Customer Reviews

Marx Brothers in a Nutshell [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't mean to get personal here, but I can't figure out what's wrong with that last reviewer. Among Marx Brothers fans, it's hardly controversial that "Nutshell" is far and away the best documentary on the Marx boys. In fact, when this film first aired on PBS (I was 12), it made me a lifelong fan. I had this film on VHS for years and was SO happy when it finally came out on DVD last year. No Marx fan should be without it.

Regarding the last reviewer, I wonder if he got ahold of some weird re-edited bootleg. First of all, the "chapters" on the individual brothers only comprise the opening minutes of the show, and it's a brilliant way to familiarize you with their individual personalities, before launching into the chronology of their stage, film and TV career. The weirdest thing he complained about was the repetition of clips. I know this film backwards and forwards and I challenge anyone to find ONE CLIP that repeats itself. There aren't any! What was he watching?? Then he goes on to recommend "Inside the Marx Brothers"?? Ecchhh. Scratchy clips from trailers, re-hashed photos, interviews with meaningless subjects, and NO production value. "Nutshell" was produced when key witnesses were still alive: writers(Morrie Ryskind, Robert Pirosh, Irving Brecher), co-stars, family members. Even George Fenneman from "You Bet Your Life," Dick Cavett & Woody Allen.

This film was obviously authorized by the surviving Marx family, and the filmmakers had access to clips from all their best films, as well as rare clips I've never seen anywhere else. They also let the scenes play out, instead of just excerpting a few seconds for the short-attention-span crown. Most of the prints are beautiful... in pristine condition.

If you look at the credits, the writer and editor was Joe Adamson who wrote the best book on the Marx Brothers ("Groucho, Harpo, Chico & Sometimes Zeppo") and the producer is Robert Weide, the same guy who directs "Curb Your Enthusiasm." According to the IMBd, he's won 3 Emmys and was nominated for an Oscar for a Lenny Bruce documentary. The narrator is movie legend Gene Kelly.

Looking for the one documentary to own on the Marx Brothers? Is this the one? You bet your life! (P.S.: There's a reason this one is more expensive than the other Marx docs: It's WORTH it!)

This DVD is fantastic. Of the three Marx Brothers Bio DVD's around (the others being the very good "The Unknown Marx Brothers" & the decent "Inside the Marx Brothers"), "The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell" is definatly the best one. The only down side is that it does not contain any interviews with Marx Brothers themselves (all the interviews are done by Marx family & friends), and there are not DVD extras. But, the DVD itself is just terrific, all great interviews, long clips from their classic movies. It's over and hour and a half long and even though I've seen the movies countless times, I still can't stop laughing at the scenes. This was a PBS special from 1982 I believe their is some new footage added to this DVD. A must for any Marx Brothers fan, and although this may be a bit pricey here on Amazon, believe me it's worth it!

This excellent documentary on The Marx Brothers has been unavailable for many years and makes a welcome return. Dating from the early 80's it contains numerous film clips as well as many excellent interviews with surviving collaborators and family members, all of which are relevant and revealing. If you have read Joe Adamson's 'Groucho, Harpo, Chico & sometimes Zeppo' book and share my opinion that is the best book ever written on the Marx's film work, then you'll be pleased to know that Adamson was the key player in this project.

My only minor criticism is that the documentary largely dismisses the Marx Brothers later work. It's true that The Marx's last 'great' film was 'A Day at the Races' but even their weaker, later films contain some fine moments that sadly don't feature here.

If you count yourself as a serious or even semi-serious Marx fan and haven't already seen this documentary then please do so immediately. I promise you won't be disappointed...

The library had this video so we got it to watch and it was about the funniest thing I'd seen in a long time. I've watched it twice since and enjoyed it even more. Lots of stuff about their life interspersed with clips from their movies and stuff. There's not a whole lot to say about a documentary but I recommend you to get a hold of it if you can because it's really quite good, actually. ; )

And I thought some of my other reviews were brief.

The Marx Brothers In A Nutshell is a solid documentary about the greatest comedy team in history although it is not without one or two flaws. The film shows us the best of The Marx Brothers on the silver screen; and we get great interviews with family members but not with the brothers themselves. The quality of the footage is excellent and the sound is very good as well.

The documentary covers quite a bit of ground in just 98 minutes. We get still photos of the young brothers when they were doing the vaudeville circuit and Broadway plays. The bulk of the motion picture archival footage comes from their films which they made at Paramount Studios and MGM Studios. We get good insight from directors who worked with them and the children of the Marx Brothers about what made each brother tick and how they created characters that were, in essence, extensions of what they were actually like when the cameras weren't rolling. I found the personality insights to be fascinating. We see Groucho who wasn't always quite so pleasant; Chico who was warm, friendly and very much able to pick up any girl he wanted; and Harpo who was relatively quiet and a great father even though he had children late in life.

In addition, look for some great commentary by Woody Allen, Dick Cavett and others who actually worked with the comedy team all those years ago. There is also some very good coverage of the influence of their relatives upon the brothers when they were just breaking into show business.

The documentary also tells us much about their excellent rapport with Irving Thalberg at MGM Studios; and we see the ups and downs of their careers. There is some footage of the brothers after the comedy team split up and they each went their separate ways; but it wasn't quite enough footage to satisfy me personally.

The DVD has no extras; the 98 minute documentary is what you get. Therefore, if you like this you might want another Marx Brothers retrospective documentary to flesh out your understanding of these greatly talented men.

Overall, I highly recommend The Marx Brothers In A Nutshell; my only complaint is that we get little, if any, interview footage directly with the brothers. If you like this DVD then you should strongly consider other Marx Brothers documentaries.

Although THE MARX BROS. IN A NUTSHELL is now available on DVD, my review partially pertains to the original 1991 VESTRON VHS release. The tape is SP mode with HiFi sound and is a good transfer.

This 95 minute Gene Kelly-narrated documentary is an accurate but selective overview of the comedy team's career. Excerpts are provided of all the Marxes most popular comedies. Missing are clips from AT THE CIRCUS (1939), GO WEST (1940), A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA (1946) and LOVE HAPPY (1949).

Most vintage footage is fragmentary or edited. One complete piece is a 1931 PARAMOUNT publicity short that recreates a scene from the boys' 1924 Broadway revue, "I'll Say She Is." A theatrical agent skit in doggerel rhyme, it has a running gag of imitations of Maurice Chevalier's "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me."

Groucho gets the most post-brothers career coverage; this documentary in fact opens with a shot of Carnegie Hall's marquee advertising his 1972 one man show. Several examples of "You Bet Your Life" are included, as well as an hilarious guest appearance on "What's My Line?"

Harpo is seen doing his famous "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" clarinet bit, but the scene is cut before he fills the air with bubbles. Chico's solo moment is leading Aussie troops from his piano in singing "Waltzing Matilda." Also included is the trio's final filmed appearance, a cameo from a 1959 TV show.

Besides a wealth of historic home movie, newsreel, studio publicity and motion picture excerpts, the program is fleshed out nicely with comments from:

Irving Brecher - writer
Dick Cavett - Groucho's friend
George Fenneman - announcer, "You Bet Your Life"
George Folsey - cinematographer
Charlotte Granet - friend of Groucho and Eden Marx
Margaret Irving - co-star, ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930)
Robert Klein - comedian
Norman Krasna - writer
Arthur Marx - Groucho's son
Bill Marx - Harpo's son
Bob Marx - Gummo's son
Maxine Marx - Chico's daughter
Nat Perrin - writer
Robert Pirosh - writer
Morrie Ryskind - writer
David Steinberg - comedian

I found this DVD to definitely be worth the price! I felt it gave a much broader, often missed, historical view of the Marx Brothers entire life and not just the years of their popularity as most publications do. The background on ALL the players involved in the span of their careers and the look at them as both a team and individually was refreshing. There were only a couple of things I wished they had included. I appreciated the honestly about who they were as individual people. Sometimes we believe those in the entertainment industry are gods to be put on a pedestal. Knowing there were emotional issues that contributed to the way each behaved and lived their lives gives a deeper insight into what makes the greatness in any man or woman. If you are a Marx Brothers fan, the small cost of this DVD is completely worth the expenditure. It is a strong foundational piece for any fan's collection. (It also took me back to the feelings of joy and laughter I felt as a child when first watching the Marx Brothers back in the 60s.) The Marx Brothers truly are timeless.

Lets put to this to rest once and for all, there are only two Marx. Bros. documentaries to even consider when debating which is the "best", one is the "Unknown Marx Bros." and the other is the "Marx Bros. In A Nutshell". Any Marx Bros. fan would enjoy either one but as far as which is superior there is absolutely no contest,"In A Nutshell" is not only the better documentary but one of the best showbiz documentaries ever produced. Yes there is a $20 price difference between these two tiltles and while I can't justify or condone why a 20 year old documentary carries such a hefty price as "Nutshell" lets just leave it to the old adage that you get what you pay for. Nuff said.

Anyone who may not know the Marx Brothers but would like to would be advised to watch Marx Brothers in a Nutshell. It contains some classic scenes from their movies and great interviews. It shows you their still utterly unique comedy, why it took their early audiences by storm and why it still endures. Must see 'Marxism' . . .

.. except that the DVD is a bit "squished" - the interviewees are all a bit "wider" than they should be and also a bit garish in color. The laserdisc of this documentary (it was produced around 1983) didn't exhibit these problems, so whoever did the transfer of the video master to DVD screwed up a bit.

Another drawback to the DVD is that the movie clips are all from the "premastered" laserdisc masters. The currently available DVDs of these individual films have superior transfers.

The only drawback to the documentary itself is the lack of clips from the MGM films. They apparently had permission from MCA (the then-owners of the Paramount films, 1929 - 1933) but not from MGM (the owners and creators of the MGM films, 1935 onward). There is only one clip from any of these later films - a bit from "A Night At The Opera" that actually comes from the original trailer, which is public domain.

(EDIT: Now that I've watched the entire DVD while fixing the aspect ratio in Final Cut Pro, I realize there are actually quite a few scenes from MGM's "A Night At The Opera" (1935) and "A Day At The Races" (1936). So they're not from public domain trailers. For some reason, the documentary has absolutely NO clips from the later films.)

Other than that, this is the best documentary I've seen on the Marx Brothers. It will even bring a tear to your eye when Groucho's son Arthur talks about the day Harpo died. And as another reviewer has mentioned, this is the only documentary that includes interviews with people who were actually there, and those interviews are hilarious. Additional interviewees such as Dick Cavett and David Steinberg repeat stories that Groucho had told them years before, and they re-tell them very well.

There are no existing "in-depth" interviews with any of the four Marx brothers that I am aware of, only "fluff" publicity interviews from when they were active and a few nasty "old fogey" interviews from Groucho and Zeppo that you'd rather not watch.

I've seen the other two Marx Brothers documentaries, and I don't really remember them. This one I'll remember forever. It's as good as it gets.