BEFORE: It's funny how you go on vacation sometimes, and then after a few days, you can't wait to get home. That's sort of how I feel about the Marx Brothers, I'm glad I'm finally getting around to watching their films, but after 6 films, now I can't wait for this part of the chain to be over. I have a way to get back to more modern films in time to link to "The Avengers: Age of Ultron", but for now I have to be patient and finish off these old-timey comedies.
THE PLOT: Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley University, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin University.
AFTER: This is my first exposure to Zeppo Marx, it was his next-to-last film with the group, and he played Wagstaff's son, though obviously in real life he was Groucho's brother, and I'm guessing therefore he was sort of too old for the part. I still can't quite figure out Harpo, though - in some films he's the smartest one who just doesn't talk, and in films like this one he acts more like an idiot who's oblivious to what he's doing wrong.
A lot of the gags here sort of riff off visual puns, like Harpo "cutting" the deck of cards for real with a hatchet, or asking for a "seal" to stamp a document, only to be given a seal in animal form instead. Other times they just go with the mishearing or mispronunciation of words like "cirrhosis" or "corpuscle" while in anatomy class. But either way this film is a collection of quick gags that sort of almost adds up to a larger narrative.
You obviously can't win a football game by dropping banana peels on the field so other players will trip, or by tying a string to the ball so a pass snaps back, but it's fun to see people cheat so blatantly. It's also strange that way back in 1932 there was debate over the importance of academics vs. sports, and college staff afraid of getting caught recruiting experienced players as ringers. Over 80 years later, we're still having similar debates, since it came to light that college basketball players were taking B.S. courses on speaking Swahili, and we all assume that universities are bending over backwards to get the best players.
I had to look up the term "college widow", it apparently refers to a woman who hangs around a college or graduated previously herself, who takes on a new boyfriend each year, in hopes of gaining a husband. Different times, to be sure. All of the four brothers attempt to romance her at various times, each singing (or playing on the harp) the song "Everyone Says I Love You". It's amazing that the ending didn't get censored, because the woman appears to be marrying all four main characters - I'm pretty sure that was frowned upon back in the 1930's.
Also starring Thelma Todd, David Landau (last seen in "She Done Him Wrong"), James Pierce, Nat Pendleton (last seen in "At the Circus")
RATING: 4 out of 10 called plays
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