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Is there seriously not a thread yet for the Marx Brothers? Anyway, I just noticed that the set of Paramount films that went OOP last year is being replaced with individual versions of each of the films, available in June. No idea yet on extras. Here are the Amazon links:

The Cocoanuts
Animal Crackers
Monkey Business
Horse Feathers
Duck Soup

They're only minor brothers

I'm holding off for the eventual blus, hopefully eventual anyway.

In other news, that Zeppo always bugged me.

If they released the Paramount ones with an option to skip all the goddamn romantic comedy subplots that would be all the special feature I need.

Those prints are in such bad shape that I'm not sure Universal would ever consider releasing Blu-rays of them.

matrixschmatrix wrote:If they released the Paramount ones with an option to skip all the goddamn romantic comedy subplots that would be all the special feature I need.

As far as the Paramount films go, only the first two (THE COCOANUTS & ANIMAL CRACKERS - essentially filmed stage plays) feature the romantic subplots that MGM later revived; the remaining three are subplot-free or integrate the subplot so well into the comedy that you don't care.

Yeah, I was thinking specifically of the Cocoanuts- at least in the MGM movies, the non-Marx musical segments were sometimes entertaining in their own right. In the Cocoanuts, the almost kill the movie.

From the looks of the DVD covers, it looks like they just ported over the cover images from the 1998 releases onto the boxset masterings. I seriously doubt they did anymore cleaning of the films.

Seems like a needless reissue, the best option is still the UK DVD boxset.

Woah, and it's currently 68% off at Amazon UK.

Is A Girl in Every Port as bad as it sounds? As much as I love the trio I can't see myself enjoying only Groucho for 90 minutes.

Haven't seen it, but if you want a slimmer package, the 4-disc set including all the early films other than Cocoanuts is also heavily discounted (70% off).

I am so thankful for the crazy discounts on Amazon UK.

Murdoch wrote:Is A Girl in Every Port as bad as it sounds? As much as I love the trio I can't see myself enjoying only Groucho for 90 minutes.

It is a real stinker. But the box set is a splendid thing at that price, and you can always use that disc as a coaster. "Love Happy" is a sad thing, too, although there's an early appearance by Marylin Monroe.

Love Happy I'm only interested in because Tashlin co-wrote the screenplay, so I'll just get that box. Shame about Every Port though, it would've been nice if they snuck in Skidoo instead, it's not like either are Marx brothers movies.

Murdoch wrote:In other news, that Zeppo always bugged me.

Hehe. It's almost as though their mother MADE them include him in their shenanigans as kids (even though he was clearly less talented than they were -- maybe Gummo, too, though I've never seen him perform) and it carried on into their adult lives. They were probably relieved once he left after their Paramount contract was up.

When they were being short shrifted after Zeppo left didn't Groucho remark that they were 20% funnier without him or something like that.

Zeppo was NOT less talented -- he was understudy for Groucho, Chico and Harpo in stage productions -- and could supposedly play any of these three "roles" as well as the originals. It's just that he never was given much scope when playing his own character (though he's pretty good in things like Monkey Business).

I guess Zeppo himself never bothered me as much as the roles he was given. He was in between being in on the humor and occupying another of the roles as the ditzy cardboard stereotypes of the secondary characters, which made him feel pointless as he was rarely the butt-end of the jokes but was never given much to do either. In Duck Soup he irks me the most when he joins in on the musical number, I just get annoyed and think "why are you there? You shouldn't get to bang that soldier on the head!"

When you think about it, three comedians going at it is a lot for a film to handle; four seems an impossibility. Zeppo was really only given one decent chance to play the straight man in a comedy routine (the dictation scene in THE COCOANUTS), but it soon became obvious that the villainous or self-absorbed high society types were much better foils for Groucho, Chico and Harpo. Zeppo was never taken seriously as the romantic interest either; he was best suited as the boyfriend of the "campus widow" Thelma Todd in HORSE FEATHERS, but was still given next-to-nothing to do. In fact, he's even replaced with a stand-in for the film's fade-out gag.

As Michael points out, Zeppo was best utilized as an understudy for the other brothers on the stage. He should have bowed out before the move to film, but who wouldn't want to make some Hollywood money while expending very little effort?

Michael Kerpan wrote:Zeppo was NOT less talented -- he was understudy for Groucho, Chico and Harpo in stage productions -- and could supposedly play any of these three "roles" as well as the originals. It's just that he never was given much scope when playing his own character (though he's pretty good in things like Monkey Business).

In that case it'd be interesting to know if he was ever called upon to play any of Groucho's, Harpo's, or Chico's characters in an actual performance... and how well he did. But, yeah, he was usually very much a fifth wheel in the 5 movies he did with the others (surely by that time he could've created a unique character of his own?).

Yes -- he apparently regularly filled in for all three of his brothers onstage. I don't think there was _room_ for a fifth highly distinctive character (remember there was also Margaret Dumont or Thelma Todd to reckon with).

Michael Kerpan wrote:Zeppo was NOT less talented -- he was understudy for Groucho, Chico and Harpo in stage productions -- and could supposedly play any of these three "roles" as well as the originals. It's just that he never was given much scope when playing his own character (though he's pretty good in things like Monkey Business).

I'm glad you mentioned this. Groucho always stated that Zeppo was the funniest one of the bunch (mentioned several times in Hello, I Must Be Going (1978, 2007) by Charlotte Chandler)

I was very unhappy doing what I had to with the Marx Brothers, and I was so confined with them, because I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. I had to be a straight man, which I didn’t want to be. I wanted to be a comedian. – Zeppo

And yet -- as underutilized as Zeppo was -- he brought more to the unrewarding roles he had to tackle than his counterparts in the later MGM films. He really did have a certain straight-faced loopiness that was genuinely Marxian (however it may have been eclipsed by the antics of his brothers).

I actually think Allan Jones did a nice job in A Night at the Opera, filling out the role Zeppo usually occupied. He had good screen presence, and I always thought he and Kitty Carlisle had good enough charisma to stand alongside the Brothers, even if the romantic subplot wasn't necessary.

Jones was okay -- but I missed Zeppo. ;~}