The Marx Brothers - A DAY AT THE RACES (1937)
David D
I’m glad Bobby posted a review first because I honestly thought I might be the odd man out this month. I voted for and looked forward to a month of the Marx Brothers. I know their work only thru A NIGHT AT THE OPERA and clips I’ve seen here and there—plus a sequence in Woody Allen’s HANNAH AND HER SISTERS where a depressed Allen finds reaffirmation in life and living by seeing a Marx Brothers’ comedy one afternoon. So I was so ready for a hysterical Marx Brothers month.
I started with A DAY AT THE RACES. Well, “races” isn’t the word because the film seems to drag at a slow pace—apparently it’s their longest film. A number of times they deliver a punch line and seem to wait for the response. I’ll admit I was amused at a line here and there, but I expected a laugh and a minute and didn’t get it.
Here’s what didn’t work for me: Grocho and Margaret Dumont didn’t act out their classic relationship, with Grocho wooing and displeasing the stuffy Dumont. Some of the set up routines seemed to go on too long; example: when Chico keeps selling Grocho booklets to help him get a winning bet at the tracks, and I didn’t find the “Tootsie Fruitsie” routine funny at all. After an hour I bailed, so I never saw the (now PC-incorrect) stereotypical “Negro Number.” Oh, and I fast-forwarded through a long musical number where the male lead sang with a line up of chorus girls before fountains. Rating: 6/10.
