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Horse Feathers

Horse Feathers

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Hallowed Halls of Hollow Learning
Review: Engaging example of inspired lunacy from the Marx Brothers. After they smoothed over some rough edges displayed in "Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers," the Marx magic really took off in their last three films at Paramount. Groucho's barbed zingers quickly deflate the overblown stuffiness of Huxley College. Chico is hilarious in his typical role as an amiable airhead with savvy con man overtones. He guards the speakeasy door as Groucho tries to guess the password. This scene must be one of the great moments in classic comedy. Harpo's antics have a mischievous elfin quality that defies written description. As Groucho instructs the class that "you can't burn the candle at both ends," Harpo produces a candle burning at both ends from his coat of many pockets. Zeppo is around as Groucho's occasional straight man. The jokes are fast-paced and furious. Sight gags abound. Chico and Harpo display their musical talent without losing sight of the laughs. There are no overblown musical numbers that bog down the comedy. Instead of the befuddled Margaret Dumont, this film has Thelma "Hot Toddy" Todd as a delightful femme fatale. Groucho comments, as he takes her on an idyllic boat ride, "I wanted to get one with a flat bottom, but the girl at the boat-house didn't have one." The movie falters a little during the climactic football game sequence, but not enough to matter. Altogether, the Marx Brothers shine in a masterpiece of rapid-fire, nonsensical comedy that improves with multiple viewing. Recommended for classic comedy fans and everyone that enjoys off-the-wall humor. ;-)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Hallowed Halls of Hollow Learning
Review: Engaging example of inspired lunacy from the Marx Brothers. After they smoothed over some rough edges displayed in "Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers," the Marx magic really took off in their last three films at Paramount. Groucho's barbed zingers quickly deflate the overblown stuffiness of Huxley College. Chico is hilarious in his typical role as an amiable airhead with savvy con man overtones. He guards the speakeasy door as Groucho tries to guess the password. This scene must be one of the great moments in classic comedy. Harpo's antics have a mischievous elfin quality that defies written description. As Groucho instructs the class that "you can't burn the candle at both ends," Harpo produces a candle burning at both ends from his coat of many pockets. Zeppo is around as Groucho's occasional straight man. The jokes are fast-paced and furious. Sight gags abound. Chico and Harpo display their musical talent without losing sight of the laughs. There are no overblown musical numbers that bog down the comedy. Instead of the befuddled Margaret Dumont, this film has Thelma "Hot Toddy" Todd as a delightful femme fatale. Groucho comments, as he takes her on an idyllic boat ride, "I wanted to get one with a flat bottom, but the girl at the boat-house didn't have one." The movie falters a little during the climactic football game sequence, but not enough to matter. Altogether, the Marx Brothers shine in a masterpiece of rapid-fire, nonsensical comedy that improves with multiple viewing. Recommended for classic comedy fans and everyone that enjoys off-the-wall humor. ;-)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This was the first one I saw.
Review: First off, the Marx Brothers rock!The was the first ine i saw of them, and I love them! These are so much better than Laural and Hardy. So please buy this DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Marx Masterpiece
Review: For years, "Duck Soup" (1933) and "A Night at the Opera" (1935) have competed for the title of Best Marx Brothers Film. However, it is "Horse Feathers" (1932) that deserves the honor. Directed in appropriately ramshackle fashion by Norman Z. McLeod, this Depression-era satire features Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo at their musical-comedy zenith. In terms of pacing, "Horse Feathers" is the only Marxian effort that takes off from the starting gate and never lets up -- no lengthy introductions, delayed entrances, or disappointing climaxes. It's a fast and furious romp that should be viewed more than once, especially if you want to catch all of Groucho's classic dialogue. (Unfortunately, a few minutes of risque material involving Harpo and Thelma Todd were excised for television and have yet to see the light of day. One hopes that MCA will restore the deleted footage for its DVD reissue.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Marx to the extreme
Review: Groucho Marx becomes the [inaccurate] head of a college, but decides football is more important than education and hires Chico and Harpo to kidnap players from the opposing team. This is my absolute favorite Marx brothers movie. I can't recall any other movie making me laugh as hard as this one did. I was somewhat disappointed with Harpo's performance (he does much better in Animal Crackers and Duck Soup), and there are several songs included, but Horse Feathers runs one zany scene after another, and I found it really hard to ever grow bored of it. -- If you enjoy good, clean, off-the-wall humor, then watch this epitome of Marxist slapstick and I guarantee you'll be their next biggest fan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the boy's best.
Review: Hilarious comedy classic with Chico, Harpo, Zeppo, and Groucho trying to rig a college football game. Wonderful music and songs; an excellent family film for those who like non-stop laughter. S.J. Perelman co-scripted; directed by Norman Z. McLeod.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: More horsing around
Review: I had a professor in college who seemed to base his entire teaching style off of Groucho Marx's character in HORSE FEATHERS. And, yes, it was one of the more amusing set of classes that I took in my time at university. So, any time I want to relive a more surreal version of my undergraduate learning years, I simply have to throw this DVD into my player and get set for 68 minutes worth of hilarity.

While DUCK SOUP may the best known of the Marx Brothers' films, I think that HORSE FEATHERS may actually be the better introduction to show to someone unfamiliar with their material. It's a short, snappy, quick film, the musical numbers are quite funny and the gags are classic Marx Brothers material. Groucho Marx the professor is here, as are Chico and Harpo as a pair of delinquent, accidental, and almost middle-aged students. Zeppo makes a brief appearance as Groucho's son and barely appears in the second half of the film. It has all the elements of the standard Marx Brothers film, but it doesn't feel tired or clichéd.

Naturally, the Marx Brothers themselves are as hilarious as ever. The only real secondary character of note is played by Thelma Todd, who, unfortunately, has a much weaker and smaller role than she did in MONKEY BUSINESS. Still, it's fun to see the ubiquitous scenes of different Marx brothers all trying to get the blonde (and in the end, of course, they all do). The rest of the characters are the collection of gangsters, idiots and straight-men that we come to expect (and then forget about) from the various Marx Brothers pictures. They have their part to play in the plot, which is really only an excuse for there to be an actual story for the brothers to subvert. The other people exist only so that they can have various Marxs running hilarious rings around them.

The DVD itself looks about as good as you'd expect a film of that age to look like. There are some strange jumps in the film, as though someone along the line had cut out a remark or two. I understand that this is due to problems with the surviving print of the movie rather than any fault of the DVD itself, so it doesn't really seem fair to complain about it. The extras are few and far between; in fact, there aren't any extras at all. It's just a bare-bones release with nothing other than the film included. Of course, when you've got a film that's as much fun as HORSE FEATHERS is, who needs extras?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I Didn't Like It!
Review: I know I'll get a lot of unhelpful votes but I really didn't like this Marx Brothers Horse Feathers movie and it seems that I'm the only reviewer who didn't like it. I like slapstick humor and I had heard so many good things said about the Marx Brothers slapstick humor movies and I liked Harpo Marx in his guest appearance on an episode of the classic TV show I Love Lucy but honestly I didn't like this movie and have seen better slapstick movies that I found much more enjoyable. Sorry but I found this movie boring and dated. The Three Stooges is much better and doesn't seem as dated and I find the slapstick humor in a Three Stooges short to be more enjoyable. Now I will give The Marx Brothers another chance and I will try to watch some of their other movies because maybe It was just this particular movie that I didn't like and I will like the other ones better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I need help!!
Review: I love all the Marx brothers movies but I cannot find any with the closed caption that I need. If anyone knows of where you can get their movies with the closed caption I would be so grateful. I really miss hearing all their quick lines.
Thank You

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Best
Review: I love this movie. There is minimal singing and dancing here, the only unbearable points being whenever Zeppo starts singing to Thelma Todd in his gimpy voice. Groucho for some reason is made a president of a university in this film, and he is as would be expected incredibly inadequate, and causes plenty of mayhem. Chico is a dopey Italian as usual, Harpo plays a dog catcher. Hoping to gain respect for his school, Groucho tries to hire football players, and accidentally hires Chico and Harpo, who have very funny moments in this film, particularly in the class room scene. Although people must have thought Harpo's love interest of horses in the first few films to be silly, imagine how it might be percepted these days, especially after movies like "The Animal".
A great movie, funny stuff, plenty of wit and humor. The movie seems to end pretty badly though, and I guess the writers couldn't find a good way to end it. I love the music though, all the brothers get to sing or play, and Groucho shows that he had a good knack for the guitar. Oh yeah, and Thelma Todd is nice to look at. Where do you think the drink "Hot Toddie" got it's name?
A last note: in 1932, when this movie was made, a book called Brave New World" by Huxley came out, and concerned a mutated futuristic species of sorts. Darwin wrote the theory of evolution, as a lot of people know. The schools Huxley and Darwin compete in the film. See the underlying theme of conflicting theories? Well....it's there.


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