The Marx Bros. - Best to worst

Few movies make me laugh this hard & this frequently. This is the Marx Bros. at their anarchic best. Much like Horse Feathers there are more detours from the plot than a focus on it, and the results are always hilarious. The pair of scenes where Harpo's character takes on a street vendor had me in stitches, as did his constantly clipping pair of scissors. Groucho's wit is as sharp as ever & it's refreshing to see Margaret Dumont play his love interest/comic foil again. While it often seems to me like she was oblivious to a lot of his jokes (or maybe that's just good acting), she clearly provides plenty of fodder for him & just looks great sharing the screen with him.

The supporting cast is much better all around than in Horse Feathers, and for once they didn't bother with the musical interludes that were the trademark for Chico & Harpo. Without them the film feels tighter overall, though I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice their absence. I'm sure had they indulged in the musical asides the film would've had a longer run-time, but I can see that they wouldn't add anything more than filler to the film.

Also I feel I have to comment on the fact that this is the last of the Marx Bros. films to feature Zeppo. He's essentially the same character as in Animal Crackers, and thus doesn't seem to contribute much to the film. His role is serviceable enough, but I felt it could just as easily been played by anybody. Kinda lame he goes out like this since he had a more prominent role in Horse Feathers, but I'm sure in retrospect he was proud just to be a part of this masterpiece.

I've watched this one more than any other Marx Bros. film, and some days I even consider it my favorite of the bunch. There's not a dull moment or a misstep in the entire movie, a fact that was all the more emphasized by my re-watching The Cocoanuts. Sure, the plot is minimal, but what works best for the brothers is the comedy & here it's firing on all cylinders without ever completely going off the rails of the established plot. The supporting cast works well too, nailing their parts without trying to push the Marx Bros. off to the side, & serving as foils wherever necessary. Ah, and Zeppo is given the least screen time of the foursome which was always a good idea since he's rarely entertaining (though in this one I love the "take a letter" exchange between his Jamison and Groucho's Capt. Spaulding).

Still pure perfection in my book & purely satisfying.

Perhaps a far better movie overall as far as the Marx Brothers' films go up to this point, as for once the plot is held to tightly & every scene serves a purpose. A Night at the Opera boasts some of the brothers' most memorable bits, including one of the Greatest scenes ever, the stateroom scene. And so in these respects it's definitely worthy of its distinction as a great classic movie. Yet the anarchy of their earlier films seems to have gone out with Zeppo, which is a little sad. Instead it's traded for the musical performances, which are well done but lacking in the humor department. Ah, but the fact they make an opera worth sitting through for me (instead of sleep-inducing) is worthy of my excusing the decision to finally adhere to a proper movie format instead of letting the brothers run amok.

And here we have the Marx Bros. coming into their own finally. More so than their previous films (chronologically speaking), this one sees them take whatever's going on & carry it into complete anarchy & absurdity. There's the first on-screen instance of someone actually cutting a deck of cards, a classroom scene that sees 3 of the brothers overthrow the professor, a running gag in one scene where a delivery of a block of ice keeps getting rejected to increasingly funnier results, and a football game which proceeds with minimal attention to the rules. It seems like the director & writers gave them free reign here to do whatever they wanted & it works out with hilarious results. (I also give the film points for naming the rival colleges Huxley and Darwin.)

So what holds me back from giving it a full 10? The supporting cast isn't as memorable as that of some of their other films, for one. But worse than that the obvious lack of footage shown by a few jumpy scenes & the shorter run-time has always left me aware that I'm missing something & wondering about it. Apparently a full cut doesn't exist, which is a shame because otherwise this one might be a masterpiece.

This one has always fallen short of being among their best for me, and I think I've figured out why. We start off with the hilarious scenes of the brothers as stowaways on a boat, which for me could've lasted the entire film...though I suppose others would argue it would've got old before it ended had they done it that way. The scenes with Groucho & Thelma Todd are Great, and Zeppo gets a chance to shine a little by having his own romantic subplot (which works well too). It's the gangster vs. rich man part that doesn't always work for me & I think it has mostly to do with Harry Woods, the guy playing Alky Briggs. He never comes off as quite the villain he could be, and doesn't seem like much of an actor. In fact there's one scene where Woods & Todd are exchanging lines, and Groucho steps in to let them know whose turn it is & I couldn't help feeling he was as much poking fun at them as helping them out.

I'd like to add that this is the first film of theirs (again, chronologically) that truly effectively works the musical interludes in perfectly. I guess when it came to Harpo's harp-playing and Chico's piano-playing, the third time was the charm as far as giving those scenes a proper context that doesn't feel like a complete break from the rest of the film.

One of the coolest harps ever.

Somehow I'd missed this one until recently, but I'll be sure to watch it again in the future. The comedy side of things fires on all cylinders here & the supporting cast never overstays their welcome. Some of the characters could be better handled, but I laughed so often & heartily that I hardly cared. It may fall a little short of their best films, but not by much. Kind of a shame then that it's rarely talked about.

Like the films that precede it chronologically, there are plenty of memorable comedic moments to enjoy here: Harpo holding up a wall, the luggage-packing scene, the food taster bit, to name a few. But the plot is so strictly adhered to that the comedy almost takes a backseat to it, especially in the film's final moments. Fortunately the story is a decent one, but it's not exceptional. Also working in this film's favor is the lack of musical numbers which detracted from A Day at the Races, plus Chico & Harpo's musical interludes are properly worked into the film (funny to see Harpo go for help & stop to play the harp instead, leaving Groucho trapped in an elevator). Anyway, it's good, but not Great like I thought I'd remembered it being.

The story is decent (not that the plot matters really), and as long as the Marx Bros. are on screen this film is an absolute joy. The trouble generally arises whenever they're not on screen. There are a handful of dance numbers for no apparent reason, which end up seeming like filler, as if someone decided the run-time wasn't sufficient & needed padding. The film also suffers from some clunky transitions, most notably the one where we cut away to Harpo walking over to his harp to play a song. Aside from the fact he's playing the song most featured in the movie, it feels tacked on rather than being organically stitched into the rest of the movie. Later efforts managed to find ways to give purpose to Harpo & Chico's performances, but in this case it just happens apropos of nothing. Fortunately Chico's piano playing fits in well where it is, and overall the comedy outshines most of the flaws. I could complain more about the technical side of things, but considering The Cocoanuts was shot during the earliest days of sound films I'm willing to let a lot of it slide.

Possibly my favorite moment of this movie is the part where Harpo steals the detective's shirt & the detective sings about wanting it back & the rest of the cast joins in, all done to music from Carmen.

I had a big problem with this one: I'm struck by just how forced & thus unnecessary the musical interludes are here. In previous Marx Bros. films, the ones heaviest on music set the audience up for the musical numbers, usually in the first 15 minutes or so. Here the first one comes along so late it feels unnecessary. I feel like Allan Jones had it in his contract that he had to sing 2 songs to be in the film & they obliged him. Unfortunately neither of his songs is memorable & both give way to drawn out & even less essential moments (a ballet number which almost kills the film's momentum and a song-and-dance routine that's merely OK despite being the best song the film has). The only good thing to come out of the musical side of things is the Chico/Harpo club scene where the piano Chico plays gets turned into Harpo's harp. Had they let Chico & Harpo have their musical moments it would've been fine since they fit into the story somewhat, but even then I feel like the film would most benefit from losing all the musical interludes.

Aside from that, everything else here works Great: lots of memorable comic bits, a solid story that makes room for the Brothers' antics, and a strong supporting cast. I'd originally given this one a perfect 10 (perhaps because I owned it on VHS for a long time before getting it on DVD & thus assumed I liked it better), but now I've adjusted it.

This one isn't considered part of the Marx Bros. canon, but does indeed have Groucho, Chico, and Harpo in it and the story idea came from Harpo. Thus it's the 13th & final Marx Brothers' film, though they made one more movie where each of them were in it but none of them in the same scene (The Story of Mankind, and all were cameos at that). And so I've come as close as possible to having seen all of their films (which doesn't count anything lost, films where only one of them was in it, or short performances in films where they weren't the center of the entire work).

I can understand why it's not included in the canon. Groucho spends the majority of the film relegated to a narrator role & thus hardly shows up on screen. Harpo & Chico are at the film's center, and here they're surrounded by some solid actors including Raymond Burr and Marilyn Monroe in her film debut (hers is a minor role that definitely leaves a strong impression). The whole thing is entertaining enough & the story stays mostly on course (a rarity among their films). It never quite crossed the line for me to being worth revisiting much (especially since the laughs here are more of the chuckling quietly variety than the laugh-out-loud type), but I thought it was well worth watching.

Not quite as good as I'd remembered, Room Service starts out pretty weak with few laughs. Fortunately as it rolls along it picks up steam & there are some hilarious moments to be had. The ways they get rid of a collections guy are great, there's a funny bit with a turkey (with the unintentionally funny addition of being able to see the wire it flies on), and the ending is solid. Unfortunately some of the cast isn't that good, and Lucille Ball shows up & gets little to do (rather disappointing given her eventual star status). The story is decent though, it's just that in the end it's not as strong a film as most of their others. I still think it's worth a look though.

A solid if unexceptional entry from the Marx Bros. It's entertaining, the cast is decent, and there are some good laughs along the way. The plot could easily be wrapped up in 30 minutes, but gets stretched out to almost 90 minutes. That could be a problem if you're not a fan of the Marx Brothers' comedy, since the plots of their films are usually secondary to the humor anyway, but this time out there aren't many big memorable moments like most of the films that preceded it.

This is easily my least favorite Marx Bros. film, as overall it feels less like their movie & more like something they unfairly got dropped into. There's a lack of their comedic sensibilities in several instances, plus too big a focus on their singer co-star Tony Martin. This could easily have been his movie for how much he's allowed to dominate the picture. Unfortunately while he's got some talent, he's rather boring & I found myself skipping through his big number rather than endure it.

Ah, but at least the Marx Bros. have a few shining moments. The exchanges between Groucho and Margaret Dumont have the same magic they always did, there's a funny bit or two involving a car, an amusing duet with Harpo & Chico on piano, and one of Harpo's best harp playing scenes. The harp scene largely saved the film from a lower rating, as it comes during the last half of the film which is rarely as amusing as anything in the first half (nevermind anything else the brothers did).