Animal Crackers (1930)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The second Marx Brothers talkie film shares quite a few features with their first film: "Cocoanuts". Both were adaptations of recent Broadway shows starring the Marx Brothers. Both were filmed in Paramount's Astoria Studios, in Astoria, Queens, N.Y.. Subsequent films of the series would be filmed in Hollywood. Margaret Dumont plays a wealthy socialite in both films, and something very valuable is stolen either from her or in her house, and the remainder of the film is mostly about finding and recovering this item. In both, Harpo comes up with the missing valuable. In both, there is a young romantic couple, who sing at least one song, and are awaiting an opportunity for the man to prove himself in his profession before they can get married. To me, "Cocoanuts" is the more interesting film of these two and has a more coherent plot. Next to "Room Service", this is my least favorite of the brothers films. The disappearance and reappearance of the various copies of the painting gets very confused and highly contrived after a while. Also, a lot of the humor is rather lame.The new musical numbers were composed by the team of Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar, who composed the new music for several others of the brother's films. They were honored in the 1950 film "Three Little Words", starring Fred Astaire and Red Skelton.

Can you imagine seeing the brilliant Marx brothers on the vaudeville stage? Must have been the best thing ever. Sadly this movie is the closest we can be to it. What a magical essence in every scene. The card scene has to rate as one of the funniest piece of celluloid EVER! Every modern cinema so-called comedian ( Sandler,,Wilson,,Stiller,,,the list goes on) should be strapped to a chair in front of these guys and be educated in how to make funny. The haunting silence of Harpo just shows how clever he was to make us laugh without speaking ,just using whistles , props and honkers. Chico plays the straight but funny guy perfectly and Groucho steals every scene. While it does look like a filmed stage play it adds to the vaudeville silliness. If ever you need cheering up put this on..I literally laughed till i nearly cried..God bless 'em all!!

I saw the re-opening in New York, in 1974, and was quite disappointed > after the first half hour, which contains some of the funniest stuff ever filmed for a feature > and a brilliant production number with a young Julius Marx kicking up his heels on HOORAY FOR CAPTAIN SPALDING > we sit slack jawed by long stretches which perhaps garnered a few guffaws at the Broadway opening > in a theatre, where formality is the key and adherence to the book is essential, Groucho's ad-libs must have been a hoot, offhand or not! But for an early "talkie", "left handed moths" and "hungerdungers" just won't fly.If a new fan wants to watch the best of Paramount Marx (they shifted to MGM and made "sensible" movies), they should look for DUCK SOUP, THE COCOANUTS, and HORSE FEATHERS. Along with MONKEY BUSINESS, CRACKERS simply does not stay fresh.

"One night, I saw 'Animal Crackers' in my pajamas ... how they got in my pajamas I don't know." Logically, the film would need one second viewing before the reviewing, there are so many elements to view and to review, but it doesn't matter, I just want to say that I liked what I viewed and now I review what I liked.This "Animal (Wise)Crackers" film delivered everything I expected from the Marx Brothers, no more, no less, and it was nice to see them all looking young, comfortably irreverent in their early forties, I'm talking physical, not mental age, of course. And what a delight to see the movie illuminated by the towering and exquisite presence of the divine Margaret Dumont, the straightest and funniest 'straight man' of comedy, even more than the not-so-funny-even-as-a-straight-man Zeppo Marx. With all due respect for the little bro, I've always thought he was less funny (even unintentionally) than the other unsung Marx, named Karl. And Margaret Dumont is one of the reasons, I love watching a Marx Brothers' comedy … yeah talk about a lousy pleonasm … "You mind if I'm serious a little bit, now?" There's something very touching in Margaret Dumont's eyes, here playing Mrs. Rittenhouse, a kind of inner kindness that I noticed in a few other actresses, among them, the late Patricia Neal. Mrs. Dumont is obviously a good-hearted woman, whose constant teasing by Groucho Marx, here as the unbearable Professor Spaulding makes the game look a little unfair. But she obviously doesn't get his wisecracking jokes (she never did for that matter) and I think this is what saves Groucho from being labeled as a verbal bully: his delivery is so fast, and his intentions so unclear, Mrs. Dumont never has time to get if he's making jokes or moves at her, who knows? Maybe he does have a fondness for her, after all. Anyway, the Groucho-Dumont interactions are the salt that gives the Marx Brothers' film their unique flavor, the pepper being served from the Zeppo-Chico duo … and boy, did I sneeze in this film! The slapstick humor involving the scenes with Chico and Harpo are unique in the history of cinema, the part where he's looking for a 'flash' is an endless succession of gags, and whenever I thought, they would run out of ideas, it's still goes on and on… and Harpo's suit is like a Pandora' box from which the mayhem that inhabits the film makes its unpredictable entrance. Not to mention the sumptuous "running gag" with the blonde girl that has probably been an inspiration for Benny Hill. Chico and Harpo are like the missing link between Groucho and Chaplin, between the comedic silent era and the precocious dawn of the impertinent wisecracking comedy that has inspired Bugs Bunny or Robin Williams. The movie is an explosive cocktail of slapstick, parody, verbal comedy, from beginning to end and it's so quotable; I could fill this whole review just by listing the lines I loved the most.But sometimes, the film loses its flavor … and it's my small, tiny, microscopic criticism, perhaps ... why do they feel the need to inject an artificial romance every time, except maybe for "A Night at the Opera", most of them were pretty dull, featuring very uncharismatic actors. Well it's not their fault, every actor would pale in comparison with the Marx brothers, except Margaret Dumont who had the honor to be Groucho's official foil and was –as I said- even more memorable than Zeppo Marx himself. But well, even acting-wise, the other actors are all very theatrical and so melodramatic that we can't wait for a Marx brother to come ... the Marxes were great actors, and Groucho is so fresh and modern, he's like a living anachronism. His entrance as the Professor Spaulding followed by the unforgettable "Hello, I Must be Going" song, the 'Hungadunga' dictation scene, the recitation of the African odyssey, featuring one of the most unforgettable comedic quotes, I don't know how many times they shot this scenes without having one of the audience bursting out laughing. For me, any Marx Brothers' film scene should feature one of them, and during the 'romantic' moments, I simply wanted to shout "Let me know, when you come near a gag!" And that's why, Duck Soup is probably considered the greatest, and happens to be my favorite Marx Brothers' film, a screwball comedy, from A like Amusing to Z like Zany, with no pause, no romantic subplot, not even these serious musical scenes ... I'm not talking about these catchy Broadway-type songs that reminded us that the Brothers' were also great musical writers, don't get me wrong, Chico at the piano, and Harpo at you-know-what, are always great moments and necessary pauses to recover your breath, and in the case of "Animal Crackers", the music was punctuated with Spaulding's hilarious comments anyway, but that's what the latest films lacked, when the musical scenes were just fillers as artificial as the romantic subplots … So, my little regret is that the best Marx Brothers' film I saw, was the first. I always compare them to "Duck Soup" and I'm afraid I will never have the same ecstatic reaction the film inspired me. Enthusiastic, yes, ecstatic, no ... "Animal Crackers" is now, my second favorite Marx Brothers film though and highly recommended for the fans of slapstick and irreverent comedy