The Marx Brothers - Animal Crackers

[Bobby Beksinski]

Well I'm almost ready to give up on the Marx Brothers once again, this
being only the 2nd film I have seen from them and again left me
disappointed and unamused. Of course I know this may be looking more
towards myself as a criticism as I guess Marx Bro.'s comedy is just
not my thing personally.

I do however think their films and as actors themselves overall are
extremely non-cinematic and that may be my issue too. I normally love
slapstick, I enjoy Chaplin and Keaton (of course both of these men
were from the silent era and relied on the visual component). In a
Marx Bro.'s film, the visual component is missing and upstaged by only
conducting a comedy routine and performance of gags at stage level.
That is exactly what they remind me of, vaudeville performers of the
stage and not a comedic film presence I was led to believe.

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

I just watched it for the first time Bobby and I loved it. I think I
know why you did not enjoy it so much. You where expecting slapstick
but the thing is The Marx Brothers don't do slapstick. Their comedy is
not based on actions, but rather on wordplay and a storyline that has
more in common with farce than your classical slapstick. It is silly,
very silly and the thing is that you have to be in a silly mood to
enjoy it. Not all of the jokes worked for me. Some of them where just
too stupid, predictable and/or outdated to work but there where a lot
of brilliant scenes there and the whole feeling of the film was a very
pleasant and happy one. And how could one not love when Chico Marx
plays the piano and shoots the notes with his fingers :)

Here are some of the best lines. Did you not find any of these funny Bobby?

Mrs. Rittenhouse: Captain, this leaves me speechless.
Capt. Spaulding: Well, see that you remain that way.

and

Capt. Spaulding: Africa is God's country, and he can have it.

and

Capt. Spaulding: Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand,
water is water. And east is east and west is west, and if you take
cranberries and stew them like applesauce, they taste much more like
prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh... Now you tell me what you know.

and

Capt. Spaulding: I'm sick of these conventional marriages. One woman
and one man was good enough for your grandmother, but who wants to
marry your grandmother? Nobody, not even your grandfather.

and

Capt. Spaulding: One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he
got in my pajamas, I don't know.

[Bobby Beksinski]

I found them more clever than funny. I did not really laugh out loud
at all in either this film or Duck Soup, so their jokes and gags felt
repetitious to me without the stronghold of some plot going on. I
admit I can see how many love The Marx Brother's and it might just be
a sad fact that I am not going to be one of those people. I am going
to give "A Night At The Opera" a try though.

On Nov 10, 8:45 pm, "Thorkell A. Ottarsson" <thork...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[David Eisen]

I have watched most Marx Brothers films numerous times, probably saw for first time when I was 10 or 12, and I laugh everytime. I love them. I actually laugh harder when I see them over Chaplin or Keaton. Now before I have a revolution here, I don't think they are better thatn Chaplin or Keaton but I find tham funnier (if that makes sense) .

[Raymond Dullum]

I agree! I love The Marx Brothers, i might rewatch at least one this
month, even one of their lesser films, A night in casablanca is
tremendous fun... I got a bit scared by Bobbys review because i do not
like slapstick, and wondered if Marx had much slapstick that i had
forgotten :) I like Marx better than Chaplin and Keaton, they are
funny and very charming, but slapstick is not very funny and i have
often wondered why intelectuals critize silly and stupid humour, but
when somebody falls on their ass, they laugh like there is no
tomorrow... :) Chaplin is brilliant, but only because he gives us more
than just the slapstick, so i dont laugh as much at Chaplin, but i
enjoy him very much...

[Mindy Arbo]

I LOVE the lines you chose,thorkell.

gotta try to keep those in my memory.

mindy

[Kasper Lauritzen]

It's ridiculous to argue over what one finds funny or not, but I have to comment anyhow. I totally agree that Chaplin and Keaton are in a different tradition, while the Marxes are very theatrical at times. You could also turn it around and say they are pioneers of the talking picture comedy, where many silent stars couldn't keep up with the new technology.

Harpo is the one closest to the visual comedy you refer to (and personally I regard him as highly as Chaplin and Keaton (as an actor)), and some film critics have argued that his anarchy and aggression is in fact the the silent film's revenge on the talking picture. It's a very poetic idea really, and keeping in mind that they made their best films on the threshold from the silent to the talking era, brings an interesting perspective to what they do with the transition. All three brothers are really hostile towards language. Groucho with his puns ad absurdum, Chico with his Italian accacento, and Harpo with his mutism and visual-semiotic puns. The "where is the flash" scene is a great example. The comic effects are visual but they rely on the homophones in Chico's speech - it could probably never have been done with title cards. And also it dramatizes the struggle between silent and talkie perfectly.

They might originate from the stage but they're still rooted in a Mack Sennett-style of surrealism. Most gags go along the line of free association and the way the comic situations shift could even be compared to how the story unfolds in Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou" - as one long metamorphosis of ideas.

I think it helps to be familiar with their personas to appreciate their films, and even to watch a film several times - at least to me they hold up every time.

2012/11/11 Mindy Arbo <mind...@comcast.net>