A Day at the Races (1937)

100% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
87% of users liked it
(8,784 ratings)

A Day at the Races was the Marx Brothers' follow-up to their incomparable A Night at the Opera. Groucho Marx is cast as Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a veterinarian who passes himself off as a human doctor when summoned by wealthy hypochondriac Emily Upjohn (Margaret Dumont) to take over the financially… More A Day at the Races was the Marx Brothers' follow-up to their incomparable A Night at the Opera. Groucho Marx is cast as Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a veterinarian who passes himself off as a human doctor when summoned by wealthy hypochondriac Emily Upjohn (Margaret Dumont) to take over the financially strapped Standish Sanitarium. Chico Marx plays the sanitarium's general factotum, who works without pay because he has a soft spot for its owner, lovely Judy Standish (Maureen O'Sullivan). Harpo Marx portrays a jockey at the local racetrack, constantly bullied by the evil Morgan (Douglass Dumbrille), who will take over the sanitarium if Judy can't pay its debts. After several side-splitting routines--Chico selling Groucho tips on the races, Chico and Harpo rescuing Groucho from the clutches of femme fatale Esther Muir, all three Marxes conducting a lunatic "examination" of Margaret Dumont--the fate of the sanitarium rests on a Big Race involving Hi-Hat, a horse belonging to the film's nominal hero, Allan Jones. Virtually everything that worked in "Opera" is trotted out again for "Races", including a hectic slapstick finale wherein the Marxes lay waste to a public event. What is missing here is inspiration; perhaps this is due to the fact that MGM producer Irving Thalberg, whose input was so essential to the success of "Opera", died during the filming of "Races". Even so, Day at the Races made more money than any other previous Marx Brothers film--the result being that MGM, in the spirit of "they loved it once", would continue recycling Races' best bits for the studio's next three Marx vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 51 min.
Directed By: Sam Wood
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Jun 1, 1937 Wide
On DVD: May 4, 2004
Studio: MGM Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Charles Cassady, Common Sense Media
Marx Bros.' big hit may miss with today's kids.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
...better than most comedies of their day or our own. (TCM Greatest Classic Films: Marx Brothers)
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
...may not inspire one to gales of laughter the way the earlier Marx Brothers films did, but there are still some good laughs here.
Mark Bourne, DVDJournal.com
Proof of the absence of God comes when Marx Brothers gags get the scissors ... yet we still must endure a show-stopping (in the worst sense of the word) water-ballet number that's a dose of Robitussin when the movie needs a double espresso.
Mark Bourne, DVDJournal.com
Warner Brothers' DVD edition is a beauty. The sterling print gives us a black-and-white image that's clean, clear, sharp, and well balanced. While the dynamic range of its DD 1.0 monaural audio is thin, the sound is as clear and clean as we could hope for
Dan Lybarger, Nitrate Online
Vintage Groucho, Harpo and Chico.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A winner at the box office.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
The Marxes' last truly great film.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
Groucho's power is his smoothness with language, his Kryptonite Chico's elaborate doublespeak.
Nell Minow, Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
Sublime.

Read all 10 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

I believe this is the longest of the Marx Brother's movies. It really didn't need to be so long, there were a couple of boring scenes. Other than that, the Brothers do all their usual jokes and run around being silly as usual, which is always fun, so I liked this movie… More
I believe this is the longest of the Marx Brother's movies. It really didn't need to be so long, there were a couple of boring scenes. Other than that, the Brothers do all their usual jokes and run around being silly as usual, which is always fun, so I liked this movie anyway.
Tim S

Much funnier than the last couple of films I've seen.
John H

The Marx brothers are at their highest, most outgoing and energetic Comedy yet. Showing us all again who they really are. Here to keep the role as, personally, the greatest Slapstick team to garner the MEDIA-tric world with timeless, genius liter humor both in its out-colored variety… More
The Marx brothers are at their highest, most outgoing and energetic Comedy yet. Showing us all again who they really are. Here to keep the role as, personally, the greatest Slapstick team to garner the MEDIA-tric world with timeless, genius liter humor both in its out-colored variety as the jokes and characterizations remain clean.
xGary X

Another Marx Bros. classic. As long as you can stomach the superfluous romantic and musical interludes, you just cannot go wrong with them. Hilarious.
Byron B

This second Marx Brothers picture for MGM has many of the same elements. Sam Wood directs again. Allan Jones and Margaret Dumont are still on hand. Ruman returns in a briefer supporting part. Wunderkind Thalberg dies part way through production at age 37 though. Maureen… More
This second Marx Brothers picture for MGM has many of the same elements. Sam Wood directs again. Allan Jones and Margaret Dumont are still on hand. Ruman returns in a briefer supporting part. Wunderkind Thalberg dies part way through production at age 37 though. Maureen O'Sullivan is the new romantic leading lady. Ceeley, Dumbrille, and Middlemass are the villains this time representing business managers of a sanitarium who want to turn the building into a casino. Groucho is Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a vet who has convinced Dumont's Mrs. Upjohn that he is an expert psychiatrist and medical doctor. He is brought in to try to save O'Sullivan's sanitarium, which her father ran before her. Chico works for O'Sullivan and Harpo is a jockey at the nearby horse track. Jones is romantically involved with O'Sullivan of course, but annoys her when he invests in a race horse expecting to win enough to pay her debts and his. Again some of their best comic "set pieces" are contained here: Tootsie-Fruitsie Ice Cream, Groucho calling Whitmore as the Florida medical board, Harpo's charades for Hackenbush is gonna be framed, Chico and Harpo interrupting Hackenbush's dinner with Flo, the medical examination of Mrs. Upjohn, and the chaos the boys cause at the race track. Harpo's non-verbal pantomime is even more expressive and hilarious in this picture. The music is still great entertainment though more on a popular track this time since the opera of the previous film. Jones has a solo in front of a wall of water, a Busby Berkeley type ballet number is revealed behind the wall of water, and a solo ballerina does an unbelievable number of rapid pirouettes. Chico does another piano piece and Harpo does too until he demolishes the instrument. It is a treat to see him use the strings and frame from the inside of the piano as his harp to avoid being hauled away by the authorities. Later there is a huge gospel/jazz/swing musical number. An entire black community living around a barn where the brothers are hiding out follow Harpo who is playing a whistle. The scene is a little odd and at times disturbing for its racial stereotyping, but the singing and dancing by everyone but the Marx Brothers is well done. At least there is some variety from the ballads popular to white culture in the mid-30's here.
Matthew Y

The funniest thing to me is that Groucho joked "What am I a horse doctor" a few films ago and now he in fact is a horse doctor. A Day at the Races is typical MGM Marx Brothers complete with side stories, songs and musical numbers. Whether this adds or subtracts from the… More
The funniest thing to me is that Groucho joked "What am I a horse doctor" a few films ago and now he in fact is a horse doctor. A Day at the Races is typical MGM Marx Brothers complete with side stories, songs and musical numbers. Whether this adds or subtracts from the film is something that is still argued about today. A Day at the Races is considered to be one of the better Marx Brothers films but I didn't enjoy it as much as many of their other films. Fans I'm sure will still dig it.
a b

"Emily, I've got a confession to make. I really am a horse doctor, but if you marry me, I'll never look at another horse."
Chad R

Have you got a woman in here? If I haven't, I've wasted 30 minutes of valuable time.

Read all 8 featured audience ratings

Cast

            Groucho Marx as Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush

            Marx Brothers as themselves (GrouchoChico Harpo)

            Chico Marx as Tony

            Harpo Marx as Stuffy

            Allan Jones as Gil Stewart

            Maureen O'Sullivan as Judy Standish

            Leonard Ceeley as Whitmore

            Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Emily Upjohn

            Douglas Dumbrille as Morgan

            Esther Muir as Flo Marlowe

            Sig Rumann as Dr. Leopold X. Steinberg

            Robert Middlemass as The Sheriff

            Vivien Fay as Solo Dancer

            Hooper Atchley as Race Judge

            Frankie Darro as Morgan's Jockey

            Frank Dawson
            
            Pat Flaherty as Detective

            John Hyams
            
            Ivie Anderson and the Crinoline Choir
            
            Si Jenks as Messenger

            Carole Landis as Extra

            Edward J. Le Saint as Doctor

            Mary MacLaren as Nurse

            Wilbur Mack as Judge

            Jack Norton as Drunk

            Charles Trowbridge as Dr. Wilmerding

            Max Lucke as Doctor

            Douglass Dumbrille
            
            Sig Ruman
            
See full cast

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