Lately I have been listening to Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, which revels in stories of old Hollywood, and heard a few guests claim that people don't know who the Marx Brothers are anymore. I was horrified by the thought. The Marx Brothers were a huge influence on me. My first "script" was stringing out a number of their routines into a different order. In fact, I first became of aware of the existence of screenwriters when I read a book about the making of their films. I was disillusioned at first. I assumed the actors made up all of the witty things they said. However, I soon became intrigued by these mysterious people who put words in the mouths of my screen idols.
I preferred to believe that millennials still knew and respected the Marx Brothers. Then I took my lovely wife Deborah to lunch a few weeks ago. We had a chatty young waiter who was a self-proclaimed movie fan. We were having a nice discussion until my wife mentioned Groucho Marx. That name elicited a blank expression from the waiter. My wife said surely you've heard of the Marx Brothers. He hadn't.
Oh well. At least he inspired me to pick up Blu-Rays of the Paramount films. It was like seeing them again for the first time.... (And this is coming from someone who actually still has some of their movies on 16mm.)
For the uninitiated, here's a brief summary of the team and their comic stylings. The classic formation of the group consisted of the four brothers: Leonard "Chico" Marx, 1887-1961; Arthur "Harpo" Marx, 1888-1964; Julius "Groucho" Marx, 1890-1977; and Herbert "Zeppo" Marx, 1901-1979. The brothers honed their skills and developed their comic personas in vaudeville. Groucho was the quick-witted would-be ladies' man specializing in puns, insults and wordplay. He also sang comic songs. Chico, pronounced Chick-O, parlayed the popular ethnic comedy of the era into his persona of an Italian immigrant schemer who was smarter than he appeared. He also played the piano well to comic effect. Harpo never spoke in their films. He embodied a spirit of pure, anarchic slapstick, but he played the harp with a great deal of seriousness. Zeppo came to the group late. He replaced his brother Milton "Gummo" Marx, 1893-1977, who left to troupe to fight in World War I. Zeppo generally played a straight character, without the exaggerated characteristics of his brothers.
For the uninitiated, here's a brief summary of the team and their comic stylings. The classic formation of the group consisted of the four brothers: Leonard "Chico" Marx, 1887-1961; Arthur "Harpo" Marx, 1888-1964; Julius "Groucho" Marx, 1890-1977; and Herbert "Zeppo" Marx, 1901-1979. The brothers honed their skills and developed their comic personas in vaudeville. Groucho was the quick-witted would-be ladies' man specializing in puns, insults and wordplay. He also sang comic songs. Chico, pronounced Chick-O, parlayed the popular ethnic comedy of the era into his persona of an Italian immigrant schemer who was smarter than he appeared. He also played the piano well to comic effect. Harpo never spoke in their films. He embodied a spirit of pure, anarchic slapstick, but he played the harp with a great deal of seriousness. Zeppo came to the group late. He replaced his brother Milton "Gummo" Marx, 1893-1977, who left to troupe to fight in World War I. Zeppo generally played a straight character, without the exaggerated characteristics of his brothers.
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| Zeppo, Groucho, Chico, Gummo, Harpo |
The team achieved a great deal of success in vaudeville and parlayed it onto the Broadway stage. They had three successful shows, I'll Say She Is, The Coconuts and Animal Crackers. Hungry for sound productions, Paramount filmed the final two plays in its New York Astoria studios. Being movie stars was never high on the brothers' ambitions. They were stage performers. In 1921, they had self-financed a short, Humor Risk, which they didn't deem worthy of release. However, because of their financial losses in the stock market crash, the brothers made the move to Hollywood.
Structurally, the four Marx Brothers generally began as pairs in their stories. The films usually began by establishing Groucho and Zeppo's characters. Zeppo almost always acted in a subservient position to Groucho, often as an employee or even, in the case of Horse Feathers, as his son. Zeppo once summed up his role in the films as "introducing Groucho at a party." However, there was much more to it than that. Zeppo gave Groucho someone to play off until Chico and Harpo arrived. They had some very good scenes together, like the dictation scene in Animal Crackers. Zeppo left the team at the end of their Paramount contract after Duck Soup, turning the foursome into a trio, and opening the door for lame MGM straight, romantic leads like Allan Jones, Kenny Baker and Tony Martin.
Chico and Harpo usually started a film as friends and equals. Regardless of their jobs, they usually had a bit of larceny in their hearts. However, they were generally good natured. Some would argue that they became too sentimental as the films progressed. Chico and Harpo would start the film at odds with Groucho (and Zeppo), but they would be working together by the end. That said, it was always interesting to see the team shake up their template a bit, like in The Big Store where Harpo starts working with Groucho, and A Night In Casablanca, which starts with Harpo rather than Groucho, who enters surprisingly late in the film.
I am not including Humor Risk on the list since no one still alive has ever seen it. Many consider it the Holy Grail of Lost Films (along with Orson Welles' original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons.) I am not including 1949's Love Happy because that film was designed as a solo vehicle for Harpo and the other brothers were added later. Groucho is hardly in the film, and the three brothers never share a scene.* The same is true of 1957's The Story of Mankind. The brothers appear separately in short sketches about historical figures. Nor do I include 1959's The Incredible Jewel Robbery, a silent, half-an-hour episode of TV's GE Theater. To me, it's more of a curio than a film. Groucho, uncredited, only appears in the last shot and delivers the only line of dialogue.
Structurally, the four Marx Brothers generally began as pairs in their stories. The films usually began by establishing Groucho and Zeppo's characters. Zeppo almost always acted in a subservient position to Groucho, often as an employee or even, in the case of Horse Feathers, as his son. Zeppo once summed up his role in the films as "introducing Groucho at a party." However, there was much more to it than that. Zeppo gave Groucho someone to play off until Chico and Harpo arrived. They had some very good scenes together, like the dictation scene in Animal Crackers. Zeppo left the team at the end of their Paramount contract after Duck Soup, turning the foursome into a trio, and opening the door for lame MGM straight, romantic leads like Allan Jones, Kenny Baker and Tony Martin.
Chico and Harpo usually started a film as friends and equals. Regardless of their jobs, they usually had a bit of larceny in their hearts. However, they were generally good natured. Some would argue that they became too sentimental as the films progressed. Chico and Harpo would start the film at odds with Groucho (and Zeppo), but they would be working together by the end. That said, it was always interesting to see the team shake up their template a bit, like in The Big Store where Harpo starts working with Groucho, and A Night In Casablanca, which starts with Harpo rather than Groucho, who enters surprisingly late in the film.
I am not including Humor Risk on the list since no one still alive has ever seen it. Many consider it the Holy Grail of Lost Films (along with Orson Welles' original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons.) I am not including 1949's Love Happy because that film was designed as a solo vehicle for Harpo and the other brothers were added later. Groucho is hardly in the film, and the three brothers never share a scene.* The same is true of 1957's The Story of Mankind. The brothers appear separately in short sketches about historical figures. Nor do I include 1959's The Incredible Jewel Robbery, a silent, half-an-hour episode of TV's GE Theater. To me, it's more of a curio than a film. Groucho, uncredited, only appears in the last shot and delivers the only line of dialogue.
Here's their films, ranked according to my preference. On another day it might be different, but this is how I'm feeling now.**
12. THE BIG STORE, 1941
Directed by Charles Reisner
Original story by Nat Perrin
The Marx Brothers team up to protect singer Tony Martin, who inherited a department store, from the manager who wants it for himself.
Director Charles Reisner had a distinguished career in comedy, working as a gag writer, actor and assistant director for notable talents such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. He is probably the best comedy director the brothers worked with aside from Leo McCarey who directed Duck Soup in 1933. However, even he wasn't able to infuse much energy into this picture. The brothers looked tired, and they knew it. They announced their retirement prior to the release of the film.
Still, there are a few good moments here and there, like the absolutely charming piano duet of Chico and Harpo. This is a rare film that opens with a rare Groucho and Harpo combination, and that's fun to watch. However, any energy the film starts to generate disappears when they cut to leading man Tony Martin. He's probably the worst of their straight leads, and his interminable "Tenement Symphony" is easily the worst musical number in any of their films. The high energy, climatic chase through the store on roller skates had potential, but suffered from the obvious use of stunt men and process shots.
11. AT THE CIRCUS, 1939
Directed by Edward Buzzell
Screenplay by Irving Brecher
After the creative holding action of 1938's Room Service, produced by RKO, the Brothers began their creative decline in their first MGM film after the death of famed producer Irving Thalberg.
I doubt this film would have been made had Thalberg been alive. He understood an essential thing about the brothers: They were masters of destruction, and, for that matter, deconstruction. Who wants to see them save a circus? We want to see them destroy a circus, the same way they destroyed the opera.
MGM was doing to the Marx Brothers what they had done to the Little Rascals. When Hal Roach produced the Little Rascals, they were children dealing with the concerns of children. When MGM started producing the series, they dealt with more adult concerns, and were always having to figure out a way to save the farm. That's what's happening here. Now the Marx Brothers, instead of being comic anarchists, have to save things throughout the rest of their MGM career. Granted, the Marx Brothers saved the sanitarium in A Day At The Races, but they deconstructed the pomposity of medicine in the process.
At The Circus also suffers from the performance of straight man Kenny Baker, especially when he's singing "Two Blind Loves." He's not quite as bad as Tony Martin from The Big Store, but he's close.
As would be expected, there are some amusing moments. Groucho gets to sing his signature number "Lydia The Tattooed Lady," and his scenes with Margaret Dumont still resonant, but much of the interplay between the Brothers themselves fails to click. The scene with Chico refusing to allow Groucho on the train is a pale shadow of the swordfish scene in Horse Feathers. The cigar scene with the midget and the scene with Chico and Harpo searching Goliath's room also amuse, but there is little else. The big circus finale is forced and too reliant on trick shots.
Like so many comedians before them, and so many who would follow, The Marx Brothers spoof western clichés in this late MGM feature. Not classic Marx Brothers but it is a definite improvement over their previous film At The Circus.
The film, with a plot reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy's 1935 classic Way Out West, starts very well with con man Groucho getting conned by Chico and Harpo instead. Sadly, despite many good moments, the film descends into sentimental MGM malarkey. Discarding the zany, anarchic spirit of their Paramount features, MGM worked to tame the brothers by focusing their activities on laudable goals, like, in this case, helping a nice couple from being cheated out of valuable land. Fortunately, the final reel of this film, featuring the train chase, is hilarious. That sequence alone redeems the film.
Groucho is hired as the manager of a hotel in Casablanca where he, and Harpo and Chico, must tangle with former Nazis over a treasure.
The Marx Brothers of the 1940s were a pale shadow of the Marx Brothers of the 1930s. They knew it, too. If they were action heroes in the 1980s, they would have collectively said "I'm too old for this s**t." They apparently only did this film to help Chico with his gambling debts. Still, I prefer this film to the late MGM ones.
The film opens very well with a great visual gag by Harpo. It is soon followed by another fun bit with Harpo getting into a sword duel with one of the Nazi henchmen. Harpo dominates the humor, and the story. Groucho appears uncharacteristically late in the film, but manages to score with some great one-liners. I get the sense that the brothers realized this would be their last film and worked to make it worthy of their legacy.
This was the second to last of the Marx Brothers films I saw. It wasn't part of the movie packages that played endlessly on the locals stations in the sixties and early seventies. I remember the film getting some special advertising prior to the first screening. It didn't play on prime time, but rather at eleven-thirty, after the local news. I think it was a school night, but I stayed up and watched it anyway.
I wasn't disappointed.
Here's a clip from the film:
MGM was doing to the Marx Brothers what they had done to the Little Rascals. When Hal Roach produced the Little Rascals, they were children dealing with the concerns of children. When MGM started producing the series, they dealt with more adult concerns, and were always having to figure out a way to save the farm. That's what's happening here. Now the Marx Brothers, instead of being comic anarchists, have to save things throughout the rest of their MGM career. Granted, the Marx Brothers saved the sanitarium in A Day At The Races, but they deconstructed the pomposity of medicine in the process.
At The Circus also suffers from the performance of straight man Kenny Baker, especially when he's singing "Two Blind Loves." He's not quite as bad as Tony Martin from The Big Store, but he's close.
As would be expected, there are some amusing moments. Groucho gets to sing his signature number "Lydia The Tattooed Lady," and his scenes with Margaret Dumont still resonant, but much of the interplay between the Brothers themselves fails to click. The scene with Chico refusing to allow Groucho on the train is a pale shadow of the swordfish scene in Horse Feathers. The cigar scene with the midget and the scene with Chico and Harpo searching Goliath's room also amuse, but there is little else. The big circus finale is forced and too reliant on trick shots.
10. GO WEST, 1940
Directed by Edward Buzzell
Screenplay by Irving Brecher
Like so many comedians before them, and so many who would follow, The Marx Brothers spoof western clichés in this late MGM feature. Not classic Marx Brothers but it is a definite improvement over their previous film At The Circus.
The film, with a plot reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy's 1935 classic Way Out West, starts very well with con man Groucho getting conned by Chico and Harpo instead. Sadly, despite many good moments, the film descends into sentimental MGM malarkey. Discarding the zany, anarchic spirit of their Paramount features, MGM worked to tame the brothers by focusing their activities on laudable goals, like, in this case, helping a nice couple from being cheated out of valuable land. Fortunately, the final reel of this film, featuring the train chase, is hilarious. That sequence alone redeems the film.
9. THE COCONUTS, 1929
Directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley
Book by George S. Kaufman
Adapted by Morrie Ryskind
Groucho plays the owner of a failing Florida hotel who must contend with larcenous guests, including Harpo and Chico, while trying to woo the always dignified Margaret Dumont.
I clearly remember watching this film for the first time. I couldn't have been more than six or seven. It was a Friday night, and I was staying at my grandmother's house. My bedroom, which was recently vacated by my great-grandfather John "George" Rosenberger upon his death, had a black and white television in it. I turned it on and found this film. It was love at first sight for me and the brothers Marx.
Over time, my affection for this specific film has waned. This was their first feature film. It is a very early talkie, and displays all of the weaknesses of such films. The movie is very stagey. It was a filmed version of their recent Broadway hit. It was shot during the day in New York City while they performed their current Broadway hit, Animal Crackers, in the evening.
There are a couple inspired moments, particularly from Harpo, but the film is overly-plotted and dragged down by dull acting from the rest of the cast, with the exception of the venerable Margaret Dumont, and too many unmemorable songs and dance numbers. The film also suffers from poor sound recording. Still, despite the technical limitations, it has an energy missing from the later MGM films.
Here's a clip:
Here's a clip:
8. A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA, 1946
Directed by Archie Mayo
Screenplay by Joseph Fields and Roland Kibbee
The Marx Brothers of the 1940s were a pale shadow of the Marx Brothers of the 1930s. They knew it, too. If they were action heroes in the 1980s, they would have collectively said "I'm too old for this s**t." They apparently only did this film to help Chico with his gambling debts. Still, I prefer this film to the late MGM ones.
The film opens very well with a great visual gag by Harpo. It is soon followed by another fun bit with Harpo getting into a sword duel with one of the Nazi henchmen. Harpo dominates the humor, and the story. Groucho appears uncharacteristically late in the film, but manages to score with some great one-liners. I get the sense that the brothers realized this would be their last film and worked to make it worthy of their legacy.
This was the second to last of the Marx Brothers films I saw. It wasn't part of the movie packages that played endlessly on the locals stations in the sixties and early seventies. I remember the film getting some special advertising prior to the first screening. It didn't play on prime time, but rather at eleven-thirty, after the local news. I think it was a school night, but I stayed up and watched it anyway.
I wasn't disappointed.
Here's a clip from the film:
7. ROOM SERVICE, 1938
Directed by William A. Seiter
Screenplay by Morrie Ryskind
Based on the play by John Murray & Allen Boretz
Groucho plays a disreputable Broadway producer who, with the help of his loyal henchmen, Chico and Harpo, uses any means necessary to provide a stage for his play and room and board for his cast.
This film, done at RKO, is the only feature they made based on material not written especially for them. As a result, we miss some of the brothers' normal dynamics. For example, Groucho usually starts at cross purposes with Chico and Harpo, only to combine forces in the end. Here they are working together from the beginning. Also, the confined setting gives Harpo few women to chase, and even fewer moments to shine. As a result, Groucho still manages to amuse, but Harpo and Chico are marginalized. If they were written out of the plot, you would hardly miss them.
Still, I can't despise the film. It isn't as wild and chaotic as the Brothers at their prime, but the film still generates quite a few laughs. There is one thing I have noticed about it. I have had the opportunity to watch this film with people who do not normally care for the Marx Brothers. This film, however, they tend to enjoy. It is indeed a Marx Brothers film for people who do not like the Marx Brothers.
Plus, it features some early Lucille Ball.
6. A DAY AT THE RACES, 1937
Directed by Sam Wood
Original Story by Robert Pirosh & George Seaton
Groucho is Dr. Hugo Hackenbush, a vet posing as a doctor, who, with the help of a jockey and racetrack tout, tries to keep a struggling sanitarium open.
This was the brothers second film for MGM and their last one under the direct supervision of the "boy genius" producer Irving Thalberg. He had a real affection for the team, and confidence on their box office potential. He signed them after their Paramount contract ended. His vision led to their initial success with A Night At The Opera. Sadly, Thalberg would die during the production of this film. MGM was never not a comedy powerhouse. It should be noted that the brothers had not been signed by MGM itself after their contract with Paramount ended. They were signed to a personal contract with Thalberg. Without his protection, MGM would give them the same treatment they gave to Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy.
Still, this is a fine film. And a bigger hit than A Night At The Opera. It doesn't have the same manic energy of the Paramount features, but there are a number of solid set pieces, particularly the examination of Margaret Dumont and Groucho and Chico's Tootsie Fruitsie Ice Cream routine. The ending also keeps the energy high.
This was the only Marx Brothers film nominated for an Academy Award. Dave Gould was nominated for Best Dance Direction for the "All God's Children Got Rhythm" number.
Here's a clip:
5. ANIMAL CRACKERS, 1930
Directed by Victor Heerman
Screenplay by Morrie Ryskind
Based on the musical play by George S. Kaufman,
Society matron Margaret Dumont throws a weekend shindig to entertain the famous African explorer Jeffrey Spaulding (Groucho), and Chico and Harpo show up as larcenous musicians. There's another plot involving the rest of the cast, but who cares?
This was the last one of their films I managed to see. I believe copyright issues kept this film out of the public eye for decades. When the issues were finally resolved in the seventies, the film managed to get a limited theatrical release. I saw it at the Towson Theater with my friend Bob Burgess. It make the event even cooler, it was accompanied by two shorts: The Vagabond, by Charlie Chaplin, and Helpmates, by Laurel and Hardy. (That was also the first time I had seen The Vagabond.)
I was not disappointed by the film. The Marx Brother's second feature was a vast improvement over the first one. It is nowhere near as stagey and static as the first one, and it is less bogged down with secondary plots and musical numbers. The material definitely holds up better than The Coconuts. One of my cousins recently appeared in a hilarious high school revival of the play.
Here's a clip:
Here's a clip:
4. MONKEY BUSINESS, 1931
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Screenplay by S.J. Perelman and Will B. Johnstone
Additional dialogue by Arthur Sheekman
Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo are stowaways on an ocean liner who get involved in a rivalry between two gangsters in their first comedy written directly for the screen.
Monkey Business was their third feature film, and it refreshing abandoned the stodgy proscenium of their first two features. The first two-thirds of the film are very funny as the brothers attempt to elude the ship's crew. Chico and Harpo have many inventive gags and routines, and Groucho wisecracks with abandon. And Zeppo... Well, does it really matter what Zeppo does?
Sorry, I don't mean to disparage Zeppo. I wish he would have remained in the team. He could have certainly handled the "straight" business in the films better than some of the 2nd tier leading man wannabes that ended up in the films. Think Zeppo in place of Kenny Baker in At The Circus. See what I mean?
The climax of the first part of the film, as the brothers try to sneak off the ship disguised as Maurice Chevalier, is a classic. (And a lift from their play I'll Say She Is.) Sadly, the land bound finale is rather weak in comparison as the inconsequential plot plays itself out. Still, the first part of the film is prime Marx Brothers at their best.
3. HORSE FEATHERS, 1932
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Groucho plays Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new head of troubled Huxley College where his son Zeppo (!) is a student. Groucho decides only a good football team can save the college and goes to a speakeasy to find some professionals to play on the team as ringers. He ends up signing Chico and Harpo, who are.... Who cares? Just know that it is funny. Very funny.
The film is filled with great gags, and we get to see all four brothers try to romance the always delicious but doomed Thelma Todd. The film holds together better than their earlier films as a story and leaves the brothers free to play without a serious romantic subplot played by others. Pure Marx Brothers. You can't go wrong with this film!
Here's a clip:
The film is filled with great gags, and we get to see all four brothers try to romance the always delicious but doomed Thelma Todd. The film holds together better than their earlier films as a story and leaves the brothers free to play without a serious romantic subplot played by others. Pure Marx Brothers. You can't go wrong with this film!
Here's a clip:
Groucho plays Rufus T. Firefly, leader of Freedonia, with brother Zeppo at his side, while Chico and Harpo play spies working for which ever side the comic wind blows in the last film featuring all four of the Marx Brothers.
This film is easily the funniest and most consistent of their Paramount features, and many believe it to be their funniest film overall. Either way, it remains one of the funniest movies in history. That said, however, although it began to be fashionable to say so during the 60's, the film is no more an anti-war film than Horse Feathers is an anti-football film.
Duck Soup strongly benefits from the presence of director Leo McCarey, who learned the comedy business at the Hal Roach studio with folks like Charley Chase and Laurel and Hardy. McCarey even brought some Roach regulars like Charles Middleton and Edgar Kennedy to the film. Kennedy, in particular, as the lemonade vendor, proves to be a wonderful foil for Harpo and Chico. Their exchanges makes one wish he could have become a regular in their films like always welcome Margaret Dumont.
A must see.
Here's a clip:
This film is easily the funniest and most consistent of their Paramount features, and many believe it to be their funniest film overall. Either way, it remains one of the funniest movies in history. That said, however, although it began to be fashionable to say so during the 60's, the film is no more an anti-war film than Horse Feathers is an anti-football film.
Duck Soup strongly benefits from the presence of director Leo McCarey, who learned the comedy business at the Hal Roach studio with folks like Charley Chase and Laurel and Hardy. McCarey even brought some Roach regulars like Charles Middleton and Edgar Kennedy to the film. Kennedy, in particular, as the lemonade vendor, proves to be a wonderful foil for Harpo and Chico. Their exchanges makes one wish he could have become a regular in their films like always welcome Margaret Dumont.
A must see.
Here's a clip:
1. A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, 1935
Directed by Sam Wood
Screenplay by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
Story by James Kevin McGuinness
Shady business manager, Groucho, promises to get wealthy widow Margaret Dumont into high society by making her a sponsor of the arts. When they go to Europe to hire the world's greatest opera singer, Groucho runs into Chico and Harpo, who trick him into signing a talented unknown, Allan Jones. The three brothers then see to it that Jones sings in New York, even if it means destroying the opera in the process during the hilarious climax.
The Marx Brothers' first film for MGM is arguably their best. Granted, we must endure a romantic subplot featuring Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle and some non-comic opera singing, but it is a small price to pay for the laughs. My eyes only glaze over during the Jones/Carlisle duet at the boat. The rest of the numbers aren't bad, and Chico and Harpo's musical interludes were never better than in this film. The stuffy world of the opera provides the perfect backdrop for the Marx Brothers' creative anarchy.
Producer Irving Thalberg really believed in the Brothers and worked to craft them a perfect comic environment to play against. The Paramount films all have a slapdash, low budget feel to them. Thalberg gave the brothers a wonderful script, which they honed on the road, and first-rate A-list production values. Technically-speaking, this is their best-looking and sounding film. It features nice sets and uniformly good performances from the supporting cast. Too bad Thalberg didn't live longer.
One final point. Before you give me any crap about making this film number one on my list, Groucho himself declared that the two Thalberg features were their best. (I do have to disagree with The Great Man about A Day at the Races.)
Here's a clip:
*In his first memoir, Groucho did not list Love Happy as a Marx Brothers film.
**I repurposed some of my previous writings use elsewhere in this blog.
The Marx Brothers' first film for MGM is arguably their best. Granted, we must endure a romantic subplot featuring Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle and some non-comic opera singing, but it is a small price to pay for the laughs. My eyes only glaze over during the Jones/Carlisle duet at the boat. The rest of the numbers aren't bad, and Chico and Harpo's musical interludes were never better than in this film. The stuffy world of the opera provides the perfect backdrop for the Marx Brothers' creative anarchy.
Producer Irving Thalberg really believed in the Brothers and worked to craft them a perfect comic environment to play against. The Paramount films all have a slapdash, low budget feel to them. Thalberg gave the brothers a wonderful script, which they honed on the road, and first-rate A-list production values. Technically-speaking, this is their best-looking and sounding film. It features nice sets and uniformly good performances from the supporting cast. Too bad Thalberg didn't live longer.
One final point. Before you give me any crap about making this film number one on my list, Groucho himself declared that the two Thalberg features were their best. (I do have to disagree with The Great Man about A Day at the Races.)
Here's a clip:
*In his first memoir, Groucho did not list Love Happy as a Marx Brothers film.
**I repurposed some of my previous writings use elsewhere in this blog.
Here are some other lists:
And, of course, no blog would be complete without some self-promotion. So feel free to check out my memoir The Promise, or the Pros and Cons of Talking with God, published by TouchPoint Press. It is my true story of first faith and first love and how the two became almost fatally intertwined.
Top 10 Comedies of the 2000s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1990s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1980s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1970s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1960s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1950s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1940s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1930s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 2010s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 2000s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1990s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1980s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1970s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1960s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1950s
Top 15 Horror Films of the 1930s and 1940s
My 10 Favorite James Bonds Films
My 10 Favorite Faith Based Films
My 10 Favorite Laurel & Hardy Shorts
Top 10 Comedies of the 1990s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1980s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1970s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1960s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1950s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1940s
Top 10 Comedies of the 1930s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 2010s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 2000s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1990s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1980s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1970s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1960s
Top 10 Horror Films of the 1950s
Top 15 Horror Films of the 1930s and 1940s
My 10 Favorite James Bonds Films
My 10 Favorite Faith Based Films
My 10 Favorite Laurel & Hardy Shorts
The 10 Worst Films I Paid To See!
My 5 Favorite Westerns
7 Guy Films
20 Films, or Confessions of a Misspent Youth
The Marx Brothers Films Ranked
The Chaplin Mutual Shorts Ranked
Beatles Albums Ranked
My 20 Favorite Beatles Songs
My 5 Least Favorite Beatles Songs
My 5 Favorite Rolling Stones Albums
My 5 Favorite Dylan Albums
My 5 Favorite Westerns
7 Guy Films
20 Films, or Confessions of a Misspent Youth
The Marx Brothers Films Ranked
The Chaplin Mutual Shorts Ranked
Beatles Albums Ranked
My 20 Favorite Beatles Songs
My 5 Least Favorite Beatles Songs
My 5 Favorite Rolling Stones Albums
My 5 Favorite Dylan Albums
And, of course, no blog would be complete without some self-promotion. So feel free to check out my memoir The Promise, or the Pros and Cons of Talking with God, published by TouchPoint Press. It is my true story of first faith and first love and how the two became almost fatally intertwined.
Here are some sample chapters of The Promise:
I'm 22 and can confirm almost nobody my age would know who the Marx Brothers were, unfortunately.
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