This week on Full Marx, we take a long and slightly confused look at the weird, wild and wacky Horse Feathers.
Their fourth Paramount picture; their second original screenplay; their second directed by a perhaps tired Norman Z. McLeod. What will Ian and Dave make of it?
During our Monkey Business episode, there were some who wished for less plot and more Marx Brothers madness. Well, be careful what you wish for…
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Okay, guys, we’re going to have to disagree here. For me, Horse Feathers was where the Marxes really found their rhythm on film, and is a pure joy from start to finish. I love everything about this movie, and consider it a major step forward from their earlier ones.
The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers are arguably the closest we can get to a filmed stage performance. Monkey Business has some fine moments, but Groucho’s pure lechery and Harpo chasing random women who are clearly distressed really sour that movie for me. Also, the Chevalier scene is boring. There, I said it.
Horse Feathers and Duck Soup are the films where everything clicks into place. All the criticisms you raised towards the end of the podcast are correct, but none of them has any effect on my enjoyment of this glorious masterpiece.
From what I understand, the ending is supposed to be Connie marrying Zeppo, but the other Brothers push him out of the way to steal a kiss from her. If you look closely, you can see a man standing next to Connie during the wedding. If this was indeed the case, I guess Zeppo wasn’t available the day they shot it.
Thank you for these podcasts. I’m glad to see someone already mentioned the wedding scene – one does assume it’s “Frank Wagstaff” getting married to Connie who then gets pushed out of the way. Also, in the stills that exist of the burning college, Zeppo is at the card table, wearing a school sweater.
BTW – if you look closely, when Groucho throws the lifesaver, he is all wet and the duck in in the canoe.
Fascinating! I’ll have to check that out! Thanks, Jerry!
The wet Groucho when he throws the lifesaver to Connie, and the duck in the canoe, can be explained by the original script, where Groucho jumped into the water to save the duck and went back on board with it leaving Connie behind.
I realize that what I said in my previous comment had already been said in the podcast. However, one bit of information should be added: when Groucho and Connie were struggling, according to the original script, the second copy of the football signals went into the water and the duck took it with his beak. I think they shot that, and when the whole duck rescuing business was dropped, they decided to use the shot of the duck with the signals earlier in the scene.
Life Savers were less than twenty years old when this film was made so the close up was put there because of the newness of the candy and to distinguish it from other tiny items he could have pulled from his pocket. Also average annual pay in 1932 was $1,600. $500 in 1932 dollars is about $9,000 in 2018 dollars.
Well, everyone to their own opinion but I think Horse Feathers is the best Marx Brothers movie of their career. I wish a complete copy of the film could be found. Most of the reasons that you gave for not liking portions of the film are the exact reason why it is one of the best.
You HAVE to have anarchy with the Marxes. A cohesive plot slows their films down (example — A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races). There is no need for a reason why the football game is important although Zeppo alluded to it in his first scene (no stability in the college since they didn’t have a good football team to bring in revenue).
Also you have to look at the film through the eyes of the times. I noticed you were complaining about the Life Savers joke but it was a relatively new candy at the time. And, no, Harpo didn’t steal “bullets” from the man in the speak easy. That was a coin changer. Each chamber had a different denomination of coin and a lever at the bottom. The wearer would depress the lever to make one coin come out of the chamber so he could make change. Oh, and during the depression men were selling apples on the street for a nickel apiece so $500 was a lot of money then.
Hi Bob, just to clarify: Ian and I weren’t suggesting that any bullets came out of the coin dispenser in the speakeasy, we were riffing that it would be funny if Harpo put a coin in a policeman’s holster and a bunch of bullets came pouring out. It seemed funny at the time anyway. I guess that’s why we were never hired to write a Marx Brothers film!
Geez, guys, I gave it 7 out of 10! That’s really good! I can’t give it more than Duck Soup!
I’ll admit that many of my complaints would be lessened by the miraculous and much welcome find of a pristine copy of the original film, but since such a thing doesn’t exist, my feelings on the film are shaped by what I can see.
One of my criteria for the podcast was to watch the films with a critical eye and not just as a fan. That means I have to judge these films as films and not just as vehicles for the Marx Brothers brilliance. Remember: no matter what I say in the way of reservations or critiques, I think these films are all great!!!
The insert shot of the Lifesavers package is still clumsy no matter how old or new Lifesavers were, by the way.
Though, as David has said, it’s not a funny podcast, Old Hollywood-centric podcast You Must Remember This has an episode about Thelma Todd’s life & death: http://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com/episodes/2017/2/6/thelma-todd-dead-blondes-episode-2