Disc 2: Monkey Business/ Horse Feathers
Now we're really getting somewhere. These are the first films not based on stage shows so there is nothing to get in the way of the comedy except pianos and harps. Even Zeppo spring into life here. In Monkey Business he is stowing away with his three brothers on an ocean liner and at the start they are introduced to us, each in their own barrel. He seems to be an equal part, rather than the one the other three had to bring along to keep out of mischief. He still doesn't get to be funny, but he is afforded a bit of onscreen dignity.
Animal Crackers has the four of them stowing away on an ocean liner and getting involved with a warring gangsters. The highlight here is probably the four of them trying to get off the boat using Maurice Chevalier's passport.
Horse Feathers is the gem though, almost up there with Duck Soup. Here they have been let loose in a college, where Groucho is the new President. This one has the bits in the speakeasy and a couple of memorable songs: Groucho performing Whatever It Is, I'm Against It and all four of them performing Everybody Says I Love You, which would go on to be the title tune for Woody Allen's musical comedy some 6 decades later. The highlight though is the climatic (American) Football game which is fall-off-the-sofa hilarious and the inspiration surely for the football sequence that concludes MASH.
Disc 3
Now we're really getting somewhere. These are the first films not based on stage shows so there is nothing to get in the way of the comedy except pianos and harps. Even Zeppo spring into life here. In Monkey Business he is stowing away with his three brothers on an ocean liner and at the start they are introduced to us, each in their own barrel. He seems to be an equal part, rather than the one the other three had to bring along to keep out of mischief. He still doesn't get to be funny, but he is afforded a bit of onscreen dignity.
Animal Crackers has the four of them stowing away on an ocean liner and getting involved with a warring gangsters. The highlight here is probably the four of them trying to get off the boat using Maurice Chevalier's passport.
Horse Feathers is the gem though, almost up there with Duck Soup. Here they have been let loose in a college, where Groucho is the new President. This one has the bits in the speakeasy and a couple of memorable songs: Groucho performing Whatever It Is, I'm Against It and all four of them performing Everybody Says I Love You, which would go on to be the title tune for Woody Allen's musical comedy some 6 decades later. The highlight though is the climatic (American) Football game which is fall-off-the-sofa hilarious and the inspiration surely for the football sequence that concludes MASH.
Disc 3
