BEFORE: While we were in Atlantic City, we had dinner one night at Gallagher's steakhouse - I've never eaten at one of their locations before, perhaps because the name conjures up images of a certain comedian who smashes things with a giant mallet, and that seems like no way to serve food in a classy restaurant. Perhaps that's ridiculous, but it exemplifies the same sort of clash between low comedy and high society that one tends to see in Marx Brothers films.
Another quandary tonight - if I watch the last few Marx Brothers films online, that doesn't help out my watchlist at all, which now risks being stuck at 169 for three days. And since I have just 200 viewing slots left for the year, I still could conceivably finish this year, but only if I can manage to add no more than 30 more films (a slot for "Avengers: Age of Ultron" is already taken).
So, I'll watch two films today, Thursday - these Marx Brothers films are fairly short, anyway - and then the last one tomorrow, and by Saturday I'll be back to where I'm making progress in reducing the list again.
THE PLOT: Mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding.
AFTER: This is the one where Groucho plays the explorer who's appearing as a guest at a party at the Long Island mansion of Mrs. Rittenhouse. Zeppo arrives in two as Spaulding's right-hand man, and then soon Chico arrives as Emanuel Ravelli, a musician to play at the party, and Harpo follows as his cohort, "The Professor". Together they make $10 an hour to play, and $12 an hour to not play.
Harpo's Professor proceeds to grab a gun and within 5 minutes, he's firing at the guests and servants like ducks in a shooting gallery, which is an odd direction to take things, but before long a pretty maid walks by, so he drops the gun and starts to chase her. Nothing like a little mass shooting and non-consensual sex to liven up a party. Is it me, or were there different standards for humor back in 1930?
Ravelli and the Professor also liven up the place by blatantly cheating at a bridge game, adding extra aces when needed, and tearing up the cards they don't need. After that it's delay, delay, delay until the painting is stolen. And then delay, delay, delay while everyone talks about looking for the painting, but no one really does anything to look for it.
In the end, nearly everyone confesses to stealing the painting, which seems a little confusing. I can understand why the young man who painted a similar painting has a motive for confessing (sort of), but why was everyone else so eager to take credit? Then the painting - which not only resembles a poster more than a canvas, but also manages to take a fair amount of folding and beating for a valuable work of art - is restored to its owner, and everything just goes back to normal, I guess, except that the Professor proceeds to drug everyone with a pesticide sprayer. That suggests either a mass Jonestown-like killing or a party at Bill Cosby's house. He proceeds to lie down next to a pretty girl, so I'm going with the latter.
Again, this seems to all come from a different time, where humor wasn't like it is now. Although this film is famous for Groucho's quips like "One time, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know." And his wisecrack to Chico on the piano, "Say, if you get near a song, play it!" Chico indeed does play a song, which sounds a lot like the 1950's song "Catch a Falling Star", but it's really his trademark song, which is titled "I'm Daffy Over You".
Also starring Margaret Dumont (last seen in "A Night at the Opera"), Lillian Roth, Hal Thompson, Louis Sorin, Robert Greig (last seen in "Horse Feathers")
RATING: 3 out of 10 pith helmets
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