The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo) had been on the stage for years when they emerged as one of the first stars of the new sound era in Hollywood. Despite struggling for a great deal of that time, in 1923 the Four Marx Brothers had a Broadway hit with 'I'll Say She Is', and followed the success with 'The Cocoanuts' and 'Animal Crackers'. By the late 1920s, they were massive stars on Broadway, and had little else to achieve on stage.
By 1929, sound was emerging as the dominant form of motion picture. Despite its clunkiness and often poor quality, the major studios had realised that silent films would never recover. Many stars of the silent age instantly lost their appeal and box-office ability upon the dawning of sound, including comedians such as Buster Keaton.
This left a gap in the market for comedians who excelled with dialogue. The Marx Brothers had built their shows around witty remarks, as well as songs. Musicals had become the biggest smashes of the early sound era, and sensing an opportunity, Paramount Pictures signed up The Four Marx Brothers to a five-picture deal.
The Cocoanuts
The first Marx Brothers film was The Cocoanuts (1929), a film version of their successful Broadway show. Set in a Florida hotel, it established the personas which would define the Marx Brothers on film: Groucho as the witty cad, Harpo as the silent, amorous clown, Chico as the shifty crook, and Zeppo as the charming male lead.
The film documented for the first time some of the Brothers' legendary vocal interplay, in this case the Groucho-Chico sketch 'Viaduct', in which Chico's Italian character repeatedly asks 'Why a duck?'. The film was a success, bringing the Broadway almost move-for-move, set-for-set to the big screen. The limited mobility of cameras on early sound films meant that the film was staged essentially as it would have been on Broadway.
Animal Crackers
The brothers followed The Cocoanuts with another adaptation, this time of 'Animal Crackers' (1930). Featuring the famous 'Hooray For Captain Spaulding', the film also captures the famous interplay between Groucho and Margaret Dumont, the chalk-and-cheese pair providing the film with some of its most memorable scenes, such as Groucho's Fitzgerald moment, in which he tries to marry two women at once. ('But that's bigamy!' 'Yes, and it will be big of me too. Let's all be big for a change!')
Monkey Business followed in 1931, set aboard an ocean liner, and the first Marx film written originally for the screen. Another massive success, the film borrowed from earlier stage work, such as the scene in which the Brothers all try to pass through customs by acting as Maurice Chevalier, but played more to their new found ability to act for the screen rather than the stage.
The Brothers kept their stride going with the equally popular Horse Feathers (1932), in which they took their brand of anarchy to college, and Groucho strangely played Zeppo's dad, in the latter's last film. Their appeal and popularity had hit such a height by this point that the Four Marx Brothers made the cover of Time magazine.
Duck Soup
Duck Soup (1933) was the last Paramount picture the Marx Brothers made, and is now viewed as one of the greatest comedies of all time, placing consistently high in the AFI's list. Set in Freedonia, Groucho (as Rufus T. Firefly) is made leader of the country, only to lead it in to war against neighbouring Sylvania. The result is full of inventive wordplay, satire, and even camera tricks during the final siege scene. Duck Soup nevertheless failed to replicate the box-office success of earlier efforts and Paramount did not renew the Marx's contract.
The Brothers took a brief break from the movies to pursue other avenues, but it did not take long for them to be lured back to Hollywood.
 |
