Marx Brothers: Paramounts or MGM?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by KevinP, Dec 18, 2016.

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  1. antoniod

    antoniod Forum Resident

    MONKEY BUSINESS is what you'd expect a Marx Brothers movie to be if you'd never seen one, because you see all 4 on screen at the beginning.
     
  2. dance_hall_keeper

    dance_hall_keeper Forum Resident

    Conversely, getting all four on stage for rehearsals at the same time wasn't easy.
     
  3. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    If they don't-a rehearse, they don't-a play. If they don't-a play, that-a runs into money.
     
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  4. dance_hall_keeper

    dance_hall_keeper Forum Resident

    [​IMG]
    When all four were on stage for rehearsals at the same time, most likely they were...
     
  5. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    Casablanca rates much higher IMO.
     
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  6. dirwuf

    dirwuf Misplaced Chicagoan

    Location:
    Fairfield, CT

    Prettty standard ranking...except for the fact that Animal Crackers is about 800 times better than ago West.
     
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  7. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Objectively yes. Go West benefits in my ranking from the fact that it was my first exposure to the Marx Brothers when I was about 6 or 7, and absolutely slayed me at that age. Especially the money changing bit at the opening. And Animal Crackers is a bit stagey.

    I see I listed Duck Soup twice. The listing of it as best was what I intended.
     
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  8. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Applying mathematical analysis I prefer the Paramounts. If I rank the Paramounts and MGMs 1 through 12, with 1 being the best. Paramounts average at 3.5 and MGMs at 6.16.

    Which makes sense as my 2 favs are Paramounts and 2 least favs are MGMs.

    But really I see 4 distinct periods and rank them

    Late Paramount
    Early MGM
    Early Paramount
    Late MGM
     
  9. KevinP

    KevinP Forum introvert Thread Starter

    Location:
    Daejeon
    So Duck Soup is your first and fifth favourite?
     
  10. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Duck Soup should just be at 1
     
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  11. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
    I think Go West is one of their three weakest. More than Big Store and Casablanca and while there are great bits in Races, there are too many longeurs. While it's better than Circus, it's way weaker than Opera.
     
  12. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    I purchased my first VCR in 1982. One of the first things I did was to record the Marx movies that were regularly shown on commercial TV (pausing to get rid of the commercials). Back then "A Night at the Opera", "A Day at the Races" and the last 3 Paramounts were on Channel 5 in New York all the time (good luck seeing "The Big Store" or "Go West" before AMC comes along in 1984). I started re-watching the films with the "No Marx on the screen = Scan Forward" rule. Sure made some of them short that way.
     
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  13. dirwuf

    dirwuf Misplaced Chicagoan

    Location:
    Fairfield, CT
    I actually find Lillian Roth and the 'romance' quite enjoyable in Animal Crackers, especially the song "Why Am I So Romantic?"...you can tell Roth is not taking it seriously.
     
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  14. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    The only way I can make it through the original Casino Royale is adopting a similar rule focused on Woody Allen.

    For the Paramounts, I am not sure Zeppo being the only on screen Marx warrants slowing it down to intended speed.
     
    smilin ed likes this.
  15. My ranking:

    Duck Soup
    Horse Feathers
    Monkey Business
    Opera
    Animal Crackers
    Coconuts
    Races
    Casablanca
    Circus
    Go West
    Big Store
    Room Service
    Love Happy
     
  16. antoniod

    antoniod Forum Resident

    And I don't think there even would have been as much of Woody in ROYALE if Peter Sellers hadn't walked off of it(I think that's why they killed Sellers' character off).
     
  17. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    Sounds about right to me. Opera #2 though.
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2017
  18. hbbfam

    hbbfam Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chandler,AZ
    Perfectly reasonable list. I might put Opera ahead of HF and MB but that is debatable.
     
  19. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I love them all, certainly each has it's high/low points but even A night In Casablanca is great fun to watch, actually just watched it last night.
     
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  20. IronWaffle

    IronWaffle It’s all over now, baby blue

    I can't quite put my finger on it but lately few things invoke simultaneous laughter and tears like this:

     
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  21. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
  22. davenav

    davenav High Plains Grifter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY USA
    Paramount all the way.

    Opera is classic, of course. But, the passing of Thalberg meant the Marxes had lost their champion at the studio. The decline in quality was swift. The Big Store, for me, is all but unwatchable.

    Give me Casablanca, Room Service, or Love Happy any day of the week over the later MGM's (although Circus definitely has it's moments)
     
    R. Cat Conrad likes this.
  23. Matt Richardson

    Matt Richardson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Suburban Chicago
    Here's my list.

    Not necessary a ranking of their best to worst, but a ranking of films I ENJOY watching the most, especially after repeated viewings.


    Horsefeathers
    Casablanca
    Duck Soup
    Go West
    Circus
    Animal Crackers
    Room Service
    Love Happy
    Opera
    Coconuts
    Monkey Business
    Races
    Big Store
     
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  24. antoniod

    antoniod Forum Resident

    Matthew Coniam's ANNOTATED MARX BROTHERS is a fascinating book, and I get the impression from reading it that the decline in the quality of Marx Brothers films was due to other factors in addition to the change in studios and the death of Thalberg. Coniam writes "The track that they'd sent comedy on years earlier had taken a detour, leaving them stranded"(Well, I paraphrased)and continues that the Marx Bros didn't fit into the 40s trend of brash hero/coward comedy that Bob Hope personified.
     
  25. R. Cat Conrad

    R. Cat Conrad Almost Famous

    Location:
    D/FW Metroplex
    Definitely agree about Irving Thalberg's premature death leaving the Marx Brothers without an advocate in their corner, but I'm not a big believer that Thalberg prevented their decline. Two things worked against the Marx Brothers after leaving Paramount: 1) the Hays Office Code ...ratified in 1930, but not enforced until '34... which eliminated racier content in all U.S. films, and 2) MGM's studio system, which was notoriously hard on actors and comedians as Louis B. Mayer reputedly took a hands-on approach to public taste (under MGM management several artist's careers plummeted, including Buster Keaton's).

    Even though I like A Night at The Opera, it's much less about the Marx Brothers than their Paramount films. There are great scenes and some fine dialogue, but the mayhem seems orchestrated around a story in which they're merely participants. A Day at The Races is more of the same, but even less.

    :cheers:
    Cat
     
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