​Marx Brothers Blu’s the ideal antidote to Election Day blues

By Christopher P. Jacobs

christopher.jacobs@email.und.edu

Next week’s presidential election is perhaps the most divisive and least-anticipated in recent history. None of the three main candidates comes close to having a majority voter appeal or enthusiastic support, to the extent that a vote for any one of them is essentially a vote against the other two. It’s a week that will likely inspire various modes of personal escape, even if only temporary, from the cares and fears of modern life.

A safe retreat from news coverage is becoming wrapped up in a movie. Titles appropriate for the national mood might be along the lines of “Nightmare” (1964) and “The Earth Dies Screaming” (1964). However, more relaxing relief both before and after the election would be the timeless Marx Brothers political satire “Duck Soup” (1933), or any of the zany, nonsensical comedies starring the Marx Brothers, for that matter. As luck would have it, their most inventive films have just showed up on Blu-ray.

Two weeks ago, Universal Studios finally released their years-long high-definition digital restorations of the first five Marx Brothers features, widely considered their best work and endlessly rewatchable. “The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection” box set has three Blu-ray discs with the movies the comedy team made for Paramount from 1929-1933, plus a new 80-minute documentary, “The Marx Brothers: Hollywood’s Kings of Chaos,” as well as some brief vintage interviews from “The Today Show” and an illustrated booklet providing details on their early work from vaudeville to Broadway to the screen. Each film also has an informative and entertaining audio commentary by a different film historian (one of them speaking with the son of Harpo Marx).

“The Cocoanuts” (1929) introduced the brothers to movie audiences after nearly 20 years on stage as a team. Based on their recent Broadway hit set in a Florida hotel, the film is sometimes stagey like most early talkies, but has a few innovative camera angles and an infectious charm. It benefits greatly from the brothers’ manic intensity and musical numbers by no less than Irving Berlin. This film was in the worst condition of all their films, and this new edition uses much sharper material than previously available for much of its running time, although there are still sections of only moderate sharpness and a few others that are still quite soft-focus and murky-looking. Anthony Slide provides a decent although sometimes rather eccentric commentary.

THE COCOANUTS Blu-ray -- Movie: A- / Video: A- / Audio: A- / Extras: B

“Animal Crackers” (1930) is also based on a stage hit, which they had been performing nightly while shooting “The Cocoanuts” during the day. This film also provides a good record of what their theatrical appearances would have looked like, but is also more assured cinematically. “Animal Crackers” had long been their most problematic film, surviving only in a censored re-release that had been duplicated out-of-focus. Amazingly an uncut negative was recently discovered in England, and the film now not only looks better than it has since its initial release, but restores the complete “Hooray for Captain Spaulding” number and all the lines deemed too risqué by late 1930s censors and later television broadcasters. Jeffrey Vance provides a solid audio commentary.

ANIMAL CRACKERS Blu-ray -- Movie: A- / Video: A / Audio: A- / Extras: B

“Monkey Business” (1931) was their first feature made directly for the screen, although it does recycle some of their vaudeville bits from the 1910s. This one is set mostly on a ship with the brothers as stowaways who get involved with gangsters. Although their familiar foil Margaret Dumont is missing, they have the wonderful comedienne Thelma Todd to work with, and Zeppo’s role is a bit more prominent than usual. Picture quality is quite good, as is the audio commentary by Robert S. Bader (author of a new book on the brothers) made in conjunction with Bill Marx, son of Harpo.

MONKEY BUSINESS Blu-ray -- Movie: A / Video: A- / Audio: A / Extras: B

“Horse Feathers” (1932) remains a timeless farce satirizing academics, including college classrooms, faculty attitudes, student life, and especially college football. Again there are enjoyable songs and the welcome presence of Thelma Todd. It’s arguably the best (or second-best) film of their movie career. Picture quality is very good, and there’s a nice commentary by historian F. X. Feeney.

HORSE FEATHERS Blu-ray -- Movie: A+ / Video: A- / Audio: A- / Extras: B

“Duck Soup” (1933) is also a strong candidate for the best Marx Brothers film, and one of the greatest comedies of all time. This gleefully outrageous musical satire of politics and war has Groucho as the president of the mythical and bankrupt country of Freedonia. It’s packed with pure craziness, surreal gags, and incredible non-sequiturs, the perfect complement to this year’s presidential campaigns. Again the HD picture is quite good and there’s another fun commentary by Robert S. Bader, this time with movie expert Leonard Maltin.

DUCK SOUP Blu-ray -- Movie: A+ / Video: A- / Audio: A- / Extras: A-