Book review - "Irving Thalberg" by Mark Viera

 Thalberg is such an engimatic figure in Hollywood history but Viera does a good job of digging into the primary sources and making him into a real person. It's hard to ascertain the contribution of a producer but Viera rises to the occasion.

Book review - "Zeppo the Reluctant Marx Brother" by Robert Bader

 Fascinating, exhaustively researched biography of a famous punch line name. Zeppo didn't want to be in the group but was forced after Gummo (who also didn't want to be in it) left to join the army. A straight man who was not hot enough to be a romantic lead (or a strong enough singer) he kind of hang around though his presence is part of the film's fun.

He was very smart, ruthless, hung out with gangsters his whole life, was a successful gambler, great card player, could charm, ran a successful agency (Barbara Stanwyck was a client and good friend of his wife), then bizarrely a successful factory plant in World War Two, and made profits from Safeway. Always had plenty of money but was skilled at stashing it so sometimes Groucho thought he was poor. Compulsive womaniser, he would occasionally beat women. His wife adopted two children and he was a terrible father (basically shipped them off and ignored them). He was also step dad to his second wife's kid and wasn't that great with him. Cuckoled by Frank Sinatra.

A genuinely unpleasant person. Fascinating book.

Movie review - "Skidoo" (1968) *

 Basic plot simple - retired hitman goes into prison to kill gangster. Jazzed up with wackiness. Otto Preminger not a naturally funny director. The late sixties doesn't help.

Carol Channing bizarre. Groucho Marx tired. Frankie Avalon good - so too Frank Gorshin and Austin Pendleton. John Phillip Law tries. Alexandra Hay is pretty.

A mess. Interesting.

Movie review - "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1957) **** (warning: spoilers)

 I wonder why Jayne Mansfield never worked with Frank Tashlin again after their first two films? She totally suited his world with her cartoony appearance and delivery. She's awkward in films like Wayward Bus and Kiss Them For Me but perfect here. I guess he went on to work for Jerry Lewis - but wouldn't Mansfield have worked in Lewis land? Marilyn Maxwell's part in Rock a Bye Baby feels very Mansfield as does Marie Windor's in The Geisha Boy.

This is fun. Apparently it's very different from the stage play which was gutsy but the story isn't super original - it's a fake fiancee story, with movie star Mansfield faking a romance with ad man Tony Randall to make her ex, Micky Hargitay, jealous.

Randall is an ideal lead - handsome enough but still dweeby. There's fun satire of TV, Madison Avenue, movie stars. I got some random jokes eg Mansfield starring in a Brothers Karamazov style piece (Marilyn Monroe had announced she wanted to be in this).  Betsy Drake offers nice support, as does Joan Blondell but the film is stolen by Groucho Marx's cameo at the end.

My top 10 comedies

The Guardian published a list of several comedian's favorite comedies.

Procrastinating, I thought I'd add mine...

1) Flying High (1982) - called Airplane! in the US I saw this film countless times growing up and it's still great in part because it has a solid story (filmed seriously as Zero Hour)
2) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974) - I'm limiting myself to one Monty Python film, this remains as brilliant as it ever was, with divine acting, writing and design.
3) Annie Hall (1977) - I was a bit intimidated by Woody Allen's critical reputation growing up, that I delayed seeing his films. I wasn't aware how flat out funny so many of his movies were, such as this.
4) Stripes (1981) - limiting myself to one Bill Murray (the others would be Ghostbusters and Meatballs), this is a brilliant service comedy with some stand out support performances from Warren Oates, John Candy and John Larroquette.
5) Clueless (1995) - helped revive the teen movie in the 90s, a very funny, sweet film which promised a bigger career for Alicia Silverstone than the one that eventuated.
6) A Night at the Opera (1935) - purists prefer Marx Brothers where there's no straight story or musical interludes. I think they work well here - gives the brothers a goal and the opera setting has a sense of wonder about it.
7) Dad and Dave Come to Town (1938) - hokey but very sweet old Aussie film.
8) Spy (2013) - I loved Bridesmaids but limiting myself to one Melissa McCarthy I'll go for this one - fantastic story and exciting action.
9) The Wedding Crashers (2005) - the film loses its way in the second half but the first half is Heaven.
10) Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) - the duo made funnier films but this has magic about it.

Movie review - "The Story of Mankind" (1957) **

This made an appearance in Harry Medved's 50 Worst Movies of All Time but truth be told it's not that bad - it is interesting in a uni revue kind of way, with an all star cast keeping things interestingly. The story seems to be a kind of rip off of A Matter of Life and Death with good Ronald Colman and bad Vincent Price arguing in a celestial court over whether humankind is good or bad.

We see a variety of incidents throughout history and lots of stock footage, plus actors like Dennis Hopper (Napoleon), the Marx Brothers (in separate scenes, as Peter Minuit and Isaac Newton and a monk), Hedy Lamar (Joan of Arc), Virgina Mayo (Cleopatra), Marie Wilson (Marie Antoinette), Jim Ameche (Don's younger brother) (Alexander Graham Bell), Peter Lorre (Nero), John Carradine (Egyptian leader).

Film buffs will probably get something out of it - and I genuinely laughed at Groucho's segment, and Harpo's wasn't bad. It's silly and dumb but there are lots of worse movies. The people who wrote and direct it weren't really comedy people - it was directed by Irwin Allen.

Script review - "Duck Soup"

The Marx brothers most anarchic, political and beloved-by-hardcore-fans movie. This draft of the script offers some intriguing differences - Rufus Firefly is appointed dictator, there are some key comedy sequences in the second half that were replaced (there is a lot more of the final war, no mirror or trial sequence, instead there are other ones). It's done in terms of sequences, up to "sequence K". It's fascinating to see how tightly scripted the action on screen was. The freewheeling, mad cap nature of the movie bounces off the page.

Radio review – “You Bet Your Life” – “Secret word clock” (1949) ***1/2

Hilarious quiz show with Groucho Marx in top form. Most of the running time seems to consist of Groucho asking the guests questions – surely he was prepped allowing for some gag writers to help out. But it feels very natural.

Documentary review – “Inside the Marx Brothers” (1999) ***1/2

Enjoyable hour-long doco on the famous brothers. These films are always fun, done in a similar style – you don’t hear many new stories or discover much new information, but the vision is terrific: glimpses of the Harpo’s appearance in a silent film, home movies (a tanned Harpo, Groucho mucking around with his alcoholic wife), Harpo playing the harp in Soviet Russia, that terrific moment of Chico playing “Waltzing Matilda” to Aussie servicemen (used in Newsfront), Groucho and Carole Landis performing for the Marines, Harpo performing on stage in 1945, the pilot for the TV version of You Bet Your Life, Grouch on television with Tallulah Bankhead and Ethel Barrymore, a taped interview with Harpo, the final television pilot with the three brothers. Wonderful. Groucho married three alcoholics – c’mon, Groucho, to marry one may be unfortunate, to marry two looks like carelessness.

Movie review – Marx #13 - “Love Happy” (1949) **

Originally devised as a vehicle for Harpo Marx, which then had the other brothers shoved in. Chico at least gets to play some parts with his brother, but Groucho’s scenes operate as a sort of framing device: narration, opening the film, etc – indicating a troubled production. He’s not in the film very long, but he’s the best thing about it. For one thing Groucho seemed to age better than the others – a dirty young man simply became a dirty old man. (The others were still funny even when older, just less funny, whereas Groucho wasn’t, if that makes sense). Also Groucho gets the best scene – leering as a young Marilyn Monroe. You couldn’t say from seeing this that she was going to be one of the all time great stars, she walks self-consciously, but she looks a million bucks. Illona Massey is fun too as the villainess.

Most of the action centers around Harpo. A film centered around the old manic Harpo might have worked. But the later, cute Harpo doesn’t. Actually, just thinking about it, that’s not fair – maybe it could have worked, if done with the right touch. But this vehicle – which involves Harpo helping out a struggling theatre show, and getting involved with gangsters and stolen diamonds - is bland. Harpo is in love for the first time in this movie, with Vera Ellen… who of course loves someone else. Chaplin’s disease strikes again! At least there’s no orphans.

The theatre plot isn’t particularly engaging, either; I did like Vera Ellen, who is pretty and an excellent dancer, but they have this bland ballet dancer romantic lead for her (he can really dance, don’t get me wrong, but his character is a bit of a nong). Is this why the plot disappears in the last half hour? A film really only for completists of the Marx Bros, Marilyn Monroe, or Frank Tashlin (who worked on the script).

Movie review – Marx #12 - “A Night in Casablanca” (1946) ***1/2

The Marx Brothers had retired from movie making for a number of years until enticed back to make this efforts (mostly due to Chico’s debts, I understand) – and the result was the best of their later movies. There are some strong gags, solid story, and a great setting for the Marx Brothers – Casablanca after the war (setting it during the war perhaps would have been too serious), full of ex-Nazis, treacherous singers, dodgy French, Arabs. Like the sappiest MGM films, the brothers are helping a romantic duo, but this story is interesting (the male romantic lead is a French officer – played by the very American Charles Drake) – and the brothers have their own plot line (an omission which hurt many of the MGM films) – to wit, Groucho is managing a café which contains stolen treasure.

Harpo has one of his best roles in ages, getting to wreck some decent havoc instead of hanging around in kids, and Groucho is strong. There’s no Margaret Dumont but Sig Ruman from Night at the Opera plays a Nazi and there’s a femme fetale to seduce Groucho. Dan Seymour, the poor man’s Sydney Greenstreet (but for all that an effective performer) is also on hand. A fun movie.

Movie review – Marx #11 - “The Big Store” (1941) ***

The Marx Bros had had their balls cut off well and truly by this stage, especially Harpo, but this is better than Go West for two reasons: it is set in a more interesting world, i.e. a department store (Marx Bros were at their best in a decent playground) and Margaret Dumont is back. The latter means Groucho has something to do – Harpo is his secretary; Chico is (yawn snore) helping out kids again, but he has a fun piano duet with his brother. The low light of this one is a ten minute musical number performed by Tony Martin, The Tenement Symphony.

Although it’s boring that Martin wants to sell his share in a department store to help kids (yeah right), it’s a good idea to have gangsters want to stop him and have Dumont hire Groucho as Martin’s bodyguard and there is a high spirited chase at the end of the film. Virginia Grey is very pretty, Douglas Dumbrille a good villain (as always) and it’s cute to see some kids playing piano Chico-style (i.e. with a pointed finger).

Movie review – Marx #10 - “Go West” (1940) **1/2

Marx Brothers go period – it’s the 1850s and they’re heading out west. It starts quite brightly with the three brothers trying to get on a coach but soon tapers off. Like many Westerns, the plot involves a fight over land – John Carrol sells some land to a railroad in order to help his fiancee’s grandfather and various uninteresting machinations result. 

I always hate plots where the Marxes are only motivated to unite the lovers – surely they could have fixed it so they could do that and make money? Also it’s annoying they have to unite these lovers – I mean, they won’t get together because their families hate each other – that’s a reason to stay apart? Boring.

There are some bright things in this: Harpo facing off against a gun slinger, the brothers running rampant in a stage coach, the boys singing a cowboy song, Harpo playing the harp in an Indian village, a decent chase on a train. But not nearly enough. And no Margaret Dumont! There was no reason why a Marx Brothers period film couldn't have worked - they just needed something decent to do (eg be appointed sherrif of a town or something).

Movie review – Marx #9 – “At the Circus” (1939) ****

The Marx Brothers never had the best of luck with their male juveniles – with the female ingénues tended to be quite engaging (Lillian Roth, Kitty Carlisle), the blokes they were forced to romance were generally wet. This one has youthful drip Kenny Baker as a kid from a rich family who tries to run a circus; he’s got a high pitched voice and looks around seventeen, but at least he can sing and he’s not as annoying as Frank Albertson in Room Service. It helps he’s got a more sympathetic character: unlike Albertson’s whiny playwright, Baker’s circus owner seems like a nice kid with a sympathetic goal (though he refuses to marry his girlfriend when he looks like not having a job; his girlfriend says “looks like Emily Post was right – a woman should never propose to a man”.)

The circus makes a magical setting for the movie, the best one since the opera in Night at the Opera: late night train rides moving from town to town; characters including strong men, tightrope walkers and midgets; Eve Arden walking on the ceiling. 

Highlights include Groucho singing his best song, ‘Lydia the Tattooed Lady’; the brothers interrogating a midget; Groucho is seduced by Eve Arden (and tells the audience “there must be some way of getting that money without getting in trouble with the Hays Office – an aside that ranks with “I’ve got to stay here but why don’t you go out for a smoke while this blows over”); Harpo sticking his head in the ground like an ostrich; Groucho walking on the ceiling; Groucho seducing Margaret Dumont (the twist in this one is that she doesn’t appear in the film for an hour and they’ve never met before); Groucho crashing a high society do with a whole circus; the orchestra floating away off to sea at the end; Margaret Dumont on the trapeze.

Harpo does another lavish production number with a bunch of black kids – what was the deal with this? And it’s not as well directed as the some of the best Marx Brothers film. But it has a lot of charm and is very enjoyable.

Movie review – Marx #8 - “Room Service” (1938) **1/2

A bit of an oddity in Marx Bros land because it was made at RKO and is based on source material which was not written for them – a hit 1937 farce. You kind of wonder why RKO didn’t use the play as a basis for something with their own stars, but presumably they didn’t have any they felt suited it as well as the Marxes.

Groucho is a theatre producer living in a hotel trying to raise funds to put on a play – Harpo and Chico are helping him. This is certainly the trio’s most conventional film yet – there is very little madness, the characters are recognisable human beings… which kind of takes the fun away. In particular, it’s a little stressful at times to see Groucho worrying about money and try to do a proper project instead of try to fleece Margaret Dumont and get into the pants of some bimbo.

Frank Albertson, who plays Groucho’s playwright, is a whiny wholesome kid – the most irritating male juvenile in a Marx Bros movie since Animal Crackers, and it’s made worse here since the kid is put front and centre to the action. Makes you long for Zeppo. On the plus side, the other support actors are good, including Lucille Ball and Ann Miller. It’s not an un-entertaining movie – well structured, fast paced, etc – just not so much a Marx Brothers movie, as a movie with the Marx Brothers in it.

Movie review – Marx #7 – “A Day at the Races” (1937) ***

There are heaps of stories about feisty single girls struggling to save the ranch or the farm or the corner store… but a sanatorium? And this film treats it seriously – despite being a Marx Bros film. Maureen O’Sullivan owns a sanatorium and employs Chico; Margaret Dumont is a hypochondriac rich woman (a delightful fresh variation on her normal character formula) who insists on being treated only by Groucho.

This film is often bracketed with Night at the Opera but it’s not as good. The pacing is slower, the running time is too long, there is too much music, the setting less magical, the rough edges of the brothers smoothed down far too much (Groucho for instance, normally always so up-front about his unscrupulousness, here plays a character who has a secret, i.e. that he’s not a real doctor – there’s this awful scene near the beginning where he admits to O’Sullivan he’s not who he says he is and seems glum).

Also the central story isn’t interesting: who cares if O’Sullivan keeps the sanatorium? Besides there’s something a bit yuck about O’Sullivan wanting to make money out of it – and she only inherited it, it’s not as though she’s a doctor or anything. In Night at the Opera the motivations of the brothers and Allan Jones were clear – Groucho wanted to keep his cruisy job, Harpo wanted revenge, Chico was Jones’ agent and Jones wanted to be a star. But here they all just want to help out O’Sullivan… because. Jones is the boyfriend, I get that, but couldn’t they have come up with a mercenary motive for the brothers, to make things believable?

However, there is still a lot of fun to be had, especially when the brothers are allowed to cut loose. There are three great scenes: one with Groucho dancing with Dumont and trying to pick up another woman at the same time; Groucho and said woman back at his place while Harpo and Chico try to distract him; and Groucho performing diagnosis on Margaret Dumont (which ends with a horse and sprinklers). Dumont is in top form.

There are lots of big musical problem numbers done with massive dollops of MGM gloss (one big one has people in boats watching a ballet number). Too many numbers, actually, particularly as they are so poorly integrated into the action (at least, compared with Night at the Opera). The big set piece number takes place towards the end involves a lot of African Americans – a spectacular sequence packed full of talented performers, but perhaps a bit unfortunate, particularly the bit at the end where Groucho and Harpo black themselves up in order to escape some gangsters.

Movie review – Marx #5 - “Duck Soup” (1933) *****

The “purest” Marx Brothers film – no romantic sub plot, no juveniles, no non-comic songs or music interludes, a magnificent canvass within which the brothers can wreck havoc (Groucho is president of a country), Margaret Dumont, short running time, the brothers in magnificent form, Zeppo only has a small role, Groucho’s wise cracks are consistently strong (something which didn’t always happen) as are Chico’s puns (ditto). Good one for Zeppo to go out on – he’s Groucho’s secretary yet again, but he gets to play in two of the film’s stand out sequences: the “we’re going to war” production number, and the final battle sequence.

This film didn’t do as well financially as others despite those things – or rather because of those things. I think audiences preferred it when there were music interludes (a break from the comedy, like a variety show); they definitely preferred films with “real people” in them. (Howard Hawks always thought Bringing Up Baby flopped because everyone in it was crazy, i.e. there was no one for people to identify with – which conversely was partly why it became such a cult film). 

Also the humour in this one was dark, especially at the end when the war’s on – I mean, it’s an actual war, and although it’s never spelt out that people are killed it’s definitely implied. Maybe that was a bit too bleak at the time (it is even now when you think about it).

Another thought struck me watching this, with the brothers running around. A great part of their appeal was (and is) I believe due to the fact they were brothers and close – and this bond comes across on screen. Despite all the anarchy and madness it’s still family anarchy. Awww….

Movie review – Marx #4 – “Horse Feathers” (1932) ****

The best Marx Brothers film to date – mainly because it puts them in a setting where they can wreck complete and utter havoc, to wit a college. (It’s a greater environment for their talents than a ship or a country estate). The plot is simple, effective and gloriously cynical in its acceptance of illegality and corruption (already hinted at in the matter-of-fact depiction of gangsters in Monkey Business – Grouch runs a college and hires two ring-in football players from a speak easy in order to help his team win the game.

Thelma Todd is again fun as a vamp (a "college widow") and this gives Zeppo his funniest role yet – not much of a claim, I admit, and it’s not so much his lines but his role… he plays Groucho’s son. But that is very funny. 

 

The other three are in excellent form and there is a hilarious finale, a football game - I think this is the first real extended routine the Marxes do in a film that it would have been near-impossible to recreate on stage. The only thing that is really missing is Margaret Dumont, who you would have thought would have been a natural for a college film.

Movie review – Marx #3 – “Monkey Business” (1931) ***1/2

The first Marx Bros movie where all four start the story as friends – well, maybe “friends” is putting it a bit strong, but they’re all stowaways together and Zeppo is even allowed to take part of the initial havoc-wrecking (when busted among the first thing the four of them do is start playing musical instruments). Zeppo is the romantic male lead here – he’s not really good looking or charming enough, but it does mean he has something to do for the first time in a movie (he even brawls with the baddie in the finale). While the concept of the film is “the Marx Brothers stowaway on a boat” the actual spine of the piece has them being hired by rival gangsters on the boat; Groucho and Zeppo work for one, Chico and Harpo for the other (the “good” gangster – good because he’s got a daughter who falls for Zeppo and because he’s retired).

The script was the Marxes first original for the screen but it could easily be adapted to stage, with the action consisting of basically a lot of running around and a specific second act curtain (to wit, the arrival of the stowaways in America); there are, however, no songs in this one until the last act – and one of these are given to the romantic leads, not just Chico and Harpo. Actually because these numbers only appear in the last third of the film, they really slow things down – the structure of this one is off.

Watching the first Groucho-Chico routine it struck me that the material is often poor (mostly outrageous puns) but the playing so confident and anarchic it dates pretty well. Silent Harpo dates not at all – there’s been no silent comic to touch him since, really, at least not in the movies. There’s no Margaret Dumont in this film but there is Thelma Todd as a vamp. Todd later died mysteriously and this is her best known credit; she’s not a fantastic actor but she’s pretty and game. (NB another Marx ingenue - Lilian Roth from Animal Crackers - also had tragedy in her life).

Movie review – Marx #2 – “Animal Crackers” (1930) ***1/2

The second Marx brothers film, though also based on a musical, has better photography than The Cocoanuts and is that bit more confidently adapted for film – though still with that tell-tale reluctance to use close ups or put the camera in unusual places that you find in early sound pictures. 

This one gives Groucho a big entrance – well, actually Zeppo’s the first one you see, as Groucho’s secretary, and he sings a few bars before Grouco is bought in by bearers and launches into ‘Hooray for Captain Spaulding’. But again the action doesn’t really get going until Chico and Harpo appear.

The material isn’t much stronger than Cocoanuts – in fact a lot of it is identical, with a plot concerning a stolen item (in this case a painting). There are a lot of routines. I occasionally felt some of the Groucho stuff dragged (though his lines are funny); Harpo is at his brilliant, sociopathic best and it’s totally fitting he is revealed to be the kleptomaniac villain.

Zeppo fans (if you exist) will be pleased to see he gets a little more to do in this one – singing a few lines, taking part in a routine with Groucho. The ingénue (Lillian Roth who became an alcoholic and had a film made about her life) is very pretty in a modern way; the male lead is wet. 

Note how even thought this painting is meant to be so valuable whenever people treat it they handle it like wrapping paper.