ShareThisBy PHIL VILLARREAL
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Marx Brothers movies make little sense and have no class. They're cruel, snide and surly.
Bless 'em.
Who knows how depressing the Great Depression would have been had the Marx Brothers not brought their vaudeville-inspired schtick to the big screen.
Their raw yet strangely sophisticated and precise humor entertained and inspired the masses.
"Horse Feathers," an insane parody of college life, is an example of the Marx Brothers just getting rolling. It was the brothers' fourth comedy, after "The Cocoanuts" (1929) "Animal Crackers"(1930) and "Monkey Business" (1931). "Horse Feathers" marked the beginning of the comedy team's prime, which would last through the decade.
Running down a plot description of any Marx Brothers film, especially "Horse Feathers," is as futile as trying to eat a smoothie with your hands. Their films are loosely linked skits that allow the comedians to roll out their brand of nonsense.
Each brother emphasizes a standout personality trait, which he uses as an instrument to sync with the others in a symphonic ensemble. Groucho, the mustachioed master of bad puns and slippery double-entendres, is the cigar-chomping ringleader. Harpo, the mute mischief-maker, always has a prop handy, which he uses to substitute for punch lines. Chico is the wordplay master, contorting the English language into mash-ups and malapropisms. And Zeppo, poor, talentless Zeppo, is left to bring up the rear as the underappreciated straight man.
The setup in "Horse Feathers" is that ornery Prof. Quincy Adams Wagstaff (Groucho) has been hired at Huxley College, which in Wagstaff's words, has neglected football for education. He's called upon to put together a football team to contend with the rival team from Darwin.
Wagstaff also wants to disrupt stuffy academia and keep an eye on his son, Frank (Zeppo), who is rumored to be messing around with the "college widow," Connie (Thelma Todd). Into the picture comes Harpo as an inept dogcatcher and Chico as a bootlegger who masquerades as an iceman. Both blunder onto the scene and play into Wagstaff's plans for gridiron excellence. There's not a serious frame in the film, but there's no denying the content's prescience about academic institutions that are all too willing to sully their reputations to produce athletic success.
Under the loose but capable direction of Norman Z. McLeod, the Marxes leap from one lunatic set piece to the next. Wagstaff talks over, below and around everyone he meets.
"Tomorrow we start tearing down the college," Wagstaff says. Surrounding professors respond, "But, Professor, where will the students sleep?" Wagstaff: "Where they always sleep: in the classroom."
Harpo sneaks into a speakeasy by giving the password _ "swordfish" _ pulling out a fish with a sword stuck through the mouth. Harpo gets into a kidnapping escapade with Chico, and they escape by sawing a circle in the floor.
The movie isn't quite a musical, but it does feature two brilliant songs.
The first, which Wagstaff sings before the regents and students as he accepts his president position, is "Whatever it is, I'm against it."
"Everyone Says I Love You" is performed individually by all four brothers, who all add their own spin to the lyrics. Harpo, of course, plays his version on his trusty harp and also whistles the tune. The song so moved Woody Allen that he used it as the basis for his 1996 musical of the same title.
The Marx Brothers' influence spans far beyond Allen. Many Looney Tunes bits were copied wholesale from the schtick, and Robin Williams' entire persona seems lifted from Groucho. Of course, the awful scourge that is Carrot Top drew his inspiration from Harpo, so the influence isn't all benevolent.
The comedy team tends to fall in and out of favor in the pop culture pantheon. They're celebrated, then forgotten, only to be rediscovered and appreciated once again. It's high time the Marxes be welcomed back into theaters. We need a Marx Brothers film festival, or tribute TV special, or super-deluxe DVD boxed set.
Whatever it is, I'm for it.
Horse Feathers (1932).
Not rated.
Starring the Marx Brothers.
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod.
68 minutes.
Available on DVD.
(Read Phil Villarreal's blog at scrippsnews.com/philmguy and contact him at pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com.)
