The Marx Brothers' Movies

Zany Films from Comedy Greats Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Gummo and Zeppo

Oct 23, 2008

Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Gummo and Zeppo - the Marx Brothers - made some of the greatest comedy films of all time. Here's a potted guide.

Across 30 years, the Marx Brothers were at the top of the comedy scene in both sides of the Atlantic. Here are the films that put them there.

The first of the Marx Brothers films, and their only silent movie, this film has not been seen for nearly 90 years, the only copies and the negative having been either destroyed or lost. Groucho is rumoured to have disliked the film so much that it was obliterated.

The film was made privately by the Marx Brothers and was a spoof of a hit comedy of 1920.

The Cocoanuts was the first of their ‘Broadway’ films, films that had previously been successful stage shows. This film is set in the Florida land boom in which Chico and Harpo play their frequent role as con men.

Another ‘broadway’ film starring Groucho as Captain Spaulding, the great explorer. This film contains the legendary line, ‘This morning I shot a lion in my pyjamas. How it got into my pyjamas I’ll never know.’ This was also the first Marx Brothers film to star Margaret Dumont as the straight foil to Groucho’s comedy.

This was the first Marx Brothers movie to be written especially for the silver screen. It was also their first ‘Hollywood’ film. In the film, they play stowaways and the film starts with the famous ‘barrel’ scene as they try to escape capture.

Groucho Marx plays Quincy Wagstaff, a US college professor with the big American football game on his mind. This is the Marx Brothers at their prime, although some of the more recent versions to have been released omit small scenes, probably for reasons of censorship. It includes Groucho’s ‘I’m against it’ song.

This writer regards this as the Marx Brothers’ best and greatest film. A political satire set in the mythical central European country of Freedonia, the film charts the descent into war via Groucho’s by mow traditional play for Margaret Dumont’s honour. This film is to be seen at all costs.

Another contender for the Marx Brothers’ greatest film, this film contains the ‘stateroom’ scene in which a seemingly impossible number of people cram into a liner bedroom. It also contains the incredible ‘sanity clause’ sketch. Google ‘sanity clause’ and ‘Youtube’ to see why its rated ‘incredible! A Night at the Opera was the first MGM movie and the first with producer Irving Thalberg.

A Day at the Races features Groucho as Hugo Z Hackenbush, a horse doctor who pretends to be a medical doctor. Harpo gets to play his usual harp piece in the middle of the film, but only after destroying a piano to make his eponymous instrument.

A little known Marx Brothers movie also starring Lucille Ball in which the brothers are producers trying to keep their financial heads above water.

At the Circus sees Groucho as shyster lawyerJ Cleever Loophole trying to save a circus from financial ruin. The film contains the song ‘Lydia the Tattooed Lady’, another one worth searching out on Youtube.

A film set in the era of railroad building. Worth watching for the final train ride sequence alone.

By now the Brothers are showing their age in their more physical scenes, but this film is still better than most of its competitors. Here, Groucho plays yet another shyster lawyer, Wolf J Flywheel (of Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel fame) and the film marks the last outing for Margaret Dumont.

A parody of Casablanca, the classic Bogart and Bacall movie, this film attracted the attention of Warner Brothers who threatened to sue the Marx Brothers because Warner Brothers had used the name ‘Casablanca’ first. The threat was quickly dropped when Groucho replied with a counter-threat to sue because the Marx Brothers had used the name ‘Brothers’ first.

The Marx Brothers’ last film together also featured a young Marilyn Monroe in her first Hollywood movie. The story is set around the search for the Romanoff diamonds.

Concluding Comment from the Author

Each of these films is worth seeing both for its comedic genius and for the influence it has on later generations of comedians such as Spike Milligan, the Goons, Monty Python and every quick-witted comic to have trod the boards. People will miss these movies at their peril.

The copyright of the article The Marx Brothers' Movies in Comic Films is owned by Alistair McCulloch. Permission to republish The Marx Brothers' Movies in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.