The Marx Brothers Collection (A Night at The Opera/A Day at The Races/A Night in Casablanca/Room Service/At the Circus/Go West/The Big Store)

Rating:
Summary: Warner Brothers, You are great!!
Review: I just received this set and it's just great. I wish Warner had done the others. Universal ripped off the public on The Silver Screen Collection. That one was horrible. Warner Brothers did a superb job in restoration and has made these classics much more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Zeppo Was The Brains of This Outfit(Or Was It Gummo?)
Review: Warner Brothers has to be commended for their excellent compilation of the Marx Brothers later films. Though they are a decidedly mixed bag it is essential to the fan to chart the trajectory of their output. I viewed these films chronologically from their date of release when I probably should have watched them backward because the earlier efforts in this package are much better than the later films.
"A Night At the Opera"-Probably the most consistently funny film in the package because it gives the brothers the opportunity to do what they do best which is send up the moneyed classes and their pretensions. Lots of funny set pieces here too numerous to catalogue. Five stars.
"A Day At the Races"-This is funny too but suffers from overlength. Groucho is a hoot as Dr. Quackenbush, horse doctor pretending to be a regular M.D. The possibilities of that situation aren't fully exploited,however. "Get your Tuitsy-Fruitsy!" Four stars.
"Room Service"-This I found to be the most interesting film because this is a filmed adaptation of a stage play. The brothers seem to be playing within the confines of stage rules and their performances are somewhat restrained, even Harpo. This is not to say this is not a funny film, because it is. Also of note because it features a young Lucille Ball before she became "Lucy". Four stars.
"At the Circus"-I kind of like this one even though it is a bit uneven. It's intermittently funny, the big-top serves the boys well, and Groucho performs "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady". Four stars.
"Go West"-A good opening sequence where Chico and Harpo bilk Groucho out of money and a thrilling train chase at the end. In the middle alot of dross. I was on the fence with this one if not for a sequence with an Indian tribe that will make you cringe and is kind of offensive. Two stars.
"The Big Store"-The downward trend continues. Pointed satire and funny sightgags have now been replaced by unfunny slapstick and lame musical numbers. Two stars.
"A Night in Casablanca"-The absolute nadir. This film doesn't have the decency to be bad but saddeningly mediocre. The brothers aren't even the funniest thing in this movie. That distinction belongs to Sig Rumann as a Nazi hiding his identity. Two stars.

Rating:
Summary: A great DVD collection!
Review: A lot of people might be surprised that I gave this 5 stars. Most Marx Brothers' fans seem to think that their first 4 movies, the ones not included in this collection, are their best ones and that the quality of the movies diminished after that.

I'm certainly not going to argue that the first 4 movies weren't fantastic - I love all of them. However, I think there's a LOT of good things to be found in the later movies, the ones in this collection.

As many people have said in other reviews, A Night At The Opera and A Day At The Races are true comedy classics. While some of the other movies might not be considered "classics" by some fans, I think that each of them have at least a few great moments in them.

For example, a lot of people slam The Big Store, but it's got one of the best scenes in all of the Marx Brothers' movies. When Chico and Harpo do their piano duet...well, it's fantastic!

(By the way, I think The Big Store is incredibly underrated. It's got a LOT of great moments in it.)

So, yeah, the movies in this collection might not be as "respected" as their earlier films, but they're all still funny movies. If you're not a Marx Brothers' fan, you might not be too crazy about these movies. However, if you ARE a fan of the brothers, well, I can't see how you couldn't appreciate some of the great work that the brothers do in these movies.

Even a so-so Marx Brothers movie still blows away most of what you see in a lot of other comedies.

There's a lot of comedic brilliance to be found and enjoyed in this great collection. Get it and you'll get a lot of laughs.

Rating:
Summary: Films are Uneven, DVD Set is Good
Review: Warner Brothers' "The Marx Brothers' Comedy Collection" includes seven films from later in the brothers' career: A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Room Service, At the Circus, Go West, The Big Stores, and A Night in Casablanca. Both "A Day at the Races" and particularly "A Night at the Opera" are among the best comedies ever made, with countless memorable scenes and quotable lines. "At the Circus" and, to a lesser extent "Go West," have their moments. "A Night in Casablanca" and especially "Room Service" are stiff and awkward movies with precious few laughs and some truly regrettable scenes. Unfortunately, "The Big Store" is bottomlessly awful with nary a laugh in sight, miserable comic timing, and some jaw-droppingly bad musical numbers. Suffice to say, the films range very greatly in quality.
The DVD set is quite good, and significantly better than Universal's Marx Brothers box (which has better films). The image quality on all films is sharp and clear, without very many scratches.
The set also excells in extras. Both "Night at the Opera" and "Day at the Races" have scholarly commentaries, documentaries, and much more, while the other films include trailers and old Warner Brothers short films and cartoons, supposedly to recreate and old theatre experience (it works surprisingly well).
Perhaps sensing their middling to poor quality, there are two double-feature DVDs, the first one packaging "Room Service" with "At the Circus," and the second one with "Go West" and "The Big Store."

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Comedy Trio of All Time
Review: For more than 70 years,they have been one of the most legendary comedy stars of all time. during the 1930s and 40s,their zany humor was as brilliant as it is today. Cigar smoking wise cracking Groucho, italian accent speaking Chico and silent and lovable Harpo, they're the Marx Brothers. All their legendary laughs on DVD. A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races,A Night in Casablanca,Room Service,the Big Store,Go West and At the Circus. I wish Duck Soup could of been in this collection, since thats one of their greatest. If your looking for classic comedy after Charlie Chaplin, but before Jim Carrey, these our your gods of classic comedy, so bring home true Hollywood comedy from history's greatest comedy trio of all time

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional boxed set for The Marx Brothers
Review: Although it lacks their best Paramount releases (in a perfect world they would be included here with as much love and care put into them as these films), "The Marx Brothers Collection" contains two absolute classics in "A Night at The Opera" and "A Day at The Races". First, the transfers look marvelous with an exceptional amount of care devoted to making sure that they look as good as possible. The extras for both include a couple of exceptional short documentaries on The Marx Brothers going back all the way to when they got their nicknames from another vaudeville comedian. "A Night at The Opera" features their justifiably famous scenes in the State Room. It reestablished the Marx's as box office. Although I would argue with Leonard Maltin about the status of the film ("Duck Soup" is, to my mind, still their best film), there's no doubt that "Opera" is top flight Marx. Their career prior to "A Night at The Opera" is nicely summerized on that disc in "Remarks on Marx" including a discussion of "Duck Soup" and cold shoulder that it received from the public effectively almost ending their career. There's also a excerpt from "The Hy Gardner Show" where Groucho discusses his just released audobiography and some of the infamous stories about their time at MGM. The original theatrical trailer is included as well.

"A Day at The Races" upholds the quality and standards of their first MGM film ably. "On Your Marx, Get Set, Go!" focuses on the making of this film, Thalberg's death and how it impacted their career at MGM and the hot/cold relationship they had with director Sam Wood. We also get the original theatrical trailer and an audio outtake of Allan Jones singing as well as MGM radio promos. While Glenn Mitchell's commentary isn't as effusive as Maltin's, it's solid if a tad superficial.

The rest of their films varied in quality. We get the a set of double features --"Room Service" paired with "At the Circus" and "Go West" paired with "The Big Store" and their "Casablanca" parody "A Night in Casablanca" on the remaining discs. While none of these have commentaries each comes with vintage shorts including a pair of Robert Benchley classics "How To Sleep" & "A Night At The Movies". There's also a handful of MGM cartoon classics as well as two Looney Tunes classics not currently available anywhere else ("The Daffy Doc" and "Acrobatty Bunny"). A pair of fair "Our Gang" shorts and other shorts from the time round out the extras on these other films. All feature exceptionally good transfers and are packaged in their own cases. The double features are dual sided single layer DVDs while "Opera", "Races" and "Casablanca" are all single sided dual layer/single layer DVDs. I mention this only because you have to be a bit more careful handling the dual sided discs.

Five stars for the first two films, five stars for the packaging and transfers four stars for "Room Service"/"At the Circus" and "A Night in Casablanca" and three to two stars for "Go West" and "The Big Store". Overall, Warner has done a spectacular job putting this set together. It's a pity that the same team that worked on this couldn't have put together "The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection". While the design and graphics for that set are exceptionally good, the films receive short shift with transfers from verge from exceptionally good to so-so while lacking anything in the way of extras (except for some theatrical trailers). Clearly more thought and care went into the Warner set.

Rating:
Summary: Bob Clampett rariety included!
Review: This set is absolutely perfect and what any Marx. Bros fan could hope for. That said, I simply wrote this to mention to Looney Tunes fans that Bob Clampett's "The Daffy Doc" is included in this set, as is Friz Freleng's "Acrobatty Bunny". These toons have not been released anywhere else as of current.

Rating:
Summary: The BEST Marx Bros. boxed set at a super price
Review: Warner Bros. video has hit the bullseye with this beautiful boxed set of Marxian mayhem. SEVEN Marx Bros. classics, looking terrific, in a set stuffed with a very impressive array of extras, including new documentaries, commentaries, and vintage short subjects. Obviously a great deal of care went into this, and it certainly comes through.

Topping the list are A NIGHT AT THE OPERA and A DAY AT THE RACES,
which are, in my opinion, the best films the Bros. ever made. But don't take my word for it....Groucho thought so too!

Rating:
Summary: Best Classic Comedy Set
Review: Classic Marx Brothers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This transcents generations. The comedy is just as funny today as it was when they were first aired in theathers. One of the best comedy teams of all times.