Customer Reviews

Horse Feathers

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I love this movie. There is minimal singing and dancing here, the only unbearable points being whenever Zeppo starts singing to Thelma Todd in his gimpy voice. Groucho for some reason is made a president of a university in this film, and he is as would be expected incredibly inadequate, and causes plenty of mayhem. Chico is a dopey Italian as usual, Harpo plays a dog catcher. Hoping to gain respect for his school, Groucho tries to hire football players, and accidentally hires Chico and Harpo, who have very funny moments in this film, particularly in the class room scene. Although people must have thought Harpo's love interest of horses in the first few films to be silly, imagine how it might be percepted these days, especially after movies like "The Animal".
A great movie, funny stuff, plenty of wit and humor. The movie seems to end pretty badly though, and I guess the writers couldn't find a good way to end it. I love the music though, all the brothers get to sing or play, and Groucho shows that he had a good knack for the guitar. Oh yeah, and Thelma Todd is nice to look at. Where do you think the drink "Hot Toddie" got it's name?
A last note: in 1932, when this movie was made, a book called Brave New World" by Huxley came out, and concerned a mutated futuristic species of sorts. Darwin wrote the theory of evolution, as a lot of people know. The schools Huxley and Darwin compete in the film. See the underlying theme of conflicting theories? Well....it's there.

This fast-moving comedy has Groucho Marx taking over a college. Zeppo advocates football on campus, so Harpo and Chico are recruited to kidnap the opposition's star players. In between, there are some inspired comedy sequences (including the Marxes' "schoolroom" vaudeville act) and some excellent musical performances. The harp solo is this writer's candidate for Harpo's all-time best, and Chico shoots the piano keys in a delightful rendition of "Collegiate." Lots of fun for comedy fans. The DVD, unfortunately, is no improvement on the VHS version: every copy of "Horse Feathers" has a damaged section containing numerous splices and choppy dialogue. The damage is very brief (maybe a minute or two) and shouldn't detract from your enjoyment. The surviving master print may not be perfect, but the film itself gets a perfect score.

Although I can't give this film anything else than a perfect five, I am disappointed with this release. I shelled out a small fortune to buy this on ebay, and it looks like it was transferred over from a VHS tape! Artisan and Universal need to get their act together. The Marx Brothers made five films with them: The Cocoanuts, Monkey Business, Animal Crackers, Horse Feathers, and Duck Soup. I think that The Cocoanuts and Monkey Business could easily fit onto one disc, and Animal Crackers, Horse Feathers, and Duck Soup could fit easily, too, with spare room for extra features. Although I paid an arm and a leg for this disc, I am glad I have it. I runs like a vhs, though. Stick it in-it plays a copyright protection warning after a few seconds of blackness, it does the Universal couple second intro to the movie, then it plays the movie. There are scene selections, but you just press skip on your remote, since there is no concrete main menu. Universal doesn't have any plans to re-release this, but I really hope they do. The film is excellent; this release is not. Thank you for taking the time to read my review and feel free to leave helpful/not helpful feedback.

I had a professor in college who seemed to base his entire teaching style off of Groucho Marx's character in HORSE FEATHERS. And, yes, it was one of the more amusing set of classes that I took in my time at university. So, any time I want to relive a more surreal version of my undergraduate learning years, I simply have to throw this DVD into my player and get set for 68 minutes worth of hilarity.

While DUCK SOUP may the best known of the Marx Brothers' films, I think that HORSE FEATHERS may actually be the better introduction to show to someone unfamiliar with their material. It's a short, snappy, quick film, the musical numbers are quite funny and the gags are classic Marx Brothers material. Groucho Marx the professor is here, as are Chico and Harpo as a pair of delinquent, accidental, and almost middle-aged students. Zeppo makes a brief appearance as Groucho's son and barely appears in the second half of the film. It has all the elements of the standard Marx Brothers film, but it doesn't feel tired or clichéd.

Naturally, the Marx Brothers themselves are as hilarious as ever. The only real secondary character of note is played by Thelma Todd, who, unfortunately, has a much weaker and smaller role than she did in MONKEY BUSINESS. Still, it's fun to see the ubiquitous scenes of different Marx brothers all trying to get the blonde (and in the end, of course, they all do). The rest of the characters are the collection of gangsters, idiots and straight-men that we come to expect (and then forget about) from the various Marx Brothers pictures. They have their part to play in the plot, which is really only an excuse for there to be an actual story for the brothers to subvert. The other people exist only so that they can have various Marxs running hilarious rings around them.

The DVD itself looks about as good as you'd expect a film of that age to look like. There are some strange jumps in the film, as though someone along the line had cut out a remark or two. I understand that this is due to problems with the surviving print of the movie rather than any fault of the DVD itself, so it doesn't really seem fair to complain about it. The extras are few and far between; in fact, there aren't any extras at all. It's just a bare-bones release with nothing other than the film included. Of course, when you've got a film that's as much fun as HORSE FEATHERS is, who needs extras?

This is pure, undiluted, un-Thalberg'd Marx Brothers - every bit as insane and convulsively funny as Duck Soup! Higher Education is the target here with the major salvo being the prostitution of education to the financial gain of a winning sports team (the fact that Harpo and Chico, let alone two gangster thugs, can play on a college football team no-questions-asked shows a brilliant mind for social satire). The film is packed with classic Marx routines: Groucho's singing and dancing "I'm Against It," The Speak-easy & "Swordfish," Harpo's dog-catching & catch-all drawer pockets (which seem bottomless); Thelma Todd as the College Widow and the parade of suitors in and out of her room (with more well timed slamming doors than a Feydeau farce) and the endless funny lines. Chico has never been in finer form with his fractured "Italian" and entertaining piano playing. As to Harpo's recital of "Everyone Says I Love you", a personal story: When I first saw this film in the 70s at Indiana University, the hall was packed with over 800 people. When Harpo finished playing "Everyone Says I Love You," 800 arose and gave a standing ovation to a musical number over forty years old and a clown who had been dead for a decade. The film was freeze-framed until the applause died down and that took nearly fifteen minutes! It was a moment of Everyone saying we love you, too. This film is a keeper!

The Marx Brothers are the best comedy team ever. "Horse Feathers" is on of their very finest. Listening to Groucho singing "I'm Against It" is extremely funny. It's a shame this movie isn't longer. This kind of film will cheer you up if you had a bad day. If you ever do, watch this film. It's bound to make you chortle. However, in one part of the movie, when the brothers go over to Thelma Todd's house, the film in various points jumps ahead. For instance when Groucho and Zeppo are going to leave Todd's house (Groucho stays), Groucho kicks Zeppo, than the next frame Groucho runs to the window. Try to keep up with it if you can at that point. Than there are all of these film scratches and huge bars on the screen on every frame at one point. Universal did a pretty sloppy job at trying to remaster this movie. Other than that, this film will make you split your sides laughing.

To be perfectly honest, there isn't a great deal of difference in quality between the various films the Marx Brothers made at Paramount: all of them are comic masterpieces. My only regret with this one (as with MONKEY BUSINESS) is the lamentable absence of Margaret Dumont, whose love scenes with Groucho are among my favorite comic moments in all of cinema. Thelma Todd does her best in this one as the "College widow," but she just isn't a replacement for Ms. Dumont.

Does plot matter in a Marx Brothers film? Not much. In this case, Groucho is the new college president of Huxley College, and is simultaneously concerned to wean his son (played by Zeppo) from the college widow and build up the Huxley College football team. To accomplish the latter, he goes to a speakeasy to recruit a couple of first rate football players, and mistakenly signs up Chico and Harpo instead. The plot gives pretty of room for one outrageous skit after another.

Thelma Todd, of course, died three years after this film in what is, to this day, one of the most controversial deaths in Hollywood history. She was found dead in her garage of carbon monoxide poisoning, but given that she was involved with some pretty unsavory characters at the time, there has always been widespread speculation that she was murdered. She was only thirty when she died. At the time of her death, she was one of the busiest actresses in Hollywood. In addition to HORSE FEATHERS, she also appeared in the Marx Brothers' MONKEY BUSINESS.

Yes, back in the 30s the Marx brothers made the cover of Time magazine. And the movie still that was placed there was from Horse Feathers. And with good reason -- this is the best Marx film of the thirteen.

It's an absolute shame that a full version of this movie does not exist. Apparently sometime in the 60s, the movie was released to TV, and in the interest of time considerations some of the major negative was altered and eventually lost. We are told that there is from three to ten minutes of the film that cannot be found. What a pity! This is a movie that you never want to end. Any additional minutes would be manna from Marx heaven.

You will also notice some film "jumping" in the "make out scene" with Thelma Todd. These are poor splices that have been made over time, but do not detract from the final masterpiece that is Horse Feathers.

What else can I say but . . . "Swordfish"!!!

The Marx Brothers take over Huxley College - the ultimate cure for what is wrong with education. Groucho is the new president, and Chico and Harpo are "bought" out of a speakeasy to play on the school's football team. There is also something to do with a college widow and a kidnapping, but the details don't matter. This picture is among their very best, just about even with DUCK SOUP. Even the songs, especially "Everybody Says I Love You" which all 4 brothers interpret, are good. The scene in the classroom with Groucho as the teacher explaining about "phagosytes" as he dodges peas shot from peashooters is a gem. Definitely worth a watch.

"Horse Feathers" released in 1932, is the Marx Bros. fourth film, and the second consecutive one without the illustrious Margaret Dumont. Thelma Todd reprises her role as a suductive vamp, as she had played in "Monkey Business". And all four Marx Bros. have a field day poking fun of higher education.

In this film, Groucho plays Quincy Adams Wagstaff, newly elected president of Huxley College. The first indication we have that Groucho does not take the role seriously is when he lights a cigar, strictly against the rules of the college. He then breaks out in song, singing, "Whatever it is, I'm Against it".

Groucho's interests lie with football, rather than education itself. Hearing that two really good football players are regulars at a speakeasy, Groucho visits the establishment, hoping to sign them on before the rival college, Darwin, beats him to the punch.

Chico and Harpo happen to be there as well. Chico plays Baravelli, an ice man who sells liqour on the side. Harpo plays Pinky, a dog catcher. Groucho asks them if they are regulars in the bar, and if they play football. They go along with Groucho, assenting to each question. That's all Groucho needs to hear. He immediately enrolls them in Huxley College so they can play on the team.

Groucho also has another purpose. Zeppo, playing Groucho's son in this film, Frank, has been neglecting his studies by pursuing interest in the college widow, Connie Bailey, played by Thelma Todd. She is working for the rival college, Darwin, and is using Zeppo to get the football signals. Groucho is determined to break the two apart, not because she is using him, of course, but to obtain her affection for himself.

There are many hilarious highlights to "Horse Feather". One highlight is when Chico and Harpo attend a biology class, escorted by Groucho. "Have they started sawing the woman in half yet?" Groucho asks the teacher. Chico and Harpo leaves some fruit on the teachers desk before they take their seats, as though they were little children. Groucho soon takes over the class from the teacher, pointing to a chart with the human body. Harpo sneaks up and places a picture of a horse over the chart, and then a pin up calendar. After Groucho tells him he can't burn the candle at both ends, Harpro immediately produces, from his bottomless pocket, a candle that happens to be burnung at both ends. The scene ends with Chico and Harpo shooting peas at Groucho. Not wanting to be outdone, Groucho joins in, having his own pea shooter tucked away.

Another highlight is when Groucho goes to Connie Bailey's room, attempting to persuade her to stop seeing his son. Before he knows it, he is sitting on her lap saying, "I could sit here all day if you didn't get up." Zeppo enters, and Groucho takes the offense, angry to see his son in a disgraceful postion. Zeppo leaves, and Harpo re-enters with a block of ice. The ice is used merely as a pass, or excuse, to gain enterance, and is quickly tossed out the window. When he leaves, Chico appears with a block of ice. They go back and forth, getting more ice so they may enter the room to "show their affection" to Connie, leaving Groucho with little time to make his own advances. Groucho's reply to this is, "This must be the main highway".

The climax of the film is the football game, where the Marx Bros. perform more of their hilarous antics. Groucho, after realizing the two real football players he was intending to sign are playing for Darwin, plans for Chico and Harpo to kidnap them. But their scheme backfires, and it becomes Chico and Harpo who are the victims of kidnapping. The two must find a way to escape before the start of the football game. When they do, Harpo makes his grand enterance on the field riding a chariot, and throwing banana peels in front of players, who stumble over them. Even Groucho joins the team on the field.

"Horse Feathers" follows a procession of what is considered the best and funniest of the Marx Bros. films. The material is still fresh and raw, unlike in later films. The Marx Bros. are allowed freedom to do as they please, without being constrained to remembering the correctness of their lines. Adlibs are frequent, which only seem to frustrate the director, producer and writers of the film. The audience, however, is delighted, and could care less. We are much happier to see the boys working off each other, rather than what the writers have written. And the finished product succeeds as a result.