Marx Brothers: Paramounts or MGM?

or, since both companies have some variability in quality, let me rephrase the question as:
{Animal Crackers & Duck Soup} vs {A Night at the Opera & A Day at the Races}?

(If the original and rephrased questions have different answers from you, feel free to answer both.)

I think the biggest difference (if you don't consider it to be Zeppo) is that the later ones have characters who are aware of just how insane the brothers are and see them as con men, but in the earlier ones, everyone, including the antagonists, tend to buy into their tactics. Some fans seem to need that dose of reality more than others.

 

Paramount

 

It's Paramount for all true Marxists

 

One thing I learned after the internet came along is that there are Marx Brothers fans who prefer the MGMs.

(Another is that there are people who prefer Queen's 80s output to their 70s.)

 

I'm a Duck Soup man myself.

 

Paramount.

 

Paramount all the way!

 

Paramount

 

I love the Paramounts and agree that era is superior but MGM has the tootsy fruitsy ice cream and that's hard for me to dismiss.

 

I'm 50/50. Duck Soup was a zenith, but I think a Night at the Opera is fantastic.

 

With the exception of Night At The Opera, it isn't even close IMO. I know the history, but have always been disappointed with Day-Races. And let's face it there wasn't much there after that one. Although they did have a bit of a rally with Night in Casablanca.
The memorable lines, the layers of puns and double (triple) entendres are from that wonderful string of five Paramount pictures.
I remember reading that as Groucho prepared to hang from a plane in the filming of Night Casablanca, he remarked that he didn't want to do this anymore.

 

Oh wait a minute,. I was thinking of the boat scenes from "Monkey Business." Make that Paramount!

 

Paramount with no hesitation. Night at The Opera and A Day At The Races are still good fun, but the dopey love interest plots really intrude on the hilarity.

 

"would you all gather around really close so this man won't recover"

 

The only picture up through A Night At The Opera I can think of that lacks the dopey romantic subplot altogether is Duck Soup. I wonder if the DRSP was an actual selling point to any patrons. I know time and tastes change, but I don't see the appeal. Granted, I was around 11-12 when I saw most of them for the first time so the DRSP would be calculated to hold zero interest for me.

 

Yeah, the DRSPs were in the Paramount pictures (excepting Duck Soup) but they were less intrusive and took up less time than the MGM pictures -at least that is how I remember them. I too watched these movies first as a kid with no interest in the DRSPs (except for who "got" the college widow in Horse feathers )

 

Paramount for me, with a side order of A Night at the Opera.

The only known photo of the entire Marx family, c. 1915. From left: Groucho, Gummo, mother Minnie, Zeppo, father Sam, Chico and Harpo.

 

I see they they all got Sam's hairline from an early age.

 

Yep, Paramount +1 (Night at the Opera).

 

Whaaat? No RKO and Room Service?!?!

 

I'm a Metro kind of guy. Yes, the last three MGM films were weak, but there are funny bits in all of them.

 

A Night At The Opera is in my personal top ten favorite movies of all time. For me, it's just a great film in every respect.

That being said, the Paramount films are certainly classic Marx Brothers. I prefer The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, and Duck Soup. Both Monkey Business and Horse Feathers have their moments, but overall I don't find that they hold together as well as the others.

A Day At The Races comes somewhere in the middle for me. I think that it certainly deserves a place alongside their best, and again, it's a pretty good film all-around.

I don't mind the rest of the MGM films. Obviously they're not at quite the same caliber as the classics, but I enjoy watching them nevertheless.

So, really, it's not a Paramount vs. MGM thing for me. If anything, I think the MGM films, particularly the first two, greatly helped to sustain and solidify their legacy.

 

Both!!! Paramount also has Horse Feathers ,and Monkey Business MGM has Opera and Races with the lower level (still very Good)At The Circus,and fair to good titles like Room Service (one of their worst) and The Big Store

 

I've seen many of them, not sure if all. It's hard to choose, but I think I've always been most partial to A Night at the Opera. But if memory serves (it's been quite a while for any of them), the hardest I laughed for a prolonged period of time was the train scene near the end in Go West.

 

Room Service was the only Marx film (and I don't count Love Happy) where the screenplay was not specifically written for them. It was their least entertaining IMO as well.