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4 days ago · We’re ranking the films of legendary comedy troupe the Marx Brothers! Groucho (the wisecracker), Chico (the schemer), Harpo (the musical mute), and Zeppo (the straight man) honed their...
- The Marx Brothers
Explore the filmography of The Marx Brothers on Rotten...
- Room Service
Broadway producer Gordon Miller (Groucho Marx) has sunk...
- The Marx Brothers
- DUCK SOUP (1933) Director: Leo McCarey. Writers: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Arthur Sheekman, Nat Perrin. Starring: Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Edgar Kennedy.
- A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935) Director: Sam Wood. Writers: George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind. Starring: Kitty Carlisle, Alan Jones. Margaret Dumont. Reduced to a trio, the brothers’ first effort for MGM is probably their most approachable and polished serving of cinema.
- ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930) Director: Victor Heerman. Writer: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, George S. Kaufman. Starring: Lillian Roth, Margaret Dumont. Groucho considered this the best of his movies with his brothers, based on their 1928 Broadway musical.
- HORSE FEATHERS (1932) Director: Norman Z. McLeod. Writers: S.J. Perelman, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Will B. Johnstone. Starring: Thelma Todd, David Landau.
- Duck Soup. Groucho becomes the leader of the nation of Freedonia, and his ego gets them involved in a war. That's as good a place as any to start a movie.
- A Night At the Opera. The packed stateroom scene where the Marx Brothers, and most of a cruise ship, get crammed into a tiny room is one of the best known Marx Brothers bits in history.
- Animal Crackers. Animal Crackers is the brothers' second movie and also the second one based directly on one of their stage plays. It may contain one of Groucho's most memorable performances ever as Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding (literally the least silly name for a Groucho character ever) which includes the great "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" song.
- Monkey Business. Monkey Business is Marx Brothers insanity in its purest form. The characters in the movie played by the four brothers aren't even given actual names in the script, proving that the plot here is inconsequential.
- 13 Love Happy
- 12 A Night in Casablanca
- 11 at The Circus
- 10 The Big Store
- 9 Room Service
- 8 Go West
- 7 Monkey Business
- 6 The Cocoanuts
- 5 A Day at The Races
- 4 Horse Feathers
The final feature film of the Marx Brothers, Love Happy sees Groucho, Harpo, and Chico fighting over a cache of stolen diamonds. Love Happy had a difficult production, and it’s clear the brothers don’t have the same energy as in their previous movies. Even an early movie role by a young Marilyn Monroein a bit part is not enough to make it anything ...
Groucho, Harpo, and Chico unwittingly foil an escaped Nazi’s plan in the hotel-centered comedy A Night in Casablanca. It’s the last time the Marx Brothers shared the screen for a significant amount of the runtime, and while it lacks the live-wire nature of their most famous movies, it has some funny moments. The Marx Brothers took inspiration from ...
At the Circus sees the Marx Brothers at their goofiest, in a movie about a circus robbery. Groucho, Harpo, and Chico are brought in to solve the problem, and the film's studio, MGM, continues its trend of putting the trio up against a villainous adversary rather than letting the situation drive the jokes, as their Paramount releases did. Gags such ...
The Marx Brothers signed on for five movies with MGM, and The Big Store was the last of this contract. At the time, they had planned to retire after the MGM deal, and the movie about a department-store manager vying for an inheritance pulls out all the stops for their would-be final outing. There are musical numbers as grand as any seen before, and...
For most of their career together, the Marx Brothers' screenplays were written specifically for them. Room Service breaks that tradition. It’s an adapted story from a play of the same name about a theater cast trying to put on a play before the studio director evicts them. The story is sharp and engrossing with a satisfying payoff when the play act...
Go West is the Marx Brothers' attempt to get into the comedy Western film genre. In the movie, the Marx Brothers become embroiled in a land deed battle between a destitute farm and the Railroad. Critics considered it a zany improvement over the group's previous effort,At the Circus. The Western setting gives a unique background to their classic gag...
Before Monkey Business, the Marx Brothers' movies were adapted from their Broadway plays. This was the first time one of their screenplays was not a stage-to-screen adaptation. The movie sees Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo as unnamed stowaways on their way to the United States. This is their first feature without regular straight woman Margaret D...
The Marx Brothers' first appearance in a feature film together was The Cocoanuts, based on their stage play. Despite it being a massive success, grossing $1.8 million, nearly quadrupling its budget, the brothers hated their own movie upon seeing it. The Cocoanuts has a very slight plot that is mostly just there to allow for as many jokes as possibl...
A Day at the Races was another critical success for the Marx Brothers, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Dance Direction, for its "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" number. The movie is a gag machine with one story about a financially precarious sanatorium and another part being a horse movie about a fixed race. This is the best combination ...
The Marx Brothers go to college in Horse Feathers, and along with being a hilarious comedy with fantastic jokes and musical numbers, it also manages to be an excellent sports movie. Groucho’s Professor Wagstaff tries to recruit professional football players for his college’s failing team but accidentally picks up Harpo and Chico’s bootleggers inste...
- Zachary Moser
- Staff Writer
Aug 12, 2022 · In its honor, we offer up this definitive order in which the Marxes’ 13 feature films should be watched. Not to be taken for a traditional best-to-worst ranking (though Love Happy is definitely...
- Donald Liebenson
- Contributor
Dec 13, 2023 · From Go West to Duck Soup, these 10 movies ranked according to IMDb showcase the Marx Brothers comedic chops in peak form.
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Jun 24, 2024 · Was the Marx Bros' 'Night at the Opera' a better movie than 'Duck Soup' or 'Go West? Look no further to learn the answer.
