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DVD review - Mick LaSalle, SF Chron, Nov. 14, 2004
Two Marx Brothers collections have been released this year. Warner Bros. released a set of their later films, all nicely restored and with nifty extras, first. This new collection from Universal -- a five-disc set of the team's 1929-1933 films ("The Cocoanuts", "Animal Crackers," "Monkey Business," "Horse Feathers" and "Duck Soup") -- has few extras to speak of and the restoration work is just about average. But this collection has it all over on the Warners set for one simple reason: The movies are much, much better. In these films, made at Paramount, we get the brothers in all their true anarchy and absurdity. The films are modernist, arch and very smart, with no fake sentiment and no Kitty Carlisle or Alan Jones coming on to wreck things. Before the Production Code cut their wings and Irving Thalberg at MGM softened them into lovable zanies, these guys were like Borscht Belt Becketts -- really funny and suggestive of deeper truths. Groucho is unbound. Harpo is almost spooky. And the under-appreciated Chico is almost as funny as Groucho, while radiating a warmth that Groucho lacked. Zeppo is in there, too, and you know what? I got no problem with Zeppo. Zeppo is OK by me. "Duck Soup" is the hands-down masterpiece, but each of these films have flashes of brilliance and a legitimate claim on immortality.
John Clark, Chronicle Correspondent:
Critic Pauline Kael once wrote that the Marx Brothers kept turning corners you didn't know were there. Now audiences will get a taste of what she meant with the release of a boxed set of their first five films: "The Cocoanuts," "Animal Crackers," "Monkey Business," "Horse Feathers," and what many consider their masterpiece, "Duck Soup." (See a review of the DVD on the previous page.)
You could say that these films represent a transition from the brothers' vaudeville roots to a new medium, but the movies are still stagy, variety show- like (especially the production numbers) and episodic. Who cares? Especially when, in "Duck Soup," the immortal dowager Margaret Dumont says to Groucho, "I welcome you with open arms," to which he replies, "How late do you stay open?" Groucho is, of course, the ringmaster, dishing out insulting double entendres. Aiding and abetting him in their own parallel universe are Chico, whose coy misunderstandings make the head spin, and the mute, aggressively infantile Harpo. Zeppo might be a stand-in for the rest of us, except he doesn't laugh.
We spoke to Bill Marx, who is one of four children adopted by Harpo and Susan Marx. He describes himself as a "composer for films, television and symphonic works and a jazz pianist." He does speaking engagements and just finished his autobiography..
Q: How old was Harpo when you were adopted?
A: He was already 51, 52 years old. All of the brothers were up in that area. There was never a generation gap between me and my dad because my dad was always a child at heart. We shared music and baseball and golf. He was a very vital fellow. At the age of 16, I had already become his arranger and conductor, so we had a professional relationship as well as father-son.
Q: It seemed like Harpo and Chico worked together in the films separately from Groucho.
A: If you look at the movies carefully, you will find that for the most part Groucho would work with Chico and Chico would work with Harpo but very rarely would Harpo work with Groucho. The reason for that was just the way the characters were. Groucho never understood Harpo, and Chico understood Harpo because Chico was an idiot.
Q: I read somewhere that with the early films they practiced the stuff that they were going to perform on film in front of a live audience.
A: That's correct. The first two films, "Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers, " were actually filmed in New York. And they were filmed exactly as they did it on Broadway. It wasn't until they came out to Hollywood that they started doing films written for them. What happened was they did "Monkey Business," "Horse Feathers" and "Duck Soup" to finish out their five-picture commitment for Paramount. They managed a five-picture deal with Irving Thalberg at MGM. He was the one who said, "Because you are basically from the stage, we are going to mount a revue consisting of some sketches we are writing for your new motion picture, 'A Night at the Opera.' " So by the time they shot the sequences they knew where the laughs were.
Q: How much of what we saw onscreen did one see off the screen?
A: They were basically extensions of themselves in real life onstage. Chico was not an idiot, and he did not speak with an Italian accent, but he had the flair for the ladies and gambling and life. He was as much of a lunatic offstage as he was on. The same thing can be said for Groucho. Groucho was just as acerbic and witty and crazy. And Dad was very much a free spirit that everybody loved to be around because he was spontaneous with his feelings.
Q: It must have been annoying to have people expect them to be funny off the stage.
A: Dad had an advantage and a disadvantage. Without his outfit and wig on, no one would know who he was. That's the advantage. The disadvantage was that, without the wig and his outfit, nobody would know who he was. They were naturally funny people with a point of view that they developed about life that came from the experience of growing up and surviving in New York and Chicago. What they didn't know is that, when Dad stopped speaking after he got a lousy review once and wound up doing mime, they had stumbled upon a very successful formula that had been around 500 years. It originated in Italy, where you had the authoritarian figure, which was Groucho; the idiot, which was Chico; and the mime.
Q: Would they edit each other?
A: Most people would not be aware of the fact that the brothers worked in vaudeville and onstage 20 years before they ever got to Broadway. And they were five years on Broadway before they ever made their first motion picture. They instinctively knew what each one was going to do and where they were going to go. Of course, they would go into rehearsals and work things out.
Q: There was never an issue of Groucho being the leader of the group?
A: No. As a matter of fact, a lot of people don't know about Zeppo, who was one of the great raconteurs. He was the only person who could make Groucho tear with laughter. When Groucho was sick, Zeppo took his part in the act and was wonderful.
Two Marx Brothers collections have been released this year. Warner Bros. released a set of their later films, all nicely restored and with nifty extras, first. This new collection from Universal -- a five-disc set of the team's 1929-1933 films ("The Cocoanuts", "Animal Crackers," "Monkey Business," "Horse Feathers" and "Duck Soup") -- has few extras to speak of and the restoration work is just about average. But this collection has it all over on the Warners set for one simple reason: The movies are much, much better. In these films, made at Paramount, we get the brothers in all their true anarchy and absurdity. The films are modernist, arch and very smart, with no fake sentiment and no Kitty Carlisle or Alan Jones coming on to wreck things. Before the Production Code cut their wings and Irving Thalberg at MGM softened them into lovable zanies, these guys were like Borscht Belt Becketts -- really funny and suggestive of deeper truths. Groucho is unbound. Harpo is almost spooky. And the under-appreciated Chico is almost as funny as Groucho, while radiating a warmth that Groucho lacked. Zeppo is in there, too, and you know what? I got no problem with Zeppo. Zeppo is OK by me. "Duck Soup" is the hands-down masterpiece, but each of these films have flashes of brilliance and a legitimate claim on immortality.
John Clark, Chronicle Correspondent:
Critic Pauline Kael once wrote that the Marx Brothers kept turning corners you didn't know were there. Now audiences will get a taste of what she meant with the release of a boxed set of their first five films: "The Cocoanuts," "Animal Crackers," "Monkey Business," "Horse Feathers," and what many consider their masterpiece, "Duck Soup." (See a review of the DVD on the previous page.)
You could say that these films represent a transition from the brothers' vaudeville roots to a new medium, but the movies are still stagy, variety show- like (especially the production numbers) and episodic. Who cares? Especially when, in "Duck Soup," the immortal dowager Margaret Dumont says to Groucho, "I welcome you with open arms," to which he replies, "How late do you stay open?" Groucho is, of course, the ringmaster, dishing out insulting double entendres. Aiding and abetting him in their own parallel universe are Chico, whose coy misunderstandings make the head spin, and the mute, aggressively infantile Harpo. Zeppo might be a stand-in for the rest of us, except he doesn't laugh.
We spoke to Bill Marx, who is one of four children adopted by Harpo and Susan Marx. He describes himself as a "composer for films, television and symphonic works and a jazz pianist." He does speaking engagements and just finished his autobiography..
Q: How old was Harpo when you were adopted?
A: He was already 51, 52 years old. All of the brothers were up in that area. There was never a generation gap between me and my dad because my dad was always a child at heart. We shared music and baseball and golf. He was a very vital fellow. At the age of 16, I had already become his arranger and conductor, so we had a professional relationship as well as father-son.
Q: It seemed like Harpo and Chico worked together in the films separately from Groucho.
A: If you look at the movies carefully, you will find that for the most part Groucho would work with Chico and Chico would work with Harpo but very rarely would Harpo work with Groucho. The reason for that was just the way the characters were. Groucho never understood Harpo, and Chico understood Harpo because Chico was an idiot.
Q: I read somewhere that with the early films they practiced the stuff that they were going to perform on film in front of a live audience.
A: That's correct. The first two films, "Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers, " were actually filmed in New York. And they were filmed exactly as they did it on Broadway. It wasn't until they came out to Hollywood that they started doing films written for them. What happened was they did "Monkey Business," "Horse Feathers" and "Duck Soup" to finish out their five-picture commitment for Paramount. They managed a five-picture deal with Irving Thalberg at MGM. He was the one who said, "Because you are basically from the stage, we are going to mount a revue consisting of some sketches we are writing for your new motion picture, 'A Night at the Opera.' " So by the time they shot the sequences they knew where the laughs were.
Q: How much of what we saw onscreen did one see off the screen?
A: They were basically extensions of themselves in real life onstage. Chico was not an idiot, and he did not speak with an Italian accent, but he had the flair for the ladies and gambling and life. He was as much of a lunatic offstage as he was on. The same thing can be said for Groucho. Groucho was just as acerbic and witty and crazy. And Dad was very much a free spirit that everybody loved to be around because he was spontaneous with his feelings.
Q: It must have been annoying to have people expect them to be funny off the stage.
A: Dad had an advantage and a disadvantage. Without his outfit and wig on, no one would know who he was. That's the advantage. The disadvantage was that, without the wig and his outfit, nobody would know who he was. They were naturally funny people with a point of view that they developed about life that came from the experience of growing up and surviving in New York and Chicago. What they didn't know is that, when Dad stopped speaking after he got a lousy review once and wound up doing mime, they had stumbled upon a very successful formula that had been around 500 years. It originated in Italy, where you had the authoritarian figure, which was Groucho; the idiot, which was Chico; and the mime.
Q: Would they edit each other?
A: Most people would not be aware of the fact that the brothers worked in vaudeville and onstage 20 years before they ever got to Broadway. And they were five years on Broadway before they ever made their first motion picture. They instinctively knew what each one was going to do and where they were going to go. Of course, they would go into rehearsals and work things out.
Q: There was never an issue of Groucho being the leader of the group?
A: No. As a matter of fact, a lot of people don't know about Zeppo, who was one of the great raconteurs. He was the only person who could make Groucho tear with laughter. When Groucho was sick, Zeppo took his part in the act and was wonderful.
