situation where you might get killed for no reason.”

OVERVIEW

In terms of cornball 20s affairs, you could do worse. There isn’t really a reason to watch Too Many Kisses unless you like Richard Dix or William Powell, who are the only actors to get a healthy amount of screentime, or you’re a die on the cross fan of anyone else, such as Harpo Marx. Even in discussing the potential value with watching this before the Marx Brothers’ films, that scenario is unlikely to apply to anyone. If you’re here for Marx, you’ve probably already seen their proper films and if you haven’t, this might turn you off. You’d have to have stumbled upon the brothers and probably this review and were committed to going through this journey, despite having not seen anything to hook you in. If you are that person, go watch Monkey Business.

Love Happy (1949) Review

In the ZaSu Pitts-Thelma Todd-Patsy Kelly series tradition, I get to confuse people by using one name to refer to a character and their actor!

For better and for worse, Love Happy’s objective doesn’t seem to be pure comedy, despite being labeled a Marx Brothers film. In truth, it is a Harpo Marx solo film and includes a sprinkling of light drama. While that for some is a huge turn off, to the point of putting the movie below other Marxmania in a ranking. If you can forgive that admittedly significant issue, it is an engaging film that is very Harpo and also a pseudo-fairytale.

The dark, starlight colors are so gorgeous to look at. It perhaps looks like how Harpo perceives the world. There’s a lot of great bits that feel like something Harpo thought up, sometimes as an ode to his character. Bits like Harpo’s coat being searched through would mean a lot more to someone following these movies than someone that’s just come upon this one. Cartoon logic is sometimes prevalent, with Harpo very adept at it. Scenes like Vera-Ellen as Maggie Phillips twirling towards Harpo have an ethereal nature that is so captivating.

Some characters have fairytale names, like Lefty Throckmorton, Alphonse Zoto, and Hannibal Zoto. There are other bits that suggest that theme; feeling you’ve achieved your dreams; collecting cats; and pretending to remove your eyes. This film is the most justified of all Marx movies in having a harp solo because of this. It’s such a fluttery instrument that doesn’t feel as home in the anarchic, early installments. Another thing unique about this movie is how 50s it looks. Other Marx movies, for obvious reasons, look 20s-40s. That light glam and brightly lit 50s scenery (that might be familiar to some in things like 50s commercials) adds to the vibe of this being dream-like. Despite this, there are seemingly some nods to silent cinema.

I’ve criticized previous installments for taking these great, immoral characters and trying to force them into “morality”. The brothers don’t seem adept to such moments. However, at points they are their classic selves to great effect. This time, Harpo seems to believe in this sympathetic version of his character and knows how to blend these two sides. If he was totally anti-social and unlikable, that would hurt this film’s endearing tone and charm.

Despite the focus on Harpo, Chico and Groucho managed their way into this, and they do have scenes of note. Groucho’s best bits don’t feel necessary to the movie. They’d be better served in a different one. Groucho as Sam Grunion is so awkward at the beginning, he looks around erratically and delivers these lines like he was told them seconds before shooting and is looking to see if others approve. Groucho’s narration is often unnecessary. Its only benefit is the occasional good line, like the one where Chico’s assistant is a monkey that wants “Shorter hours and longer bananas”. While this probably wasn’t intentional, it’d be amusing to think that this was a reference to Chico under or not paying his vaudeville partners.

The worst of it is when he describes certain characters’ relations to each other. Show, don’t tell! Because of the fairytale motif, the narration is not as bad as it could’ve been, as that’s a common trope. Groucho’s scene with Marilyn Monroe is very Groucho and he has a lot of fun with it. It has nothing to do with anything and probably should’ve been removed. That being said, imagine if this was a scene from a Sam Grunion solo vehicle? That’d be marvelous. It fits in a little, as he’s dressed like a wizard about to test our hero, with a frumpy assistant to boot! “Allow me to introduce you to the man who’s going to kill me.”

Chico as Faustino the Great feels very forced in. His scenes are lackluster, with his material lame and delivery misplaced. He seems way too confident in his lines, like he’s saying killer material. His first scene is probably the worst, due to being framed as some brilliant introduction. His delivery on the ice cream bit is extremely unnatural, but it’s so much so to the point of being funny, which probably wasn’t intentional. It also helps that we get some wonderful Harpo logic, with him pulling an ice cream out of his pocket. “That’s not what I want!” is a good line (makes sense in context (and not referring to the ice cream)).

Harpo expectedly has a million good moments. He shows his earlier side by stealing. While it’s for a good reason, the movie commits to him being a Robin Hood type. It’s not like he’s randomly a criminal or moral depending on what is required at any given point. There’s a lot of inventive gags related to him with food at the beginning. One scene is emblematic of silent films, with an expressive, clownish comedian and a score; no dialogue. There’s a nice gookie at one point, later he gives food to some men in a bull costume, and at the end has fun with a rope. There seems to be a rule that Harpo can make rope funny! The apple scene is probably the funniest bit of the film. There are two moments where Harpo tries to tell Faustino information. One is new and inventive, while the other is like ones in the past, now slower.

There’s some nice “world building” for Harpo, world building that would only really be interesting to longterm fans. This leads to some great jokes that seem like they were concocted from Harpo Marx’ mind, but for whatever reason this film doesn’t give him too much of those. In fact, sometimes Harpo is absent from the movie. Maybe he thought the romance plot was worth the screen time? (It isn’t) There’s a funnier Harpo scene in any other Marx movie than you’ll get here, but the more personal feeling to this one, especially with things like seeing where he lives, are more satisfying that some of the material of the past (particularly in the weaker films).

“It must be wonderful to be like you, Harpo. You live alone. That is you don’t need other people. You don’t depend on them. You never get hurt… Oh, Harpo, you’re wonderful.” It’s understandable why a fan of the early Marx films, and especially someone who hasn’t been enjoying this movie, would disdain this line. Harpo in the early films isn’t sympathetic or likable. This line is the sort of thing you would give to someone with at least a heart of gold, such as Charlie Chaplin’s The Tramp. Say what you will, but this specific movie doesn’t claim to be in continuity with the other movies and those lines are consistent with the film, him being an accidental hero. You can argue that is supposed to refer to his character across every Harpo appearance before and after this installment, as Maggie has had few seen interactions with Harpo and Harpo hasn’t demonstrated these qualities much in this one movie. It’s at the very least novel to see the man himself give his own view on how he takes his character.

“Mama wants to know… who made this mess?!” The musical numbers don’t feel Marxian or even like the material here. The songs aren’t mythical, instead feeling pulled from a random broadway show. Chico’s piano and Harpo’s harp solos are on top form, though; having a buoyancy and flavor. “Mr. Lyons, I know you wanna make a good impression, but-a please – don’t play better than me.” It’s also fun seeing Chico act like a music nerd.

Ilona Massey as Madame Egelichi is sometimes sexualized. Take her pointy breast outfit or even how she takes off her coat. Grunion almost grabbing her boobs is something that has to be seen to be believed. Surprised Faustino’s hat extending when he sees Egelichi’s legs made it passed the censors. The antagonists are often buffoonish. Sometimes to great effect, like the apple scene, and sometimes less so, like when we’re supposed to find them intimidating sincerely.

There are some errors. There’s a scene where someone is in the air and you can see the strings. The climax has some continuity errors, like different shoots were poorly blended together. Sometimes it’s pretty clear Harpo is wearing a wig. The rope in a scene at the end changes placement. There’s some moments of awkward exposition, like in Egelichi’s first scene. When the straight man characters talk to Mr. Lyons, they speak to him like they’ve been told he’s some fantastic guy. He responds like he’s trying to remember his lines.

Some of the minor characters, namely Maggie, just stop appearing around the end. It’s weird how much older Harpo is than his character’s crush. This concept would’ve worked better if his love interest was a lot closer to his age. Either her older or him younger, as this would’ve been a great 1920s silent film. That crush was set up to have some importance, only to have no payoff. Unfortunate, as there were some great ideas and scenes dedicated to that element.

SPOILERS

Lefty said he saw Harpo, but didn’t react to him when he was there. Lefty’s torture scene is pretty weird, with it being obvious he wasn’t really being hurt. Other awkward moments include Harpo being raided viciously by his crewmates for food. Madame Egelichi apparently puts Harpo in a trance. It’s hard to know what’s going on there. The usage of a trance does add more to the “fairytale” motif. If that was the intended takeaway, it’s hard to imagine how they thought the weird faces and sound effects were the best way to convey that. (Her taking off her coat apparently having some relevance here is reminiscent of the Doctor Who serial, The War Games) Her whispering to Harpo has a mildly fetishistic feeling. She speaks seductively.

Harpo being tortured is hardly comedic and makes a lot more sense as some sort of surrealist dream. Many scenes in this movie are like that. Also, Harpo’s torturing isn’t at all like Lefty’s earlier. You’d imagine that him just being physically injured would be a lot more effective than these mind games. At first, it was annoying that it appeared a chance for Harpo to communicate over the phone would be sidelined by Faustino reading his mind. However, we get good jokes from both situations.

Why would Faustino clap when someone mentions they should do the show for free? He’s only there for the money. In general, he seems way too invested for someone here for money that hasn’t even been paid. Faustino is a little creepy when he’s hitting on Egelichi. His love for her of course comes from nothing. It seemed a cat might be killed, but later it was confirmed they were not. Maybe Vera-Ellen didn’t know what to do in the harp scene, as she just walks away? Harpo’s crush on Maggie isn’t resolved. She mends with another male character and we never see what Harpo thinks of that.

An interesting subversion to normal movie tropes is that the villain saves the day. She pays for the show and doesn’t try to back out of it. Why doesn’t Egelichi goons just tell Maggie that the necklace belongs to them and if she can please help them find it? One later yells that they’ll murder her loud enough that Faustino can hear from outside the door. Some favorite parts of the finale are when Harpo defeats the baddies by blowing smoke into their face. Later, Harpo jiggles the necklace and notifies the goons where he is. That suggests he’s having fun and is enjoying the chase. There’s multiple scenes in the film where you can argue Harpo was going to kill himself for little reason. That’s surprisingly dark. Then again, fairytales are like that. Him flying over the edge of a building, holding onto a rope, is a stunning visual image. Harpo in the end walking off with the necklace nicely bookends the movie. In the beginning and here, he was stealing. It’s especially funny as he doesn’t even seem to have really wanted it until now.

OVERVIEW

I like to think that every Chico and Harpo in these films are the same. If you watched this movie without knowing the Marx Brothers, you’d be confused by Faustino and Harpo seeming to have a history together, but that not being explored or even explicitly stated. This is easy to miss as a fan as you know them together so well. The movie is aping on your knowledge of them. Even when they get a proper introduction in earlier films, their bond makes more sense with that knowledge. There’s little to contradict such a proposition. Go West is an exception because it’s set in the 1800s. You could also say there are two Chicos and Harpos, one set the more criminal and the other more moral.

It’s not necessarily very satisfying to say all the Grouchos are the same. While perhaps a contrivance could be cooked up for why Groucho often doesn’t seem to know who Chico and Harpo are at the start of the movies, why not go with the simpler answer that there are multiple Grouchos? This would mean this universe has one Chico, one Harpo, and is full of Grouchos! Sometimes Grouchos can be repeated. The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, and Monkey Business could sensibly feature the same four.

Even when looked at charitably, Love Happy is not for everyone. It does suffer from technical and story problems that suggest it was rushed together cheaply, and it was. That being said, if you give it a shot, you’re in for a treat. It’s a shame it couldn’t have been made under better circumstances and that we didn’t get any other Harpo solo vehicles.

Here is a rank of the fourteen Marx Brothers films, starting with the weakest and based on “being objective”: Go West, The Big Store, At the Circus, A Night in Casablanca, Room Service, Love Happy, A Day at the Races, The Cocoanuts, Horse Feathers, Animal Crackers, the I’ll Say She Is short, A Night at the Opera, Monkey Business, Duck Soup. Based on favoritism, it’d go: The Big Store, Go West, A Night in Casablanca, At the Circus, Room Service, Love Happy, A Day at the Races, Horse Feathers, Animal Crackers, the I’ll Say She Is short, The Cocoanuts, Monkey Business, A Night at the Opera, Duck Soup.

Copacabana (1947) Review

It’s strange seeing Groucho Marx in this often very standard romance-comedy. The Cocoanuts does that, but keeps the focus on the Marx brothers and doesn’t get too caught up in the duller elements. Here, Groucho often is just doing that inoffensive shtick, feeling like any other bit player. A fortunate distinction is he does get a number of great lines and moments, but there are sadly very few. His character name of “Lionel Q. Devereaux” does feel like a cross between the long and ridiculous names of the past and a name you might expect a slightly sleazy agent to have in a movie like this. The “Q.” is Groucho-y while the rest is non-specific.

Him being a sleazy agent is a nice idea and there are good jokes from that concept. Favorite lines include: “This is an outrage! You’ll hear from my lawyer… as soon as he gets a telephone!” He escapes a situation by saying, “I just remembered, I forgot to pay my income tax.” A Groucho-esque joke where he gets the setup is, “Don’t you have any nickel cigars?” “Yes, but they’re forty cents.” There’s also Devereaux being carried up stairs, the check gag, and him pulling a turkey out of his bag. That latter one feels more like a Harpo joke. The ending gives a lot of good material to Groucho. It was surprising how high energy and funny it was, with him mostly being like his classic character. Groucho’s wisecracks are overall toned down. He’s a step away from a straight role, which is very unsatisfying. This would work a little better if the movie committed to a new character type, but due to some of his gags and the greasepaint scene, it seems there was an attempt to make him like his older character.

Carmen Miranda as Carmen Navarro does feel like an afterthought. Despite her getting top billing, the focus is often on other characters. She does get some good laughs, though she’s not exceptional. “Lionel, I don’t mind if you give bad checks, but don’t do anything dishonest like stealing.” The other cast members and subplots are fine, but noticeably lesser when compared to the Groucho bits. Andy Russell is a decent enough singer and comedian. There’s a great bit where Devereaux says a nonsensical joke to Andy Russell and he looks on confused, the camera fading on him. It was unintentionally funny when Andy is having a conversation, then goes into song suddenly, with the transition pretty rough. None of the songs in the movie are that good, being pretty typical. That’s a shame as past Marx movies all have better songs, even when the comedy is bad. The difference is this movie’s tunes lack personality. The best one is the most lived in, Groucho’s comedic song. That being said, the female backing singers did a better job than him. It would’ve been better if Groucho sang it a little less goofily, only being a little silly.

The romance is expectedly dull. It gets more focus than other Marx ones, but it’s not as tedious as it could’ve been, possibly due to the acting being passable. The character of Steve Cochran as Steve Hunt is just begging to have a personality, but Cochran makes him too normal. Other negatives include lines like, “Let me have a check, a blank one, like the expression on your face.” Devereaux fumbles with hiding a fish. Just put it in your pocket, where it just was. Why have Devereaux be a former performer, only for him to only get one song and not do any other performing? Anne’s transition to a dream sequence is pretty rough, with her movement very awkward. “Go West, Young Man” has some lip syncing issues. It is fun that a hotel manager is named Mr. Green, a former Groucho character name. That being said, Mr. Green is just exposition: the character. He is apparently an insignificant person in Devereaux’s life, who gives him advice for some reason.

SPOILERS

It’s suggested early on that Devereaux is incompetent in general and inexperienced at being an agent. This could leave you to believe that the film will be about his incompetence in such a role. However, we quickly get to the point of him and Carmen being successful. Devereaux is mostly good at being an agent, though there are exceptions at times.

A lot of movies like this show the lead(s) in squalor, and later on in a nice place, showing that they’ve made it. We don’t get that here, with the latest living scene being set in an extremely dingy apartment, where they’ve lived all film. Steve Hunt says he’ll sue Devereaux if he can’t get Fifi and Carmen. Why would he care? He never seemed that into Carmen. This is just a way to push the stakes. A montage of Devereaux and Carmen/Fifi climbing to success features some footage we’ve already seen. How did Carmen kiss Steve with the mask on?

Devereaux performing for an audience including himself is a phenomenal bit of absurdism, one of the best bits of the movie. It makes stark contrast with the rest of the film, which is more realistic. Carmen complains about Fifi breaking up relationships, though she was knowingly being distant from Devereaux. Carmen staging a fight with herself is such a hilariously dumb idea. There’s nice bits in it, like her and Devereaux wrecking the room. When Fifi “goes missing”, someone yells, “My investment!” The romance is resolved haphazardly, with Steve openly saying he likes Anne, with no suggestion of him liking her beforehand. Why wouldn’t he have told her before unless he was too embarrassed? If he was, then why would he tell her at the end, especially in the way he did?

Themes of sexism recur throughout the film. Steve Hunt recurrently doesn’t respect women’s will. He goes after Carmen and only backs off when Devereaux says she’s going to wed him. Later, Steve says Fifi is his, as if he can just decide that she will be with him. He says if Devereaux comes between them, he’ll “break him in half” (in a scene with him giving a terrible line delivery, for the record). In Anne’s dream, she imagines Fifi as Steve’s secretary, seeming to want her there as that would be demeaning. Carmen’s way of proving she’s Fifi is quite absurd, by kissing various men, apparently so well they know she’s Fifi, even men she hasn’t kissed before. Other than Carmen kissing the men, these scenes aren’t played as comical, instead like this is all okay. This theme doesn’t appear intentional, though it can color the way you look at the movie. The female characters do seem to function around the male ones.

OVERVIEW

Copacabana is okay enough at giving us more Groucho. There’s some scenes without him, or where he’s not used that well. The ending and some first act scenes are solid. This could’ve been a really good thirty minute film if cut down.

A Night in Casablanca (1946) Review

A frame from the film

We saw Paramount’s take on the Marx Brothers; MGM’s take on the Marx Brothers; and RKO’s take on the Marx Brothers, which is very similar to MGM’s. A Night in Casablanca has the advantage of being able to look at those old attempts and try to improve on them, being the only followup Marx film not made at most two years after the previous. It’s refreshing to see the brothers free from the limitations imposed by MGM. For that, we get some nice mischievous moments. However, the writers do seem to take some cues from the MGMs, as if they watched those in preparation. Many aspects are also like typical 40s cinema, which really is a shame. If someone cared and bothered to get a better script, we could’ve had something like a Paramount-styled movie. The fallbacks seem perhaps applied by mistake, unlike in MGM where those negatives were a creative decision.

In some ways, the film is a return to form, overall being a mix of previous Marx styles. Some of the antics, especially with Harpo, can be anarchic, but then there’s an over-the-top villain, unnatural romance, and the brothers seemingly being confined to mostly targeting that villain, as opposed to society as a whole. The “romance” gets so little screen time, with not even really a scene where there’s dramatic weight on how they’ll turn out, that it’s a wonder it wasn’t completely cut out. This movie tries harder than the MGMs to make the brothers logical, which is beyond unnecessary.

Groucho as Ronald Kornblow putting his umbrella on someone’s outfit is a favorite moment, as is: “You don’t have to sing for me. Just whistle.” “That reminds me, I must get my watch fixed.” Groucho gives a lovely performance, improving on how pathetic he was in At the Circus and Go West, and his decent one in The Big Store. Chico as Corbaccio once again is shorthanded. He does the MGM habit of having a friendship with the romance couple beforehand. Perhaps there was something cut, as Corbaccio is close enough to the couple that you think there’d be a scene representing that? He also condemns theft, though does do quite a bit of criminal activity. “I’m crazy about her, I’ve completely lost my head!” “Well, put your hat on your neck and get out.” is a favorite line. Corbaccio trying to convince someone to let him be their bodyguard is reminiscent of older films. Harpo as Rusty is as usual well served. He has the very funny candle joke and the bit of hosting at a restaurant (with Corbaccio). Both of those two also get very nice music solos.

Technical problems are common. The opening few minutes have bullet point pacing. “Establish a character, something happens with them, then fade to another (the fades in this movie will drive you crazy).” Such a pace is odd to the point of being amusingly bad, especially with the subject matter being relatively dark. There’s very sudden cutting at points, which suggests a certain scene was supposed to have a funny ending, which was then trimmed, possibly for pacing. Lines can even be cut off mid-sentence.

Sig Ruman as Count Pfefferman can be appreciated for trying to keep up with the brothers, though he has some straight scenes and bad lines that lessen his overall impact. The movie as a whole isn’t too much of a comedy, so he and the brothers feel out of place. Many 40s plots, especially concerning a war, a criminal trying to do something shady, and a sandy, lived-in area like Morocco can often go through the same beats. This movie goes through those beats. It fortunately stops so the Marxes can be funny, but the light drama elements clash uncomfortably. Exemplifying this is when after Kornblow gets his job and is obviously ridiculous and clownish, this is pointed out and an excuse is contrived for him to not be fired. This removes Groucho’s impact in dominating with his outlandish nature. This sort of acknowledgement of his character lessens his impact, due to the setting being more real.

Charles Drake as Lieutenant Pierre Delmar is definitely the least likable male lead of these movies. He is absent so much, typically only when the plot requires, that you can imagine no one had much faith in the character. Playing on him being this very American hardnose could’ve been funny, like if he wants to be the hero and save the day, but keeps getting pushed aside, but that’s not expanded on. Drake is so bad that you don’t mind just forgetting him when he’s offscreen or doing nothing. A ridiculous trope of this character type that’s played straight is when he grabs someone when they won’t give him information. Instead of Pierre getting the information, the movie wisely focuses on Rusty and Corbaccio’s attempt at such a thing.

SPOILERS

Miscellaneous comments include: The trope of Groucho being obviously phony, but the joke being no one calls him out on it, is desecrated worse than it has been in the past when Pfefferman tells some men about how he’s an imposter. Pfefferman just talking so loudly people can hear his evil plans is one of the more contrived plot conveniences. It seems Corbaccio was willing to risk Rusty’s life by giving him possibly poisoned food. Later, why wasn’t Rusty simply refused service if the hotel couldn’t risk him winning? Pierre’s love interest is in jail despite not having done anything, there being no explanation for why she’d be there, and us not seeing her taken there. The brothers moving around Pfefferman’s clothes is a highlight. Some of the things they do serve no function, and only drive him crazy. That being said, there is an overall point to them being there and destructive. You do have to wonder how Pfefferman doesn’t deduce that someone is moving around his clothes.

This movie has got some of the worst of the Marx Brothers, such as fighting baddies not unlike how handsome leading men do in cheesy movies. The Marx Brothers are the type to sit back and laugh at someone else doing that, or only involve themselves for the comedy of doing it. Their moment of doing that here is played straight. It’s not like the movie through and through commits to them being action heroes. It’s so weird seeing Groucho and Chico afraid for their safety. There’s no comedic flair, they’re just afraid. Kornblow yelling for help has similar issues. The last seconds being the brothers sexually harassing a woman in the way Harpo’s been since the early films does seem representative of them. That sort of sexual harassment humor is an unfortunate bit of history. For these reasons, and the final act following such a generic war movie plotline, makes this the worst Marx Brothers ending. Despite how bad the ending is, there are some positives, like when they knock a guy out of his truck, who amusingly has no reaction.

OVERVIEW

While I know that “Remember what happened in 1929?” referred to the stock market crash, it’d be amusing to think they were talking about the Marx Brothers starting their film career.

I would say that this is like a better version of the MGM formula, but then I remember that A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races exist. While it has things like the brothers contradicting their character types and poor jokes, it does have quite a few highlights (as do all the MGMs, to be fair). There is the distinction of having the only really bad finale to a Marx movie.

A day after watching this I came to a sad realization, A Night in Casablanca is the last Marx Brothers movie. Sure, there is some media featuring all three brothers. Love Happy is officially considered the last, but in that case and all others, it’s more of a technicality. The formula isn’t Marx-like, and at least one brother only has a minor role. If you’re watching these movies in order, you should appreciate this fact about Casablanca, though don’t get your hopes too high for it.

A Day at the Races (1937) Review

A screenshot I tried to get when I watched this movie in 2018

A long movie that allows the characters to be considered in depth is not nearly as bad an idea as one might think for a Marx Brothers film. A Day at the Races, like its predecessor, boldly plays around with the Marx Brothers formula, while still retaining enough gold to keep you on board. A difference between the two is that Races has quite a few more and lower lowlights. The quality of the jokes are mixed. They are rarely particularly bad, but too often just moderate. The opening is strangely slow, spending a lot of time setting up things with little meaning. That slowness is a recurring issue. The runtime is almost two hours. The ninety-five minute Marx movies were pushing it, but here it is going too far. The movie can get pretty distracted. It’s odd how uninvolved Chico and Groucho are at the end. They were essentially forced into the finale of Monkey Business, which worked better than here. There’s also some “Harpo committing sexual assault”, which isn’t new to the MGM era, but it’s a negative regardless.

Many of the highlights are when the brothers either seem to have no point for their actions or they’re self-serving. In terms of “using their destructive nature to target and defeat an enemy”, it could be done worse. Those scenes are generally approachable and charming, but that framework makes that edge weaker. They also try to apply meaning to the characters’ actions, which poorly defines these characters previously defined far looser. Chico, and to a lesser extent Groucho, doesn’t seem at home with his dialogue that suggests morality, with his delivery often unnatural. He doesn’t act like he really believes what he’s saying. His character suggests and has been beautifully played as crooked. If the movie committed to him being clean, and Chico knew how to play it, this wouldn’t be an issue.

There are quite a few quality laughs. Harpo as Stuffy is sometimes very much the focal point of a scene, the finale being one of the best examples. The horse racing climax is also lovely, with many Marxian qualities being used for the sake of pushing the story. A few times in this movie, and even in others, Harpo seems to find himself having encounters with horses. Stuffy with the thermometer is another favorite bit. Groucho as the amazingly named “Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush” finds himself in one of his best roles. Hackenbush talks instructions to a horse. There’s the dialogue, “I mean, where did you get your training as a physician?” “Oh, well, to begin with, I took four years at Vassar.” “Vassar? But that’s a girls’ college.” “I found that out the third year.” Later there’s, “I haven’t seen so much mudslinging since the last election.” The success of Hackenbush is putting him under a little more stress than previous Grouchos. Characters are often opposed to him, with previous villains often less directly against him.

Hackenbush’s “Tootsie-Frootsie Ice Cream” bit with Chico as Tony is deservedly legendary. “Sun-Up is the worst horse on the track.” “I notice he wins all the time.” “Just because he comes in first.” “I don’t want him any better than first.” Chico is lacking in great moments, especially when alone. A lot of his best bits feature him with Groucho or Harpo. Him interpreting Stuffy attempting to communicate with him is one. It’s always great to see the brothers drive people crazy, especially with Leonard Ceeley as the straight man.

Margaret Dumont as Emily Upjohn pulls off a hammy performance surprisingly well. She’s been given reasons to be in hysterics and not of her right mind, so shouting lines like, “Oh, my metabolism! Doctor! Oh, doctor!” are funny and not forced. Races is probably Margaret Dumont’s second best performance, after Animal Crackers. She’s given great opportunity to be a weirdo. Esther Muir as “Flo” plays as a poor man’s Thelma Todd. It’s a shame the latter couldn’t have been in this movie. Muir seems like she hates this movie, not adding comedic twists to her material. Allan Jones and Sig Ruman are fun exports from A Night at the Opera, though given less to do here. Romance characters have been well served to have small roles, so Jones is best kept at where he is, with only a few scenes and a few songs. Ruman is good, though it’s hard to think what else he could’ve done, especially considering how long this movie is.

The grand and lavish musical numbers are a lot, but they work well at contrasting the comedy. There’s always been lush musical numbers, so making them more so and so solid feels like an epitome of the Marx style. Chico’s piano scene is one of his best, though frustratingly the footage of him playing is not in sync with the soundtrack. Harpo’s is one of his weaker, seeming to ape on his other pieces to a degree, but it’s still good enough. The ending of the harp solo is especially beautiful, though still not original. It’s especially nice to see how he got his harp. Ivie Anderson’s number and her singing are both gorgeous. Despite being so superfluous to the plot, it’s probably the best song here off of her singing alone.

It’s worth mentioning that the scene that includes Anderson’s song also has racial stereotyping. Personally, as a white person, such elements were minor enough that you could appreciate the comedy and music. It doesn’t seem there are blatantly insensitive jokes, such as if lines were said at the expense of black people. Things like the black characters doing some minstrel-esque mannerisms and following the stereotype of acting to aid the white characters are all fair criticisms. Them seeming to worship Stuffy and the mentioned “existing to aid our heroes” do have the benefit of being absurdist, and thus funny in this context. Harpo characters can have an aura of being mythical, so it’s funny to have a group of people singing about how mysterious he is. A worse way these tropes are done is when they’re played straight, which arguably the brothers are trying to make fun of here. The benefit to having black actors specifically is in how soulful their singing is.

Blackface in general is an unfortunate part of history, and ideally it wouldn’t be here, but this usage is far more tolerable than most others. It’s very brief and it isn’t directly used to insult black people (more than blackface inherently does that), such as there being no minstrel voices. Stuffy only painting half his face is a nice touch. It does seem that in a world with racism, this sequence could probably exist in a similar form, in the same way characters in modern movies might be contrived to be in a situation to help the protagonists or you’d need some kind of disguise to get out of a situation.

SPOILERS

Gil and Judy’s initial argument escalates quickly and unbelievably. Judy had been pretty reasonable for the most of it. She suddenly became insulting. A favorite moment beyond the already very sharp “Tootsie-Frootsie Ice Cream” scene is a moment where Hackenbush and Tony stand in silence, knowing that the former will need to pay for a new book from the latter. Later, when Hackenbush learns he needs another book, he gives a look of horror to Tony. When he asks if Tony has the book, they both nod their head at each other at the same time.

Hackenbush’s moments of honesty are strange, namely when he seems about to confess to Judy that he’s not a human doctor and when he’s convinced to help the others by being told it’s to help Judy. He is consistently very dishonest and no connection was established between him and Judy or anyone else (with the possible exception of Tony and Stuffy). Why would he care about helping them? These bits are played straight, not playing towards a joke. That first referenced scene features him more stone faced and his head down, like he has shame. Him blaming himself for the leads looking like fools at the examination is especially out of left field, as is Tony insisting it’s his fault. The brothers never seem to be self-reflective outside of this moment. Admittedly, this does lead to a good joke.

To exemplify the plot contrivances, Tony yells something that he wants kept secret for no reason. Hackenbush doesn’t really act differently from his normal quackery when asked to give Mrs. Upjohn an examination. Thus, it was surprising to see that apparently he was fired after this, especially as Mrs. Upjohn never seems to disapprove of him and appears with him at the end. Amusingly, the ultimate reason why the antagonists lose is that one decided to be moral and help an injured woman.

Lots of bits here would be used in later Marx movies. Harpo discovers something and tries to tell Chico in At the Circus (an MGM movie), A Night in Casablanca, and Love Happy. Circus also has a group of black people singing about Harpo and Groucho walking out on helping with the main problem, only to almost instantly be brought back in. Harpo and Chico taking dollars from people’s pockets and Chico scamming Groucho were both done again worse in Go West. Groucho is questioned about his legitimacy in The Big Store.

OVERVIEW

When at their best, the Marx Brothers essentially are only incompetent if they choose to be. They find such joy in being clowns that they don’t want to be anything else. The last three MGMs suffer from many moments where they’re just incompetent. Groucho on the ceiling in At the Circus is a good example. That gag is not that bad by itself, but it’s antithetical to Groucho. It would’ve made a much better Three Stooges bit. There’s a million 30s and 40s comedians where that sort of gag would fit better. A Day at the Races is a sign of such weaknesses, though they’re not in full effect.

Despite how long the movie is, it’s rushed to its conclusion after the climax. There’s almost no opportunity to see the characters you just spent two hours with off. It would’ve been great to have one or so scenes that address events of the film at the end, such as what Hackenbush and Mrs. Upjohn will be up to after the credits. There are a lot of moments with minor flaws, such as occasional poor dialogue or character choices, but those can be pushed aside for what does work. Quite a lot does.

A Night at the Opera (1935) Review

A frame from the film

A Night at the Opera is an MGM film. An ordered, complacent, MGM film. That might seem incompatible with the Marx Brothers, and frankly it is, but there is somehow magic here. The relatively strong storyline and romance, the funny “villain” characters make this an acceptable break. That being said, there are compromises that are made that make you wish this movie could steer a little more into Marx-at-Paramount territory. The film concedes that the brothers can be assholes and pick on people for no reason, yet there are attempts to straighten them out, by them sometimes having a goal to help someone for little reason. This could’ve been helped by finding them a more absurdist reason for them to want to do the good they do. Some criticize the grand musical numbers, but personally, they’re great. They have a tone that matches the opera songs and makes for nice contrast between the Marxian and MGM styles.

Some scenes have a more rustic look, like they were filmed on a slightly more stylized camera. An example is the great rope-outside-the-boat scene. The lighting is warmer and the shots wider and sometimes more angular. Imagine if the whole film had this slightly dirty appearance? The overly perfect “MGM look” doesn’t match the brothers’ comedy as well and is comparatively dull. If most of the movie had that “rustic” feel, then the finale had the MGM one, it’d make for a more distinct and striking movie. That’s not to say the German expressionism look of the action in the dark at the end isn’t appreciated!

Groucho Marx, as always, exudes confidence and a morbid sort of class as Otis B. Driftwood. The Minnie the Moocher joke is a favorite. As is, “Say, isn’t that my shirt you got on?” “Hey, look, I don’t know. I found it in the trunk.” “Well, then it couldn’t be mine.” Driftwood’s banter at breakfast, like he doesn’t know what to say but wants to improvise something funny, is a lowlight. Both Driftwood and Chico Marx as Fiorello sometimes seem ignored. Notably in the finale. While it is excellent, the two don’t even get to quip much, unlike at the end of Monkey Business. Bits like Fiorello’s airplane speech are a breath of fresh air. Here he is getting a fantastic scene to shine in. It’s a shame there weren’t more Chico moments. Both are phenomenal when they get a scene in the spotlight, like Driftwood with the cop. A lesser one is the famous contract scene, which goes on extremely long. Chico and Groucho act like they don’t know how to play their lines. It slows the pacing of the film too much.

Harpo Marx as Tomasso gets the best material. His physical agility is put to use in many scenes. Any scene with rope always leads to him showing how he can use funny and clownish movement to great effect. A favorite scene with all three brothers is the one where Driftwood says the great “Woodpecker” line. Harpo’s harp solo lacks flow. His body is strangely stiff and the piece he does is a little formulaic. There are backing instruments at points, possibly to hide some of the faults. Still, it’s not that bad.

Driftwood has no logical reason to help the others. In a spiritual sense, it makes sense that he’s fulfilling a sort of Marx loyalty by helping them out. If Ricardo Baroni had been played by Zeppo, that would explain why the brothers are helping him, not that Zeppo would be preferred, due to him not having Allan Jones’ pipes. Jones sometimes has a light role in the comedy and he does serviceably enough, though there’s sometimes a contrivance to keep him out of the action. Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Claypool doesn’t get too much, but handles her material well, as always. She doesn’t even come close to overshadowing the brothers, unlike in Animal Crackers. All the other players are similarly solid. Sig Ruman as Herman Gottlieb is perhaps the best when he’s more animated at the end.

The brothers don’t succumb to MGM too badly, but there are moments. In the less comedic scenes, they are relatively selfless, trying very hard to help Ricardo. Such a thing works with Driftwood and the others as they have their bond. Other lowlights are Driftwood possibly wanting to pay his hotel bill; Tomasso and Fiorello not having very interesting introductions; and the not a new problem to the brothers, Driftwood essentially forcing a woman to placate him. There are many very Marx moments, mainly them doing things against their own best interest, like Driftwood allowing more and more people into his room. Tomasso with the scissors shows his destructive side.

Minor negatives include: There are many very awkward cuts throughout. It’s surprising that anyone found them acceptable for release. It’s a shame Ricardo’s great song at the dock was interrupted by a joke. Ricardo is once again shorthanded in “Cosi-Cosa”, where other singers and interludes distract from letting the man just sing! The background extras sometimes react to the brothers’ mishaps. The more “cartoonish” style of the Paramount films, where the group’s actions don’t get such reactions justifies their insanity. In that relative amount of realism, the logic of the film is dampened. This issue is avoided by the romance and the antagonists, as all are so heightened and exaggerated to the point of adding to the comedy.

SPOILERS

The logic of the brothers is again hurt when Driftwood complains about the others getting him fired. He chose to help them, which he had no reason to do. If you accept that he’s “one of them”, then he shouldn’t complain about them hurting him. The point of the brothers is to destroy everything, including each other. It’s also not fun to see Groucho be defeated, at one point literally thrown down a flight of stairs. Bad things can happen to him, but he should have some kind of ace to stay on top and an inability to truly accept defeat.

The ending of the Stateroom scene is filmed and edited like a Hal Roach gag. It’s a shame Tomasso didn’t do something funnier when asked to speak, especially when one of the best jokes in Monkey Business was him in a similar situation. At the end, Fiorello sneaks into the orchestra and is seen at the piano. He also is shown in a tuxedo, it’s hard to imagine he would’ve lawfully acquired it. This all suggests he apprehended the real pianist, all for the purpose of going out and making a fool of himself. Tomasso swinging around on the ropes causing mayhem for everyone is definitely one of the funniest Marx Brothers scenes of all time. It’s also impressive stunt work. The opera scoring is perfect.

It’s so satisfying to see Ricardo force the hands of Gottlieb and get him to do what he wants. Ricardo being a properly likable character and him having a recurrent background relevance helps this. Some Marx films have romantic subplots that almost seem like they could’ve been pulled from another movie. They often have little play in the Marx action and are often absent. (Those other actors are usually so bad that you’re not too sorry about that) Antagonist Lassparri’s rejection at the end is ridiculous, but not in a funny way, as it’s too basic and nonsensical. You’d expect something like Tomasso finding out a way to sabotage his encore. While Ricardo singing is a solid way to end the film, the final joke of Tomasso ripping Gottlieb’s suit is quite boring. The weaker Marx films have generally had better endings.

OVERVIEW

If one change could be made, it’d be to have no point where all seems lost, at least for the group to not accept the low point. They all simply come off as pathetic “at the bottom”. The blend between the two worlds of MGM and Paramount Marx will never truly work again. Sure, A Day at the Races is pretty good, but it succumbs to many of the issues with later installments, though it can stay afloat due to very good highs. A Night at the Opera is genuinely just the best of both and little of the faults. The great singing, especially by Allan Jones, is unknockable.

Some scenes would later be done worse; like Harpo hogging the food in Room Service, characters suspended in the air in At the Circus, and Groucho being pushed down the stairs in Go West. It’s hard to imagine where the Marxes-with-MGM would’ve gone from here if Irving Thalberg had lived. Just about every good idea is used here. Races in many ways is many good Marxian scenes with some bad thrown in the lot. A studio with different rules might’ve just made that movie with all the killer and none of the fluff. Moving on from MGM would have been the correct move. If that had happened, Opera could perhaps be more appreciated as this novel collaboration that took what it could then moved on, not being a sign of how bad things would go.

The Big Store (1941) Review – A Day With The Silly Creatures

A frame from the film

The Big Store is safely the most boring Marx film so far, but it does have good in it. Groucho Marx as Wolf J. Flywheel acts a lot more like his normal self. He does have that unfortunate MGM coating of essentially making him more ordered. I’d take his The Cocoanuts portrayal over this one, but he is certainly tolerable. If he acted like in the last three films as he does here, people would probably go easier on these installments. “I’m here to interview him, and I don’t care to be annoyed by these silly creatures.” “Flattery will get you nowhere.” is a favorite line. His interplaying with Margaret Dumont lacking much punch puts it below their scenes in At the Circus, which at least had one good sequence. Still, they get some charm out of it from their acting alone, even if the material can leave something to be desired. Margaret Dumont as Martha Phelps has some fun bits, but overall seems like an afterthought. It’s much better to have her here than get someone else who would’ve probably done a worse job.

“Wacky” is so much a Harpo name that it’s too much. It’d be like if Groucho was named “Schmuck”. Harpo and Chico Marx as Ravelli don’t distinguish themselves so much from typical stock comedians of the time, though they’re fine enough. Harpo gets a few gags, like with the car, that are decent. The Marxes, even Groucho, are sometimes so bored they are sleeping for parts of this movie for no reason. To exemplify the strangeness of this entry, Groucho and Harpo are a pairing, instead of Chico and Harpo.

The ending reel, concerning the camera photo, is consistently funny, though there is the sense that this would’ve been better if done during the Paramount era. Some of the “MGM wackiness” is present, though it’s not that bad. It’s not very Marx, but the trio feels more alive here than in a lot of these later movies. You’re not left wishing it was given to a different act. You also cannot deny bits like Flywheel’s line about mistaking Wacky for Tommy’s fiancée. “I can’t understand why Tommy wants to marry you!” It’s a shame right after there’s a very sudden montage just there to demonstrate some information. There’s a plot element set up, then resolved the next scene, with no humor to try to make it fit better.

With many of the performances, namely Douglass Dumbrille as Mr. Grover, they speak like they’re trying to recall their lines. Mr. Grover mentions that “this place is becoming a madhouse” when the brothers take over. That breaks the logic of the film. Of course it is, but the comedy comes in people being so accepting of them. There are numerous minor villainous characters that have pretty much no purpose. It seems they’re supposed to be funny in how incompetent they are, but the scenes play like we’re supposed to be taking them seriously. Marion Martin is especially pointless, though she is involved in a good scene with Wacky.

While the last few romantic leads have been at worst terrible and at best okay, Tony Martin as Tommy Rogers makes a positive impression. Him and his subplot don’t overpower the story. Martin gets two musical numbers and they’re fantastic. The second is among the best songs in the brothers’ films. He has such a smooth voice and can so playfully let out the lyrics. The various musical showcases in the second have surprisingly good flow. With the exception of Groucho’s far too silly for silly’s sake song, all the music is excellent, even the one with the singer with the strangely wooden face and posture. If given the opportunity, I wouldn’t trade in Tony Martin for Zeppo in the same role. He would’ve been good as Mr. Grover, though.

There’s many almost good jokes. Ideas can be on the right track to be funny, then the ball is dropped, mainly by doing what you’d expect. As an example, there’s a million things that could’ve been done with Wacky and the purse. “I’m Ravelli. I’m Tommy’s best friend.” “Your best friends are the police and I’m going to call them.” are among the film’s worst lines. There’s a few really bad ones, which usually only focus on trying to move forward the story that doesn’t matter. This should be about the brothers doing comedic things. The jokes about the Italian family are pretty mixed, with the more absurdist elements better, as is most of the comedic material. It’s like a few good ideas were stretched out with filler.

Groucho’s song has a bit where we occasionally cut to closeup. It’s obvious those closeups were shot at a different time. The audio doesn’t line up. There are shots of Wacky’s hands during his harp solo where you can tell they’re really someone else’s. The ending sequence has parts where you can very clearly see stunt doubles.

Clothes

SPOILERS

Marion Martin’s character shooing Wacky out of her way and calling him stupid is yet another representation of this era of films trying to be too logical. That serves as a justification for why Wacky later cuts her dress, when in the Paramount era, he would do that just because. How did Ravelli know the cops were after them at the end? Before the leads enter the Electrical Supply Room, how did Ravelli avoid being captured by the cop?

It’s nice to see that Groucho and Margaret Dumont’s characters apparently end up together, when usually they haven’t. Them and the other two Marx Brothers are all hanging out together at the end, as if they’re friends. It’s like this was suggesting that after all their misadventures, they now get a happy ending. That’s a weird way to end this solitary film, but taken as part of a series of movies, it makes sense that the four most prominent actors would all be sticking together, ready for the next adventure.

OVERVIEW

Go West was so bad that it still is the weakest film, but The Big Store is just far more dull. At least the former has more action-heavy scenes. I can imagine myself once in a blue moon being able to sit through that cheesy western adventure, but with this next outing I don’t think I’ll ever want to watch it again. Part of me wishes I never watched this lesser era of the brothers, so I could preserve in my mind that they never lost what made them so unique. Still, there is some good in them. To compliment these films, they’ve had better final jokes than the Paramounts on average. This film features one of the best ones.