Animal Crackers (1930)

Director: Victor Heerman

Cast: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx

Have I Seen it Before: Absolutely.

Did I Like It: In my review for Duck Soup (1933) I declared that there is not a moment spent with the Marx Brothers that is misspent. I stand by this sentiment, and while I think that film is the peak of their skills, and the perfect gateway into the finest corners of film comedy, this film may be a bit harder to get into for the uninitiated. Many people would blanche at the notion of any film in black and white, but I can’t imagine I will ever learn to understand those people.

That isn’t to say there is less to enjoy here. “Hooray for Captain Spaulding” is perhaps the greatest song with Groucho at the lead. There isn’t a moment that is less than pleasurable. The whole entity of the film is not as satisfying as Duck Soup or some of their other movies. This was directly adapted from a Broadway play starring the brothers, and it shows. It comes from that period in films shortly after the advent of synchronized sound where almost every film produced was a recording of a stage production, nothing more. Dracula (1931) was very much the same way, if in a different genre. Animal Crackers is more a revue than a narrative film, with bits arranged in loose order. There’s not much of a story here, but if all you need from your early comedy films is a strict sense of story, there is more than enough Chaplin films that might pique your interest.

But I’d still rather watch this than the vast majority of other films in existence. Anything Harpo does or any noise he makes is an unremitting delight, and each and every Groucho bon mot is a pristine display of great artist working in the medium for which they were born.

Duck Soup (1933)

Director: Leo McCarey

Cast: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx

Have I Seen it Before: Oh, certainly.

Did I Like It: The easy thing to say as I type this review in the fall of the year 2020 is that the wild, unpredictable story of a failing free-ish sort of country who installs a charlatan of a leader who—with the help of cronies somehow more depraved than him—promptly ruins everything in sight now seems less like the absurdist comedy which the Marx Brothers intended, and more like a documentary now.

That’s not only a cheap thought, but also a huge disservice to Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho). Even his administration of Freedonia would be better capable of meeting the challenge of this year than certain other parties who probably should go unnamed, lest they, through some strange Mandela effect, suddenly make a cameo appearance in an otherwise lovely film.

But bringing anything that the Marx Brothers have done down to our current level feels like ruining one of the purer, joy-filled things in the human experience. I can’t imagine a person would play any Marx Brothers movie (and I’ll admit they can vary in levels of satisfaction, if not quality) and not have a good time. I certainly don’t want to meet such a person.

But that only speaks to the collected works of the brothers as monolith, what about this film? For my money, I think it’s their finest attempt. They’re first few films were produced in those early days of the talky where the film industry still didn’t quite know what to do (or what they could do) with their new technology, and films largely had a quality not unlike a recorded stage production. Some of that same “large-scale performances, with small-scale camera movements” energy is on display here, but they are truly making movies here. The story is as coherent as a Marx Brothers movie ever should be (that is to say, not exceptionally ground in reality) and the bits and numbers that don’t involve either Groucho, Chico, or Harpo are kept to a minimum. Sorry, Zeppo. If you are looking for your gateway into the addicting comfort food of these, the funniest men who ever worked in the movies, look no further.