BEFORE: I finished watching "The Jinx" last night, no spoilers here, but read up on Robert Durst if you get the chance - or watch "All Good Things" (Movie #1,399) for a fictionalized version of his tale. It's interesting that Durst saw that film, recognized the similarities to his own life, and then contacted the director to do interviews and tell his story, and that ultimately led to his arrest. Lots of twists and turns in that one.
I'm going to keep the April Foolery going by finally delving into the films of the Marx Brothers. I told myself that after watching finishing the filmographies of Woody Allen, Alfred Hitchcock and Charlie Chaplin, this is (hopefully) the last major career-based chain of films to conquer. I'd love to get back to some more modern films, and plans are in the works to do so - I'm now taking a look at what's left on the list to determine the best order.
But why start here, near the chronological end of their major releases? Well, for one, Fritz Feld carries over from "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" - I've written about Fritz before, he had a long Hollywood career, appearing in everything from "Bringing Up Baby" and the 1943 "Phantom of the Opera" to Mel Brooks films like "Silent Movie" and "History of the World Part I" in the 1970's, with a lot of TV appearances in-between. He was the go-to guy if you needed an actor to play a waiter or a maitre d', and probably had a large collection of impressive jackets from doing so. Yesterday he played a hat designer, and in today's film he plays an orchestra conductor named Jardinet.
Plus, it is the backwards year, remember. I flipped a large portion of my chains around at the start of the year, and I then worked my way backwards through most of Cary Grant's career, and maybe as I try to wind things down it makes sense to work backwards from whatever the midpoint of the project was. I didn't even do actor linking when I started this project, and I probably won't be able to maintain it at the end either - there is some beauty in symmetry, after all.
Also, my life's pretty much a circus these days, since we've got a film opening up tomorrow in a NYC theater, and then in another 20 or so theaters around the country in the next month. The circus is your go-to metaphor for crazy times, just as Grand Central Station is for busy places, and the rodeo for places you've been to before, where it's not your first time at. (Plus, Mae West just played a circus act in "I'm No Angel".) I'm not sure the analogy is completely accurate, I mean, a lot happens at the circus but it's all planned out in advance, right?
THE PLOT: The Marx Brothers try to help the owner of a circus recover some stolen funds before he finds himself out of a job.
AFTER: I have a lot of unanswered questions about the Marx Brothers, so maybe this chain will help me find some answers. Like, what were they all about? Why did I avoid their films for so long? Why didn't Groucho just grow a real mustache, and what the heck is a "Zeppo", anyway? Well, I won't find out today, because when this film was made, Zeppo and Gummo were nowhere to be found, having left the act years before. The brothers were down to just the main three - Groucho, Harpo and Chico.
I have to start thinking of the Marx Brothers films as a product of their time, in order to understand them better. Let's see, the Depression was affecting Americans, so they probably didn't have much discretionary income, and with the cost of a movie ticket to a picture, they expected a few laughs, some musical numbers, and in this case, a mystery about who robbed the circus. Sure, it's the thinnest of plots, but it was a vehicle that allowed the brothers to do each do their bits. Chico got to enforce the rules, Harpo got to serenade the animals and play the harp, and Groucho got to make wisecracks and harass a woman of high society.
After someone's robbed the circus, Groucho's lawyer character, J. Cheever Loophole, tries to solve the crime - but interviewing the midget doesn't work, and when Antonio and Punchy (Chico and Harpo) search the train car of the strongman, things comically get out of control. Loophole tries to replace the $10,000 (I think) by traveling to Newport and tricking the society woman to hire the circus for her party, instead of the orchestra and conductor she planned. The final circus performance has a lot of trapeze work, people being shot out of cannons, and a loose gorilla chasing people up ropes and such. Amazingly, they remember to solve the theft, no easy feat with all the madcap stuff going on.
Notably, this is the one where Groucho sings about "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady", and the one where Harpo makes a noise (he sneezes). I can make nitpick points about how the music seems out of sync at times, or the obvious stuntwork in the circus scenes, but it hardly matters. This is what people found entertaining in the 1930's - and if I have to explain 80's music to co-workers, I have to try and understand this stuff.
Also starring Groucho, Harpo + Chico Marx, Kenny Baker, Florence Rice, Eve Arden (last seen in "Mildred Pierce"), Margaret Dumont (last seen in "What a Way to Go!"), Nat Pendleton (last seen in "I'm No Angel"), James Burke, Jerry Maren (still alive, at 95!).
RATING: 5 out of 10 cigars
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