All that remained was now to conquer Hollywood and they did to some extent with their first outing, The Cocoanuts, a successful transfer of the Broadway stage act to the big screen. It wasn’t long before they became the toast of New York. So in 1924 they moved their successful act to Broadway. People had grown tired of it as a form of entertainment. The highlight of At The Circus has to be Groucho singing his rendition of “Lydia the Tattooed Lady” but then again the sight of Harpo riding an Ostrich gets a lot of surprising laughs too.īy the early 1920s, the Marx brothers began to realize that vaudeville was dying a slow death.
Not always on everyones list of essential Marx brothers films, this is the zany picture where the brothers save a circus from bankruptcy. At The Circus (1939).īilled as a ‘wonderful show of mirth and melody’ the 1939 Marx Brothers At The Circus is surprisingly very funny despite the fact that it is at times regarded as a pale imitation of the sidesplitting fun and style of the brothers earliest pictures. With lives and livelihoods at stake, the brothers resort to mayhem to get the deeds back. Later the brothers are caught up in another swindle that involves the deeds to a lucrative property that two villains steal from them. Instead, the brothers cheat him out of everything and head west to strike it rich.
With the American Old West as the brothers palette for mayhem, the film begins with Groucho attempting to swindle money for train fare from two gold prospector played by Chico and Harpo. It’s definitely worth the wait as Groucho, Chico and Harpo literally tear up the passenger cars to fuel the train’s engine. While Go West is often considered as one of their minor successes, it is still quite funny where anything goes! The hilarious Wild West train sequence at the end of the picture is vintage Marxian comedy. The story itself holds enough interest which finds Groucho playing a strapped for cash Broadway producer trying to avoid getting evicted from his brother-in-law’s hotel, while at the same time trying to get a financial backer to commit to an upcoming play he is producing. Though I have faith that some of you will like it ahead of the three films that didn’t make it onto this list. Sure Room Services has some good qualities and funny gags but ultimately it doesn’t truly live up to being a quintessential Marx Brothers picture. It was based on the 1937 Broadway play of the same name but unlike other Broadway productions like The Cocoanuts, which was specifically written with the brothers in mind, Room Service suffers from trying to be faithful to the play and not allowing the brothers to truly break out of character.
#Marx brothers films series#
Room Service sneaks in at number ten in this series virtually by default only because the three films that missed out absolutely stink!Įverything about Room Service screams no, no, no! In hindsight it was arguably the wrong vehicle for the Marx Brothers. The Marx Brothers made thirteen films during their celebrated career.
I have deliberately stayed clear of the post-war years and I hope that you will agree with my choices, but as always I am happy for you to persuade me otherwise. For a more Hollywood scripted experience I would highly recommend for riotousri laughs Monkey Business (1931) and A Night at the Opera (1935).įor students of cinema, film buffs and readers in general, here below is what I believe are the ten essential films that say something about the Marx Brothers. It is the closest thing to their successful stage acts and Broadway shows of the 1920’s. If you a want to see them at their ‘Vaudeville’ best you should definitely check out The Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1930). It’s fair to say there’s enough hi-jinks to last a lifetime when we consider the movies the Marx Brothers left us. Nevertheless, the Marx Brothers still hold a special place in cinema history having left us with a wonderful legacy of laughs. I was exposed to them as a kid and even I have to admit they are an acquired taste. Their work is often held in high regard among critics and physical comedians still today, though I don’t know if the audiences of today would appreciate their antics like the audiences of yesteryear. Are the Marx brothers still relevant? Honestly I hope so.
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