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Horse Feathers

Horse Feathers

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best
Review: This is a great film.There is nothing but hillarious comedy in this.You will enjoy every minute of this gem.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Enter their fun universe!
Review: This is a great Marx Brothers movie. It has everything that you would expect. Whether it is Groucho's irreverent, witty humor as the dean of the school or Chico's wordplay, this has it all. No matter how many times I watch it I still get drawn into the crazy Marx universe of silliness. And I think that is the mark of a great movie-- if you can get drawn back into that world no matter how many times you've seen it. It's guaranteed to put you into a great mood. That's what's great about these earlier Marx Brothers' movies-- the form. Sure, some of the content might seem a little dated, but the form is great comedy. And that's what's makes it timeless. Their way of being funny will never go out of date. All modern comedians have some of their aspects; however none of them can compete with the completeness that they had. You even get to hear them each do their own version of "Everone Says I Love You." And Groucho's Whatever it is I'm against it song is great too. There should be more songs in comedies.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The "Merits?" of a Higher Education
Review: This is pure, undiluted, un-Thalberg'd Marx Brothers - every bit as insane and convulsively funny as Duck Soup! Higher Education is the target here with the major salvo being the prostitution of education to the financial gain of a winning sports team (the fact that Harpo and Chico, let alone two gangster thugs, can play on a college football team no-questions-asked shows a brilliant mind for social satire). The film is packed with classic Marx routines: Groucho's singing and dancing "I'm Against It," The Speak-easy & "Swordfish," Harpo's dog-catching & catch-all drawer pockets (which seem bottomless); Thelma Todd as the College Widow and the parade of suitors in and out of her room (with more well timed slamming doors than a Feydeau farce) and the endless funny lines. Chico has never been in finer form with his fractured "Italian" and entertaining piano playing. As to Harpo's recital of "Everyone Says I Love you", a personal story: When I first saw this film in the 70s at Indiana University, the hall was packed with over 800 people. When Harpo finished playing "Everyone Says I Love You," 800 arose and gave a standing ovation to a musical number over forty years old and a clown who had been dead for a decade. The film was freeze-framed until the applause died down and that took nearly fifteen minutes! It was a moment of Everyone saying we love you, too. This film is a keeper!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An underrated comic gem
Review: This may actually be the funniest Marx Brothers movie. It doesn't waste time with a romantic sublot (or much of one, anyway), it merely goes for big laughs the whole way through. One need only watch this movie to understand why The Marx Brothers will probably always be popular with the young--they refuse to take authority seriously, especially when they themselves are the authorities. This movie is worth the price just for the "Harpo shovelling books in the fire" scene, but there are countless other hilarious scenes as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I`m not against it!
Review: This movie is so funny I cried.(And me, tough man.) The story is basicly that Groucho plays a new headmaster of a collage, and turns the place upside down (like always) with this big footballgame. If I told you any more about it I`d spoil it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: INSANITY AT ITS VERY BEST!
Review: This movie made me forever a Marx Brothers Fan. The genius of these four men shines through. You may never look at college life the same again after viewing this film. What a shame that movies such as this are not shown anymore on the big screen. Believe it or not, this Marx movie even has a plot! A sheer pleasure to watch.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Anything further, father?"
Review: This was the first Marx Brothers film I ever watched, about 60 years after it was made, but I found the humor to be absolutely timeless. From the opening song ("Your proposition may be good, but let's have one thing understood/Whatever it is, I'm against it") to the classic speakeasy scene ("I got a haddock, too"; "I know - swordfish!") to the bombarding of Thelma Todd with suitors and an ubiquitous block of ice, the film is an irreverant but good-natured non-stop farce. The jokes are brilliant, and the four Marx Brothers (including Zeppo, whose unchanging straight-man portrayal finds a good niche here) are at their best. Brilliant!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another marvelous masterpiece by the Brothers Marx
Review: To be perfectly honest, there isn't a great deal of difference in quality between the various films the Marx Brothers made at Paramount: all of them are comic masterpieces. My only regret with this one (as with MONKEY BUSINESS) is the lamentable absence of Margaret Dumont, whose love scenes with Groucho are among my favorite comic moments in all of cinema. Thelma Todd does her best in this one as the "College widow," but she just isn't a replacement for Ms. Dumont.

Does plot matter in a Marx Brothers film? Not much. In this case, Groucho is the new college president of Huxley College, and is simultaneously concerned to wean his son (played by Zeppo) from the college widow and build up the Huxley College football team. To accomplish the latter, he goes to a speakeasy to recruit a couple of first rate football players, and mistakenly signs up Chico and Harpo instead. The plot gives pretty of room for one outrageous skit after another.

Thelma Todd, of course, died three years after this film in what is, to this day, one of the most controversial deaths in Hollywood history. She was found dead in her garage of carbon monoxide poisoning, but given that she was involved with some pretty unsavory characters at the time, there has always been widespread speculation that she was murdered. She was only thirty when she died. At the time of her death, she was one of the busiest actresses in Hollywood. In addition to HORSE FEATHERS, she also appeared in the Marx Brothers' MONKEY BUSINESS.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another marvelous masterpiece by the Brothers Marx
Review: To be perfectly honest, there isn't a great deal of difference in quality between the various films the Marx Brothers made at Paramount: all of them are comic masterpieces. My only regret with this one (as with MONKEY BUSINESS) is the lamentable absence of Margaret Dumont, whose love scenes with Groucho are among my favorite comic moments in all of cinema. Thelma Todd does her best in this one as the "College widow," but she just isn't a replacement for Ms. Dumont.

Does plot matter in a Marx Brothers film? Not much. In this case, Groucho is the new college president of Huxley College, and is simultaneously concerned to wean his son (played by Zeppo) from the college widow and build up the Huxley College football team. To accomplish the latter, he goes to a speakeasy to recruit a couple of first rate football players, and mistakenly signs up Chico and Harpo instead. The plot gives pretty of room for one outrageous skit after another.

Thelma Todd, of course, died three years after this film in what is, to this day, one of the most controversial deaths in Hollywood history. She was found dead in her garage of carbon monoxide poisoning, but given that she was involved with some pretty unsavory characters at the time, there has always been widespread speculation that she was murdered. She was only thirty when she died. At the time of her death, she was one of the busiest actresses in Hollywood. In addition to HORSE FEATHERS, she also appeared in the Marx Brothers' MONKEY BUSINESS.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Marx Brothers take to the gridiron
Review: When I was young, I really didn't understand the comedy of the Marx Brothers. Now that I'm grown, I still don't understand a lot of it. I love Groucho and his endless supply of witty one-liners, but some of his bits in this film still just go right by me. Chico and his richly comedic language are always good, and I've even grown to like most of Harpo's antics, but somehow, when you put everything together, I'm left shaking my head every so often. I think the main obstacle in my enjoyment of a movie like this is the lack of continuity in the story. Most of the time, the plot is no more than incidental to the comedy. They certainly don't make movies like this anymore, so I have a hard time getting into the proper Marx Brothers mindset.

In Horse Feathers, Groucho plays Professor Waxhaw, the new president of Huxley College; his son (played by Zeppo) is following in the family footsteps of concentrating on a college widow when he should be concentrating on more important things - such as football. Professor Waxhaw decides that the Huxley team simply must beat Darwin, its primary rival. He takes his son's advice and hires a couple of football players who hang out at the speakeasy - well, actually he really recruits Chico and Harpo. Waxhaw also takes an active approach to teaching, and his takeover of the anatomy class makes for the funniest scene in the film (it degenerates into a spitball fight). All the guys hit on the widow woman Waxhaw's son is stuck on, not knowing she (Thelma Todd) is in cahoots with the Darwin team and is trying to steal Huxley's football signals. After a most unsuccessful attempt by Chico and Harpo to kidnap Darwin's two best players, we get to the big game. Picture this: Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo all out there on the field - you can imagine the high strangeness and hilarity to be found here.

It's hard for me to evaluate this film. On the one hand, I can see that it is classic Marx Brothers, with one-liners, jokes, gags, songs, dances, the works. On the other hand, I sit here and wonder why I didn't find this film funnier than I did. I almost feel like I'm doing something wrong by not enjoying Horse Feathers more than I do.


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