Product Details

• Actors: Marx Brothers, Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PASSPORT VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: November 11, 2003
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000C2IX5
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,236 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

INSIDE THE MARX BROTHERS is a funny and fascinating look at the personal and professional lives of Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo Marx, featuring classic clips from such Marx Brothers favorites as "Animal Crackers," "Monkey Business," "Duck Soup," "A Night at the Opera," and "A Day at the Races."

Also included are rare newsreels, TV clips, home movies, and interviews with Groucho, Chico, Groucho’s son, Arthur, and "Room Service" co-star, Ann Miller. Rarer still are scenes from Harpo’s 1925 silent film, "Too Many Kisses" and, at long last, an actual sound clip of Harpo’s voice! Whether you’ve just discovered these delightful comics or you’re a lifelong fan, you’ll love INSIDE THE MARX BROTHERS.

As a special bonus, you’ll also get the Four Marx Brothers in the rare, complete, uncut sequence from the 1931 Paramount promotional film "The House That Shadows Built," and the complete "Person to Person" interview between Groucho and Edward R. Murrow from 1954!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bare-Bones Documentary, Nothing to Write Home About!, August 28, 2004

By 

K. Brown "El Rudo Lucky Pierre!" (Walnut, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside the Marx Brothers (DVD)

If you are an avid Marx Brothers collector, there might be some obscure film & home movie clips you might enjoy, but otherwise, pass on this piece of work. There have been several very good documentaries on the Marx Brothers, all much better than this one.

Each of the Marx Brothers was a fascinating personality, on screen and off, and we learn very little about the. Aside from the narration, there are very few interview sources, the prominent being one of Groucho's former personal assistants. Therefore, we learn a little about what made Groucho tick, and very little about Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo.

The actual history of theie professional success comes off like cliff notes, very hurried, like somebody just wanted to wrap up the project quickly as possible.

The extras and rare clips are enjoyable, especially the audio clip where Harpo speaks. I know there are folks who are mixed on this one; some are anxious to hear his voice, some like to keep the mystique in place. To each his own. Harpo has been one of my personal heroes since I was a child, and much as I find his onscreen character so endearing, I was always eager to hear what he sounded like. Just a trivial little thing, and I enjoyed hearing him rattle off a few lines. Hearing him speak did not dampen the mystique for me; when I think of Harpo, I still hear him saying HONK!

Other than the fun tidbits that go with this DVD, there is not much there. There are some quality Marx Brothers documentaries out there on the market, and I would pick one of those. One that is not readily available (to the best of my knowledge) is an early 1990s documentary on Groucho that aired on TV called "The One, the Only...Groucho!" That particular documentary is worth going WAY out of your way to find; while it focuses primarily on Groucho, it also covers the lives and exploits other brothers warmly and with depth.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Chase This Turkey!, December 20, 2003

By 

Scott Hart (Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside the Marx Brothers (DVD)

A really shoddy piece of work. It's just filled with poor qualtity trailers and some mildly interesting newsreel footage. (And even that's in bad picture quality.) There are other better documentaries out there - avoid this or you'll be sorry.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth Checking Out, July 2, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside the Marx Brothers (DVD)

This is a halfway decent complement to the other, better Marx documentaries (i.e. Nutshell). There's some interesting stuff here; infrequently seen newsreel clips and photos and home movies, an audio clip of Harpo speaking, insight from a few Marx insiders. It's not at all bad and is worth adding to the shelf of Marx shows.