Disc 1: The Cocoanuts/ Animal Crackers.
Groucho Marx isn't the oldest comedian to have remained funny, but surely he's the oldest whose comedy is primarily verbal. He was there right at the beginning of sound. The Cocoanuts was one of the first comedies film made after The Jazz Singer and you could see that this infant form was having problems capturing the Brothers' energy.
These first two films are both versions of hit Broadway shows. They are the ones with the most musical numbers and where the flow is encumbered by a romantic sub plot. The Marx Brothers' film career starts with a chorus line of boot faced beauties high kicking in front of a painted backdrop of Florida beach. From there we get into a story about Groucho and Zeppo running a failing hotel. It is the weakest of the films here, but considering the people behind the scenes it were still working out how to make sound movies they did a remarkable job. The Why A Duck routine is one of their more famous routines, but watching it you notice how incredibly static it is, just Groucho and Chico talking in circles for minute after minute. If it was anything less than hilarious, it would be unbearable.
Animal Crackers is also based on a Broadway show and is the first film where you don't need to forward wind through all the musical bits. The musical interludes in Marx Brothers film, when Chico gets to the piano or Harpo to the harp, are like the moments when one of the Two Ronnies announced, “And now here with her latest single, Barbara Dickson.” It opens though with Groucho performing Hooray for Captain Spaulding and Hello, I Must Be Going, which are priceless joys. Later on though there are Chico and Harpo piano and harp interludes which can comfortably be skipped through.
This has all the luggage of Cocoanuts but, set during Margaret Dumont's weekend long society do, the funny bits are funnier, and the plot (shenanigans involving the unveiling of a painting) is much flipper and less of a drag. The straight elements are more attuned to the comedy. It may be more formal than the films that followed but within 15 minutes there is a sequence where Harpo has gotten hold of a rifle and starts taking pot shoots at the guests.
Groucho Marx isn't the oldest comedian to have remained funny, but surely he's the oldest whose comedy is primarily verbal. He was there right at the beginning of sound. The Cocoanuts was one of the first comedies film made after The Jazz Singer and you could see that this infant form was having problems capturing the Brothers' energy.
These first two films are both versions of hit Broadway shows. They are the ones with the most musical numbers and where the flow is encumbered by a romantic sub plot. The Marx Brothers' film career starts with a chorus line of boot faced beauties high kicking in front of a painted backdrop of Florida beach. From there we get into a story about Groucho and Zeppo running a failing hotel. It is the weakest of the films here, but considering the people behind the scenes it were still working out how to make sound movies they did a remarkable job. The Why A Duck routine is one of their more famous routines, but watching it you notice how incredibly static it is, just Groucho and Chico talking in circles for minute after minute. If it was anything less than hilarious, it would be unbearable.
Animal Crackers is also based on a Broadway show and is the first film where you don't need to forward wind through all the musical bits. The musical interludes in Marx Brothers film, when Chico gets to the piano or Harpo to the harp, are like the moments when one of the Two Ronnies announced, “And now here with her latest single, Barbara Dickson.” It opens though with Groucho performing Hooray for Captain Spaulding and Hello, I Must Be Going, which are priceless joys. Later on though there are Chico and Harpo piano and harp interludes which can comfortably be skipped through.
This has all the luggage of Cocoanuts but, set during Margaret Dumont's weekend long society do, the funny bits are funnier, and the plot (shenanigans involving the unveiling of a painting) is much flipper and less of a drag. The straight elements are more attuned to the comedy. It may be more formal than the films that followed but within 15 minutes there is a sequence where Harpo has gotten hold of a rifle and starts taking pot shoots at the guests.
