Customer Reviews

The Marx Brothers Collection (Documentary)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

As mentioned elsewhere, this collection does not include any of the complete films, but rather tv & misc. other clips. Since I will probably return the item, I haven't yet broken the seal and cannot comment on the quality. However, I should note that the total run-time is approx. 5 hours -- much less than one would assume for a 5-disc set.

If you are looking for more content information, don't bother with Koch Vision Entertainment's site. They are clearly not enthuastic about revealing more details about this release.

The discs are:
#1 "Inside the Marx Brothers" (this is sold separately, as well)
#2 "You Bet Your Life" TV Pilot
#3 "Papa Romani" and "Person-to-Person"
#4 "The Marx Brothers Radio Days" (is this just an audio CD?)
#5 "Marx Brothers Mixed Nuts"

For the price, perhaps it's not all that bad, but there still isn't a good set of their films out there yet.

The amazon.co.uk set DOES contain complete films (four of them, I believe), but the item seems to be no longer in active inventory. Be aware that it supposedly is lacking any meaningful DVD extras.

First off, these discs are put together terribly. If you have trouble getting the discs to play, wait until the very end of the Passport Video animation. As it ends, start hitting your enter key repeatedly. This will bypass the bad audio loop encoded on the disc, and allow the presentation to start.

Disc one is a fairly decent documentary, actually. Disc two is the entire kinetescope of the You Bet Your Life pilot episode. Disc three has a really bad teleplay starring Chico, and then shows Harpo and Groucho on separate episodes of an interview show with Edward R. Murrow. Groucho's, in particular, was fun to watch. He does a song on a guitar with his seven year old daughter.

Disc 4 is an audio CD. Disc 5 has a few good odds and ends (like Groucho on the Jack Benny Show), but the stuff is edited and fragmentary. It's possibly worth it to see the rare sketch from "I'll Say She Is". All in all, this set is kinda weak, but has all the earmarks of something that will go out of print soon. Judging by how hard it is to find Marx stuff on DVD, it might not be a bad idea to get this while it's still available.

For Mega Die-Hard Mark Brothers fans, ONLY!

I can't tell you how disappointed I feel after waiting a month and finally receiving the Marx Brothers Collection. Like everyone, I tried my best to research the complete box set prior to purchase. But when it arrived I knew I'd been had. NONE of the great Marx Brothers Films are in this weak collection. It's more like outtakes and radio bits, plus a silly pilot for you bet your life. I hoped that at least disc one would have something worth seeing but it wouldn't even play on either of our DVD players. This is a great marketing hoax. Buyer beware!!If you want to buy the collection of movies...look elsewhere. Amazon should put out a warning with this sale as I believe they've been hoodwinked as well.

This set is a very mixed bag - it's really only for hardcore Marx Brothers fans, who have to have everything (given the shortage of Marx material on DVD). It's got some interesting stuff, like a disc full of trailers, and the pilot for You Bet your Life (in surprisingly good quality), which are the 2 items that I give it 2 stars for, but the bad points of this set are:
1) they could've fit all of this onto maybe 2 or 3 discs - each disc only runs around 50 min.
2) A/V quality on some of the material is poor
3) Menus may not work on some machines, on some discs (someone else complained about this). Hitting "Play" didn't work, but fortunately, my DVD player allows me to direct access titles/chapters on the disc, so i figured out how to make the disc play by bumping directly to the title/chapter on the disc (using trial and error). An enormous hassle, though.
4) if you buy this box, don't buy the separate "Inside" disc, as it's in there along with some footage making up some of the other discs - they clearly were stretching material
5) one whole disc is just audio - for this, i needed a DVD?

The easy solution to this would be for Universal, Time Warner/WB, and all the other copyright holders to get on the ball and get the real movies out. I'd even settle for the latter/lesser ones, at this point. In the meantime, pop for "The Unknown Marx Brothers" - it's much better than this.

Just got the set (for a Christmas gift), and was upset to see that it's NOT a collection of Marx Brothers films, as I had thought.

The description on this item is vague, and SHOULD have been more specific as to content. It's already being sent back, and I'm none too thrilled to be stuck with the shipping costs...

I can't believe the silly negative reviews here. Of course there are no movies on this collection. This is not a rip off, it is a rare treasure of non-movie material from TV, radio (they put a picture on the screen while you hear the radio material. Of course there's no video to this, remember radio?) and film items such as trailers and newsreels of the day. What can one expect from the 20's through the 50's?

This is supplementary material that likely has never been seen by the public since it was originally aired. Of course it will be black and white and not what one is used to from modern films. That's doin' Marx Brothers fans a favor. This is a wonderful collection of, as it says on the box, "...clips, interviews, TV shows, and rare footage that span the careers of all five Marx Brothers." It's not a consistent laugh riot because it's not their movies, it's bits and pieces where the Marx Brothers appeared to the public outside of their films.

DVD 1 is "Inside The Marx Brothers" a documentary on them.
DVD 2 is "You Bet Your Life the TV Pilot which is not very good viewing quality. The real rarities are the next three:
DVD 3 is "Papa Romani" a TV episode or pilot staring Chico, essentially it's an early sitcom and Edward R. Murrow doing his famous TV studio to the star's home interviews with Groucho and then Harpo.
DVD 4 is "The Marx Brother: Radio Days" with numerous radio segments some or all of them did. Try and find that material anywhere else.
Finally, DVD 5 is "Marx Brothers Mixed Nuts" which is film trailers and newsreels (that's what they had in those days) and other studio film related segments with some or all of the brothers.

You likely have never seen any of this material anywhere else unless you were watching the TV or saw the movies with newsreels or heard the radio when originally broadcast those many decades ago. This has been put together in a professional manner, as well as can be done given the limitations of 70 to 40 year old film material. Passport Video (whoever that company is) deserves a lot of credit for releaseing this collection. Sure, it could have been put on 2 DVD's. But the price (I paid about twenty bucks used) is very reasonable for 5 hours of material. Who could ask for a better price? I'm baffled by the negative reviews here. As much as I love their movies, particularly the first four or so, I've been hoping to see something else and this fills the bill. If you need a warning it's to think of these as DVD extras that we've grown used to in the 2000's. And when you love the movie often it's a treat to see non-movie material and this is it. I gave it a 4 rather than a 5 star because of the clear logo in the corner of the company. Heck, that's pretty standard today on TV. Can't have everything. I hope you understand what it is and isn't now. Thanks to all the film companies and probably the estates of the brothers for giving us this collection. chrisbct@hotmail.com

This set is for fans who can't get enough Marx Brothers into their lives. The problem is, if you are such an avid fan you probably have most of this stuff somewhere in your collection anyway. The documentary disc is a very low budget version of the much better UNKNOWN MARX BRTOHERS. This one is comprised mostly of still pictures and clips from public domain movie trailers and interviews with people who knew people who knew the Brothers. Another disc is just Marx radio shows copied off of scratchy records with yet more still pictures. All of these shows are avaiable almost anywhere as remastered CDs. The Person to Person episodes with Groucho then another with Harpo are very poor quality kinescopes but they're pretty interesting just to see their homes and families. There's also a TV sit-com Pilot with Chico playing... Chico. It's typical early, flat 1950's TV fare. It's interesting to hardcore fans for a few minutes but that's about it. So, if you're a fan that has to have all that is Marx Brothers then you probably have all this stuff already because it's been floating around for a long time. If you're a fan that now has to have all that is Marx Brothers on DVD and you've got an extra thirty to throw away, then go for it.

The trailers, old clips and radio show are all interesting and good for the collection of the diehard fan. I bought mine for $20 so you may want to search around if you're interested. For those who really want the movies, skipping this set will not be any big loss.

I too am a monster fan of the Marx Brothers, had been looking for a Brothers collection, and was taken in by this set. Uggh. As stated by others, it's lousy. Do not waste your time or dough!

This collection was originally advertised as being four Paramount movies plus a documentary!! So I ordered and just receuved it and it has NO MOVIES!

This is a complete deception!