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The Marx Brothers Collection (A Night at The Opera/A Day at The Races/A Night in Casablanca/Room Service/At the Circus/Go West/The Big Store)

The Marx Brothers Collection (A Night at The Opera/A Day at The Races/A Night in Casablanca/Room Service/At the Circus/Go West/The Big Store)

List Price: $59.92
Your Price: $44.94
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: At last a Marx Box Set! But the wrong movies...
Review: It's about time they put out a box set of Marx films. But the ideal box set would be:

The Coconuts
Animal Crackers
Monkey Business
Horse Feathers
Duck Soup
A Night At The Opera

I give this set three stars 1 for having A Night At The Opera, 1 for NOT having Love Happy and 1 for finally there being a Marx box set. A Night At The Opera is a classic, quite possibly their best. A Day At The Races is horrible, Groucho's jokes are hardly thought through, there is almost no interaction between him and Margaret Dumont, which is the only reason Dumont should be in a Marx film. Room Service is decent, we get to see the boys having money problems, skipping out on hotel bills and avoiding the manager which is always good fun. A Night In Casablanca is suprisingly good for being one of their later films (it is the last real Marx Brothers movie).

At The Circus, Go West and The Big Store are watchable but at the same time pathetic. One of the great things about the Marx Brothers was watching their interaction with high society types. These three movies (except Big Store sort of) don't have this. These also have the most ridiculous slapstick climaxes at the end. It's embarassing to watch.

If you're a dedicated Marx fan, get this. If you just want to see a classic Marx film, buy A Night At The Opera separately. In the mean time we should hope for a DVD release of the early films . Hell, they could probably fit Coconuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers and Duck Soup on two DVDs! Until those five movies get released, I won't be happy. But for now, A Night At The Opera should keep me content.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: about time
Review: I'm thrilled to see this release!!!

Some other folks seem to be complaining about the choices for the movies on this set. I'm quite happy with them all things considered. First off realize virtually ALL of their movies are available to buy on DVD anyhow right now if you check E-Bay regularly EXCEPT these 3, The Big Store, Go West, & At The Circus. These are the only 3 to never have made it to ANY DVD release anywhere in the world to my knowledge. So this set completes their catalog to DVD you might say. Some are on the now deleted Image catalog and others are imports, (of which I might add are of very good quality). Certainly it would be nice to see another set or 2 released and get their entire catalog back out and currently available at the retail level, but this fills all the gaps. With the addition of the 3 I mentioned above I will now have all of their movies on DVD so I'm quite pleased even if this is all that gets reissued. I can dream and hope that they would remaster them all given some are looking very poor, but unless a Criterion or some rich fan (Ted Turner please!) gets the bug to restore them this is the best we get. Cocoanuts is probably the worst one for it's overall condition.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Finally, my prayers are answered!
Review: Finally, MGM gets around to a proper release of all their MGM films. This is a must for any fan of comedy. However, these movies are pretty uneven in quality.

In my opinion, none of these films are as good as the out of print Paramount ones. But, all are worthwhile on their own. A Night At The Opera is the best of the lot, with close seconds being Go West, and A Day At The Races.

I have to disagree with some reviews, though. The Big Store has its moments but isn't great. A Night in Casablanca is watchable but very forgettable and At The Circus and Room Service are incredibly bad. The only saving grace from at The Circus is the song "Lydia The Tatooed Lady". Outside of that, it's a waste. Room Service is a complete abject failure.

But don't let that hold you back from this purchase. There is NO comedy team greater or more brilliant, and this set is the proof. When Paramount releases the other films, buy that as well. That's a 6 out of five star set, there!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I GUESS WE JUST CAN'T AGREE
Review: My personal favorites from this set are THE BIG STORE and A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA. I know I'll catch hell for not choosing OPERA and RACES but these films though huge box office monsters, did not capture the reason why the MARX BROTHERS were so remarkable to begin with.I strongly believe my choices are closer to classic Marx. But any true Marxist will tell you the masterpieces are ANIMAL CRACKERS,MONKEY BUSINESS,HORSE FEATHERS,and of coarse DUCK SOUP.I've got mixed feelings on THE COCOANUTS.Great comedy,but too many lame song and dance routines.If you know The Marx Brothers like I do and have a taste for ballbusting,unforgiving,take no prisoners,actually make you laugh movies then my 6 choices would truly be the definitive MARX collection.Oh! what the heck! Throw in The Cocoanuts and make it a lucky 7.I'm not letting anyone off the hook that easy. I want really good bonus features on each disc.Outakes,bloopers,interviews,commentary tracks and anything else that would be fun to have.Keep the discs one sided the movies are short enough.I know these movies stand on their own merit but these dvds are already released with no bonus features and thats the reason I find no reason to purchase them.Besides my VCR gets lonely for attention. 5 stars for The Marx Brothers and 5 stars for my idea but only 2 stars for this set.HELLO... I MUST BE GOING.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The rest on DVD
Review: Finally, almost all the rest of their films are on DVD. I bought the original box set that Universal released a few years ago that contained Animal Crackers/Duck Soup/Horse Feathers. I also got Cocoanuts and Monkey Business, also from Universal. Unfortunately, since those are Universal and the others are MGM, there is hardly any chance of them being released in one box set. The old ones are out of print now, so it might get pretty expensive, but you can find them out there. With that in mind, pick up this box set now before it goes out of print as well.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: About time
Review: These are some of the funniest films ever made. The latter ones are not all that good, but still have their moments. "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" ranks right up there with "Hooray for Captain Spaulding".

As for all the people complaining about the early films not being on DVD, they are. They were some of the first DVDs I bought about 4 years ago. They're even here on Amazon.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: No such thing as a bad Marx Brothers product
Review: This is a decent collection. It does not contain their funniest movie "Duck Soup" but that was made by another studio and that is the reason it is absent from this collection. It does contain their arguably second funniest movie "A Night at the Opera". The rest of the collection is hit and miss but the Marxes are like sex and pizza, even when it is not up to par, it is still good. I offer my 2 cents on this collection:A Night at the Opera--The Brothers at the height of their powers.A Day at the Races--I dont understand how some rank this low. This film contains some of their funniest bits like "get your tootsie frootsie ice cream".At the Circus--Maybe a notch below the first 2 films, but this one has always been a favorite of mine. Groucho sings "Lydia the tatooed lady".Room Service--Admittedly not one of my favorites. This was originally a play that someone decided to adapt into a Marx Brothers movie. It is ok, but lacks the zaniness of their other films.The Big Store--The Brothers were starting to show their age and some think this film was a big step down. Not me. Some very crazy bits and I love that be-bop singing salesgirl.Go West--It has it's moments, but the Brothers seemed to be tired of making films at this point.A Night in Casablanca--The Brothers took a couple of years off before being reunited to make this, their last film as an ensemble cast. (Their very last film, Love Happy, did not have a scene with all of them on screen at the same time). Though not as good as they were a decade before, they seemed to muster everything they had left to deliver the laughs one last time. A definite step up from Go West.Overall, a good collection and the added shorts and documentaries make this a real bargain.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Nothing to Harp or grouch about
Review: From reading these reviews I'm a bit perplexed by viewers complaining that some of the Paramount ones aren't in this box set. Paramount and MGM were and still are different companies. You know, Paramount is the one with the mountain and MGM had that lion roaring. I know it's confusing and to make matters more so, Warners owns these MGM titles. Wow I'm getting a head spin!! But sarcasm aside... this box set is terrific. The transfers are all sweeeet. I'm one of those freaks that doesn't like old films cleaned up tooo much because it takes a little old world charm from the piece. I know I'm risking a retaliation of dvd purists angrily not finding this review helpful but the odd scratch here and there doesn't faze me.
The features are interesting especially the funny Robert Benchley short film about sleeping. I'm curious to see more of this comedian. Leonard Maltin's commentary is informative although he sounds like his got his mouth too close to the microphone. Turning the sound down a little helps unless you want the neighbours involved. I would also like to be the one to defend "The Big Store". Although it has some lame songs, (they can easily be skipped) I still found it funny. The over acting women recieving a home made record from Tony Martin is a huge unintentional laugh for me. Chico and Harpo on piano is charming and the harp sequence is easily the best of all the films. Imaginative and funny. Seeing the stereo typed African-Americans picking cotten during the "sing while you sell" song almost made me regurgitate my dinner but that was the 40's for you. The train sequence at the end of "Go West" also a highlight of the later MGM films. To quote Groucho, it is the best gag in the picture. But "Opera", "Races" and "Casablanca" are easily the best. Thank you to Warners for this set. They were long awaited to me.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: These Are The Best Available To Warners
Review: ...because "Animal Crackers", "Duck Soup", etc. are owned by Universal who, if they follow the current pattern, will probably cram all 5 Paramount classics on 1 or 2 discs for $20. Until then, they are out of print.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: MARX BROS. PERFECTION! SPELL IT Z-V-B-X-R-P-L !!!!!!
Review: This is an outstanding set with 7 superb Marx Bros. classics, beautifully packaged by Warner Brothers in a gorgeous box. These films represent the Marx Bros. at their best.

Groucho, Chico, and Harpo are at the zenith here, and happily no boring Zeppo songs to sleep through! Ah, No Zeppo! That's bliss!

Don't miss this great set.


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