I once saw the first fifteen minutes or so of one of Groucho’s solo films, “Copacabana”. It looked quite good. Has anyone seen it, and if so how goood is it?
[quote=“John Welles, post:21, topic:1833”]I once saw the first fifteen minutes or so of one of Groucho’s solo films, “Copacabana”. It looked quite good. Has anyone seen it, and if so how goood is it?[/quote]mostly musical if i remember correctly. Groucho has some great moments as always but not really a good film.
Ah right. Thank you.
I prefer the Three Stooges honestly. Though I don’t dislike the Marx’s.
I have just started watching “At the Circus”. I’m looking forward to it.
Here’s my thought’s on “A Night at the Opera”:
The Marx Brothers “A Night at the Opera” (1935), directed by Sam Wood who would go on to direct another Marx Brothers picture, “A Day at the Races”, and then on to serious films like “For Whom the Bell Toles”, isn’t quite as good as people say. Of course, it has such justly famous bits as the contract tearing scene, the state-room scene and the plain clothes detective searching Groucho’s apartment for Chico, Harpo and Ricardo (Allan Jones), but the romance between Jones and Kitty Carlisle is down right boring, and if it wasn’t for the Marx Brothers, the movie would be terrible. The songs as well are bland and operatic, and anyhow, songs in general are a disadvantage in a Marx Brothers film because you are there to see a comedy, not a musical. Still, their are some very funny moments, especially the first five minutes. Just don’t expect it to be on the level of “A Day at the Races”.
Wait, wait, the anarchical songs and musical scenes in their early films are really great.
there’s a funny story about Night at the Opera: Woods was frustrated with Marx bros and said something like “well maybe you just can’t make an actor out of Marx Brothers” and Croucho replied “nor director out of wood”.
Ah, the wit of the Marx Brothers!
Very true, and of course the Marxes came from a vaudevillian stage tradition, where music and songs had equal weight as slapstick and verbal wit.
But the later films definitely suffer from shining too much of the limelight on the lesser performers and their romantic song routines.
The later films of course. A glamour studio like MGM was the wrong place for them.
Yes. The romantic twitterings of Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle should have no place in a film, let alone a Marx Broothers picture.
Here’s some extended thourghts about “A Day at the Races”…
The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico and Harpo, Zeppo left after "Duck Soup) “A Day at the Races” (1937) surpasses “A Night at the Opera” because of its sheer amount of good scenes. For instance, in this picture you have: The Tutsi Fruitsy Ice Cream skit, Chico and Harpo trying to interrupt Dr. Hugo V. Hackenbush’s (Groucho) romancing femme fatale (Esther Muir), Groucho’s telephone conversation with Whitmore (Leonard Ceeley) and of course the medical examination of Emily Upjohn (Margaret Dumont) by Groucho. One of the reasons I like this film so much is the way it ends up getting rid of the plot and boils down to a series of extremely funny sketches. Not to be missed.
And some more on “At the Circus”…
The Marx Brothers “At the Circus” (1939) was made just when their films were starting to decline in quality at the hands of MGM. Their are the usual vices, such as the the romantic subplot, the sheer unbelievable fact that the brothers would actually help a circus that was badly in debt and, apart from Groucho singing about Lydia, the Tattooed Lady, the songs are mundane and instantly forgettable. On the plus side however, you have Groucho trying to get on to the circus train, again trying (and failing) to get some money from a female trapeze artiste and of course a grand dinner party with Margaret Dumont. The two other brother, Harpo and Chico, also get some memorable moments, particular when both of them play detective. Plus, an unforgettable encounter with an orchestra. One of the most underrated Marx Brothers films from their stay at MGM.
I have just watched the Marx Brothers masterpiece, “Duck Soup”. If it’s one of the most perfect examples of great comedy I’ve ever seen. There is only one flaw in the film, and that is that it’s just too short at 70 minutes!