“I saw Mrs. Claypool first. Of course, her mother saw her first but there’s no point in bringing the Civil War into this.” – Otis Driftwood.
Starting with this post, I’ve decided I’m going to try something new when it comes to my 100 Greatest Films Posts.
Basic Premise of the Film: “Mistaken” identities. Scheming. Plotting. All in the name of opera and signing the best opera singer in the world.
The only exposure I’ve ever had to the Marx brothers prior to this film was through that one episode of “I Love Lucy” when they’re in Hollywood and Lucy impersonates Harpo and then he actually shows up — it’s actually a pretty funny episode (I believe it’s a season 4 episode in case you wanted to check it out).
In regards to the film at hand, it is not very hard to see why this film is on the list. The Marx brothers were comedic geniuses. I think this film would have been much funnier for me personally had I not already seen about half of these gags recycled in other medias. What wasn’t lost on me, however, was being able to see the originals performs these gags and delivery the punchlines. It was superb. Just because they were real life brothers doesn’t mean that they should be able to bounce off of each other so well. Let’s also forget that there was a total of FIVE Marx brothers, not just the three that we can all name off the top of our heads (the other two are Zeppo and Gummo in case you were curious). You know that list I’ve mentioned before that list the “50 Greatest American Screen Legends“? Groucho, Chico and Harpo and ranked, collectively, at number 20 – so you KNOW they’re the best of the best when it comes to film.
Let’s stop for a minute to discuss the fact that, so far, this is the oldest film on the list. As I’m sure I’ve said before, I don’t know what kind of prehistoric film I was expecting, but I was completely surprised by the film quality, editing and sound. I don’t think I was watching a remastered version – mainly because I know a remastered version of this film hasn’t been made available (Thanks Wikipedia!). Originally released in 1935, I would never have thought that an 80-year-old movie would still be funny to me. Yes, I did say a lot of their jokes and gags have been reused and recycled, but still, it’s refreshing to know that this is still considered a standard when it comes to comedic films. While this film wasn’t a prestigious award winner, it was a winner with audiences which is why we’re still talking about it today. Maybe not as a main topic, but definitely amongst movie critics and lovers — the cinephiles if you will.
When AFI’s list first came out in 1998 this film wasn’t even ranked! Say what?! Ten years later it made it’s debut at #85. Now, will this film still be on the list at the next update? For sure. Why? I mean, why not? The fact that a lot of this film still influences comedy today is reason alone. Not to drag another film down, but how often do you see, let’s say, elements of “The Last Picture Show” being used in other films? Not very often, right? My only hope is that this film might go up a couple of spots. It is so far our second solid comedy on this list after “Bringing Up Baby” so it’s safe to say that any other comedies we will come across will be more poignant. We will see about that one for sure.
I viewed this film through a hosted site. CLICK HERE to view. As always, it is also available to rent/stream on Amazon Instant and VUDU (possible charges may apply).
And now, just for fun…
Here is what I think was one of the best and most genius scenes of the entire film. Their delivery is some of the best I have ever seen!
secret life of an almost "Grown-Up" 