Recent Reviews for Animal Crackers
-
MCT:July 9, 2008A HILLARIOUS Marx Brothers film! No surprise there. However, I think that Harpo is the funniest in this film!
-
MCT:June 8, 2008It is yet another example of the old Markx bother's humour. Not the best, but I like that funny dialouge!
-
MCT:May 13, 2008
"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know."
In the early days of full sound movies, The Marx Brothers made a name for themselves as one of the many gurus of the comedy genre at the time. Animal Crackers is the second outing of The Marx Brothers. I do not consider myself a massive fan; however I am slowly becoming even fonder of the trio (or foursome depending on what film you watch).
With this film, Animal Crackers is of course thin on plot. The little plot development is an excuse for the brothers to showcase their many skills in the field of comedy. The film moves from scene to scene of classic Marx Brothers humour. In this film you'll find such great scenes as: cost of the musician, cost of a taxi, madman with a rifle, marrying two women, African lecture, card shark and so many more.
Groucho Marx plays renowned explorer Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding (the 'T' stands for Edgar) who has just returned from the darkest parts of Africa. Upon arriving back home he is the house guest of a certain Mrs. Rittenhouse (Dumont). Then a very amusing plot emerges concerning the purchase of a valuable old oil painting. Two lovers staying at the estate want to get married but the man is only a poor artist with little reputation. They hatch a plan to switch the genuine oil painting with a copy the man had painted years earlier. Then there are some other people who have the same plan: to replace (what they think is) the original oil painting with a version they had made. At the same time there are to bumbling, clumsy thieves who want to steal the original painting. Thus paintings are stolen, with different versions surfacing all over the place.
This synopsis does give away a bunch of the movie; however this will allow you to forgive the confusing plot and instead watch it for the laughs that The Marx Brothers are so famous for.
There is no doubt that contemporary audiences will immediately overlook this film because of its age. Heck, even I didn't want to see it for that reason. I never would have thought that old 1930's humour could actually be funny! Thankfully in classic Marx Brothers style, the laughs begin soon into the movie and never cease.
Groucho, as usual, carries the film. He is the central protagonist and easily gets laughs from his impeccable line deliveries. This is a very focused actor. Chico is another stand-out in the film. He plays a mute thief who aims to steal the oil painting. Because of a certain hearing problem there are several scenes that are downright hilarious with this joke that always resurfaces. The scene in the dark while looking for the flash light always makes me laugh no matter how many times I've viewed it.
Animal Crackers is devilishly clever but unfortunately it has its flaws. For starters, it's painfully obvious that the whole thing was filmed on a low-quality set. It does the job; however I thought the atmosphere wasn't as genuine as it could have been. And of course the lack of anything really meaty in the plot is another downfall. This is always going to be expected when you consider the talent involved.
So what is the real appeal of Animal Crackers? Well, it may be several decades old but its humour is fresh and original. The brothers are a talented bunch of people whose work would be hard to replicate even with the aid of contemporary film technology. We have a determined cast, a solid script and a cluster of stellar laughs. -
MCT:February 20, 2008Almost as many gags as "Monkey Business" and "Duck Soup" There may never be another act quite like the zany and anarchistic Marx Brothers.
-
MCT:January 7, 2008
not bad for 1930. definitely classic Marx Brothers. Groucho's memorable Capt. Spaulding and the elephant in his pajamas, Harpo's silent card-playing antics...great comedy
-
MCT:December 2, 2007Nutty Fun!!
Flixster - Share Movies -
MCT:November 30, 2007
Another amazingly funny film from the Marx brothers. The plot is really funny. "Once I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How he got in my pyjamas, I don't know". I love that whole scene with Groucho talking about being in Africa. Harpo was seriously funny as well. A must see Marx film.
-
MCT:September 4, 2007
you will never stop laughing. like at the end a police man is shaking a guy's hand since he will steal no more and as he is silver wear is falling out of his sleeve.
-
MCT:August 30, 2007
I can't remember which one this is, though I think it was a good one; but I know I should rate one high for all the Marx brothers movies, and I don't think I've done that yet, so I'll do this one for now. I'm not sure if this was my favorite, but I think it had a few of the best good moments, and I'll have this be my high rated Marx brothers movie until I figure out which one IS my favorite.
-
MCT:August 30, 2007
If I were Eugene O'Neill, I could tell you what I really think of this masterpiece of comedy. You know, you're very fortunate the Theatre Guild isn't putting this on. And so is the Guild! Now forgive me while I have a strange interlude.
-
MCT:August 11, 2007
This is crazy! The one-liners keep coming at you faster than an elephant in pyjamas. The Marx Brothers are awesome. Their antics are still hilarious even today, especially today in fact, showing that good comedy is timeless. The absurdity, witty comebacks and exaggerated physical humour is incredible, if only someone were to put in half has much effort today, then we'd get a decent comedy film that's actually funny.
-
MCT:July 29, 2007
Their first great movie. Groucho is Captain Spaulding, wondering how an elephant got in his pajamas and Harpo steals everything, including the show.
LOVE the strange interludes. -
MCT:July 25, 2007
The routines are hysterical in this (the card game, the mirror scene, and the battle with the lemonade cart owner). There's a subplot with a couple in love that seems to get old, but they only have one song as opposed to some of the other Marx films with couples in love. A must-see to understand where comedy comes from.
-
MCT:May 20, 2007
This is one of the best comedies of all time. It has everything, and you can definitely see what made Groucho a star. He plays the straight man to Chico's confused comedic questioning, and uses his biting sarcasm and con man patter on everyone else. This has everything, and set the standard for comedy for years to come.
-
MCT:May 13, 2007
This is some silly slapstick comedy by the Marx Brothers who actually have about 3 more IQ points than the stooges!
-
MCT:May 7, 2007
Marx Brothers classic. One of the 5 Paramount films which were the best, plus it featured all 4 of teh Marxes including Zeppo
-
MCT:May 7, 2007
I saw this one way after I had seen the others, and this really shows that this was one of the first of theres... and it is awesome even then.
-
MCT:April 14, 2007Episodic narrative based on nine short stories and one poem by the late Raymond Carver, detailing the longings and thwarted lives of a disparate group of individua
-
MCT:April 13, 2007
I saw this a long time ago and don't remember it very well. Nearly everything the Marx Brothers touch turns to gold, anyway.
-
MCT:March 27, 2007verry funny. we took a picture of the native girl, but they weren't developed, we're going back in a couple of weeks.
-
MCT:March 17, 2007
Stagey, yes, but it's also archetypal Marx Brothers. Monkey Business and Duck Soup are the other two in my top three.
-
MCT:March 17, 2007
One of my favorite quotes comes from this movie, but I've never seen it. "This morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas, I don't know.
-
MCT:February 20, 2007think these are a bunch of idiots, who got rich for acting kidlike... im shocked people let them get away with it, and actually paid them to do bugger all, no thx id rather chew a brick then watch any of these *no offence to fans of them, but well yah *
-
MCT:February 8, 2007
The first "real" Marx Brothers romp. The whole film is a mockery of high society and money powered heiresses. The subject most tackled in Animal Crackers is that of love. The y relationships between the lovers is made a joke of and at the same time the romance between Captain Spaulding and Mrs. Rittenhouse is hilarious. The whole painting swapping thing is not a only a great routine comedy gold mine, but seems to add so much confusion that it almost becomes a mystery towards the approaching second half of the film. Longer then most of their films, Animal Crackers is over an hour and half of pure, unadulterated craziness.
-
MCT:January 31, 2007
uberly funny, but probably the dumbest plot possible. i could see it if the marx brothers wrote it, but somebody else claims it.. poor guys. its good but a little too stupid to laugh at times.
