Horse Feathers (1932)

96% of critics liked it
(25 reviews)
86% of users liked it
(7,772 ratings)

If ever there was an archetypal Marx Brothers comedy, it was the team's 1932 offering Horse Feathers. Groucho Marx is cast as Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the newest president of Huxley College. As he delivers his introductory speech before the assembled student body ("As I look out among your… More If ever there was an archetypal Marx Brothers comedy, it was the team's 1932 offering Horse Feathers. Groucho Marx is cast as Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the newest president of Huxley College. As he delivers his introductory speech before the assembled student body ("As I look out among your smiling, eager faces, I can readily understand why this college is flat on its back"), he maps out his plans for the future by singing those deathless hits Whatever It Is, I'm Against It and I Always Get My Man. He then has a powwow with his son Frank (Zeppo Marx), who has been a Huxley student for 12 years. Frank tells his old man that Huxley has had a new president every year since 1888, the year the college won its last football game. The only way to save the establishment is to hire a couple of good football players, Mullen and McHardie (Jim Pierce and Nat Pendleton), who hang out at the local speakeasy. With his usual efficiency, Professor Wagstaff signs up the wrong men for the Huxley team: Baravelli (Chico Marx), the ice man/bootlegger, and Pinky (Harpo Marx) the dog catcher. Meanwhile, gambler Jennings (David Landau), who has all his money bet on Darwin College in the upcoming Thanksgiving Day football game, instructs his girlfriend Connie Bailey (Thelma Todd), the college widow, to get her hands on Huxley's secret football signals. This leads to a frenetic four-way courtship in Connie's apartment, as Wagstaff, Baravelli, Pinky and Frank duck in and out of doors and windows to romance the heroine. Later on, Baravelli and Pinky try to kidnap Mullen and McHardie to keep them out of the Big Game, only to end up kidnapped themselves. Miraculously, all four of our heroes show up at the Huxley-Darwin game in time, achieving victory through some of the most creative cheating in gridiron history. Written by such renowned wits as S. J. Perelman, Will B. Johnstone, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, Horse Feathers is a comedy smorgasbord, offering generous doses of all four Marx Brothers performing some of their best-ever material. Who could not love a film in which, just before Chico Marx launches into his obligatory piano solo, Groucho saunters up to the camera and growls "I've got to stay here, but that's no reason why you folks can't go into the lobby until this thing blows over"? In addition, this is the film that introduced the semi-satirical romantic ballad Everyone Says I Love You, which was used over six decades later as the title of a Woody Allen picture. Unfortunately, current prints of Horse Feathers are incomplete, with nearly five minutes of comedy material missing; the search goes on for a pristine, uncut negative. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 8 min.
Directed By: Norman McLeod, Norman Z. McLeod
Written By: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S. J. Perelman, William B. Johnstone
Genres: Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1932 Wide
On DVD: Oct 10, 2000
Studio: MCA Universal Home Video

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
The madcap Marxes, in one of their maddest screen frolics.
Mordaunt Hall, New York Times
Some of the fun is even more reprehensible than the doings of these clowns in previous films, but there is no denying that their antics and their patter are helped along by originality and ready wit.
Don Druker, Chicago Reader
This 1932 release was the first Marx film to take on the Depression, and the brothers manage to satirize everything from education to prostitution and bootlegging.
Randy White, Common Sense Media
The Marx Brothers at their wacky best.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
The Marx Brothers bring their special brand of anarchy to the world of college football in this wonderfully madcap comedy.
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com
Funny Marx Bros classic, featuring four brothers on a tear at college.
Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star
Under the loose but capable direction of Norman Z. McLeod, the Marxes leap from one lunatic set piece to the next. Wagstaff talks over, below and around everyone he meets.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...[there's an] overall feeling of pointlessness at work here.
, Time Out
The Brothers have never been so chaotic or so aggressively funny.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Witty, funny and great.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
Not a personal Marx brothers favorite but a decent film nonetheless.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
An anarchic parody of college life.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
The grandfather in spirit and fact of both Tex Avery and Billy Wilder.
Rumsey Taylor, Not Coming to a Theater Near You
The final game in this film is a hallmark in the Brothers' oeuvre.
Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
Swordfish! "Everyone Says I Love You!" One of the funniest of the early Marx films; a crazy quilt of puns and gags.

Read all 15 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

Incredibly funny! Although there are scenes that are a bit long or too silly, the ending in particular, the movie overall is fun and very very funny.
David L

This movie for me is the funniest of the Marx Brothers comedies. From the opening moments, when Groucho assumes control of Huxley College, and sings his new policy to the assembled professors, " Whatever it is, I'm against it", to the riotous football game at the end,… More
This movie for me is the funniest of the Marx Brothers comedies. From the opening moments, when Groucho assumes control of Huxley College, and sings his new policy to the assembled professors, " Whatever it is, I'm against it", to the riotous football game at the end, this movie is a total delight. Chico does one of his funniest Italian con man roles, with Harpo doing some of his most inspired silent clowning, communicating by showing his tattoos, acting out in mime routines what he thinks, and blowing his usual horn. One of the most hilarious scenes has Groucho dropping in on a class ,and taking over from the professor. His attempt to deliver a lecture on anatomy is interrupted by Chico and Harpo, assaulting him with bean-shooters. When Groucho discovers the old time circus acrobat poster hung up in front of the blackboard, and demands to know who the culprit is, Harpo tearfully confesses, after Groucho has asked Chico if it's his picture, and Chico responds," I don't think so, it doesn't look like me." There's a surprisingly bawdy undercurrent of humor involving college president Groucho and his son Zeppo, vying for the attentions of the " college widow", Thelma Todd. Her gangster husband walks in, and demands to know what the various men are doing there. Chico quickly improvises, and declares that he's the music teacher, there to give Thelma a lesson. The suspicious husband makes Groucho stay to listen to the alleged singing lesson, which includes some truly delightful interplay between Thelma and Chico. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the movie is the vintage Prohibition humor, involving speakeasies and bootlegging. Prohibition was still in effect when this movie was new, and there's a whole sequence set in the local speakeasy, with Chico taking phone orders for booze, and filling differently labeled bottles of whiskey with the exact same hooch. The classic password sequence, with Chico minding the peephole, and denying Groucho admittance, is Marx Brothers zaniness at its best. As for the climactic football game...well, you just have to see it.
xGary X

The brothers join a college football team to beat their bitter rivals in an important game but vampish Thelma Todd does all she can to spoil their chances. Following the formula of barely organized insanity and songs, Groucho supplies the wise cracks, Harpo and Chico the slapstick and… More
The brothers join a college football team to beat their bitter rivals in an important game but vampish Thelma Todd does all she can to spoil their chances. Following the formula of barely organized insanity and songs, Groucho supplies the wise cracks, Harpo and Chico the slapstick and Zeppo the dodgy acting and worse singing as per. Groucho's constant one liners are amusing but it misses his partnership with the absent Margaret DuMont and he even takes time out to side with the audience and mock the musical interludes. Harpo's slapstick is accordingly juvenile, but as is always the way with genuine comic geniuses, they manage to make even the weakest material funny. It barrels along with little thought to plot or logic and is really just a series of sketches, but it's an always pleasantly amusing snapshot into an era long gone; and the Marx Brothers are always guaranteed to make me howl at least a couple of times over the space of an hour!
Arash X

Some of the jokes fall flat but the whole thing is absolutely hilarious
Anthony L

I've always felt the Marx Brothers one big problem is that they didn't have the right stooges or fall guys, it often let their big jokes down even though they were hilarious. This is my favourite Harpo Marx film, he's definitely at his best - as were the songs!
moon r

in 1932 the world faced a grim future with imminent economic collapse, world war, global warming and the rise of socialism...and didn't make a lot of sense to a lot of people, feeing like the end of the world (hey...that sounds very familiar!). the answer to all that confusion:… More
in 1932 the world faced a grim future with imminent economic collapse, world war, global warming and the rise of socialism...and didn't make a lot of sense to a lot of people, feeing like the end of the world (hey...that sounds very familiar!). the answer to all that confusion: the marx brothers. what was the point of it all? nothing. watch the demise of logical rationale in possibly it's truest form... and forget about global warming. it's forgotten about you.
Dillon L

This is a pretty funny Marx Brothers movie. Maybe not as good as say, Duck Soup or A Night at the Opera, but still worthwhile. Harpo never gets old.
Matthew Y

I'll never understand why Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera get all the love when the funniest Marx Brothers film is unquestionably Horse Feathers. Every scene is full of side splitting lines from Groucho and the famous Swordfish sequence is one of their all-time greats. An… More
I'll never understand why Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera get all the love when the funniest Marx Brothers film is unquestionably Horse Feathers. Every scene is full of side splitting lines from Groucho and the famous Swordfish sequence is one of their all-time greats. An under-appreciated classic.
Christopher B

Hilarious. I remember Sunday Morning Funnies playing on TV (when we didn't go to church, which was rare) and I always loved the Marx Brothers, especially this one (though Abott and Costello were my faves).
Tom S

I know this one came first, but it's basically Duck Soup on a college campus. Groucho is crowned, Chico and Harpo are brought into help, Zeppo sings a little bit, there's a climactic battle made up of several short skirmishes, and they end it by beating up on the woman they… More
I know this one came first, but it's basically Duck Soup on a college campus. Groucho is crowned, Chico and Harpo are brought into help, Zeppo sings a little bit, there's a climactic battle made up of several short skirmishes, and they end it by beating up on the woman they were all after in the first place. But I guess plot is the reason we watch these movies is it?