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Animal Crackers
 
 
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Animal Crackers (1930)

Starring: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx Director: Victor Heerman Rating: G (General Audience) Format: DVD
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)

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Product Details

  • Actors: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Lillian Roth
  • Directors: Victor Heerman
  • Format: AC-3, Black & White, DVD, NTSC
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rating: G (General Audience)
  • Studio: Universal Studios
  • DVD Release Date: April 8, 1998
  • Run Time: 97 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: 6305078130
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #43,288 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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    #15 in  Movies & TV > Classics > Kids & Family > Marx Brothers

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  • For more information about "Animal Crackers" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

This second Marx Brothers classic has Groucho playing Captain Spaulding (an inside joke pertaining to a renowned Hollywood drug pusher), whose song "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" became his signature anthem. Despite its staginess, it has some hilarious gags as the boys try to solve the mystery of a stolen painting among the high-society crowd. Some of the highlights include Groucho's African lecture about shooting an elephant in his pajamas, and a wacky card game between Harpo, Chico, and the always-gullible Margaret Dumont. The musical interludes here don't seem as awkward as in later films. It's really quite charming watching Chico and Harpo show off their graceful talents. --Bill Desowitz


Product Description

Those madcap masters of mayhem, the Marx Brothers, are at it again in this zany laughfest. When a valuable painting turns up missing at a party, Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo help find it--with outrageous results.

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Customer Reviews

42 Reviews
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 (25)
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 (11)
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (42 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars a disappointment, especially in sound quality, December 8, 1998
This DVD was a dissapointment, especially in sound and video quality (what else is there?). I know that the film was a very early talkie, but I didn't find the quality of the sound and video any better than the earlier video versions I have seen. I was really look forward to seeing and hearing some of my favorite Marx Brothers bits, but the sound drops in and out inconsistently. I expected more from a higher priced DVD -- and there are no extras. I hope they do better when the eventually release "A Night at the Opera".
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excuse me, Mrs. Rittenhouse, but have you lost a fish?, September 5, 1999
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This review is from: Animal Crackers [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Even more so than THE COCOANUTS, this second Marx Brothers film suffers from extremely stagey cinematography; worse still, the print and sound quality is often quite poor and some of the references (most notably Groucho's take on Eugene O'Neil's "Strange Interlude") are so firmly rooted in place and time that one would need be an adept of arcane trivia to grasp the joke. Even so, ANIMAL CRACKERS remains one of the Marx Brothers' most inspired feats of comic anarchy, setting the brothers loose to wreck havoc on a Long Island society house party, where they waste little time in lampooning social pretensions with incredible precision.

Although ingenue Lillian Roth's performance seems stylistically dated, the brothers are extremely well supported by the wonderful Margaret Dumont, and the film abounds in wildly hilarious scenes--most particularly the Bridge party--in which Dumont faces the full brunt of their ribal humor to outrageously funny effect. Other brilliant moments include Groucho's proposals ("Why, that's bigamy!"), Chico's turn at the piano (Chico: "I can't think of the ending." Groucho: "Funny, I can't think of anything else!") and the power failure ("Excuse me, Mrs. Rittenhouse, but have you lost a fish?") All in all, ANIMAL CRACKERS will be a real treat for Marx Brothers fans as well as casual viewers prepared to overlook the film's flaws, and it remains my favorite among their early films.

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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My personal favorite among the Brothers films, June 8, 2002
By Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Not as polished as DUCK SOUP, this is nonetheless my favorite Marx Brothers film. This was their second movie; the first filmed in Hollywood, and records their final stage production. So in many ways, this is a transition film. ANIMAL CRACKERS and their first film, COCONUTS, made in 1929, also share the distinction of being perhaps the two oldest sound films that are still widely watched.

The film is not perfect. There are many dead moments scattered throughout the film, though only when one of the Brothers was not onscreen. And because sound recording was still in its infancy, the sound is pretty dreadful. The voices all sound somewhat flat and thin, but Groucho, Harpo, and Chico more than make up for it. And for once, we shouldn't leave out Zeppo. Groucho and Zeppo have a great exchange where Groucho dictates a letter to be sent to his lawyer. Actually, Zeppo was very, very talented in his own right, but with the three older brothers having staked out their own forms of madness, he was left as the straight man. On Broadway, Groucho came down sick, and Zeppo put on Groucho's clothes, put on a grease paint mustache and eyebrows, grabbed a cigar, and no one knew it wasn't Groucho.

ANIMAL CRACKERS is actually an outstanding showcase for all the brothers. Chico and Harpo team up for some of their best skits (including an utterly hysterical game of bridge), each has some great solo moments, and Groucho has dozens of his best and most famous lines. In fact, the movie probably contains half of the famous lines that we associate with Groucho, including the song that became his signature, "Hooray for Captain Spaulding." And Margaret Dumont is amazingly unflappable as Groucho's love (?) interest.

Although is easily my favorite Marx Brother film, it is usually ranked somewhat below some of their other films. One reason for this lies in the fact that the film was not shown for several decades following its initial release because of a copyright dispute.

When the Marx Brothers performed ANIMAL CRACKERS on Broadway, one night Harpo was running late when he reached the theater. Changing quickly, he inadvertently left off his knee length underwear he normally put under his tear-away tux for his first scene. At the point where the butler is supposed to take his cape, and the entire tux pulls away, Harpo was left there standing in only his jock strap. While he rushed offstage to put on the rest of his outfit, Groucho calmly adlibbed, "Come back tomorrow and he'll take the rest off."

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Typically-Unique Marx Brothers
Once again, this Marx Brothers film is different from most comedies in that is features rapid-fire gags, either verbal or sight, constant silliness and some music thrown in the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Craig Connell

5.0 out of 5 stars Tusks are looser in Alabama
The depression is finally arrived and the Marx Brothers are having it easy more than ever, stealing silverware and paintings and anything they can set their fingers on. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Jacques COULARDEAU

5.0 out of 5 stars Genius Still Apparent
My father was a major Marx Brothers devotee. Over the past few years I've gradually taken the time to become familiar with their oeuvre and have to admit that what most amazes me... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Bernard Chapin

5.0 out of 5 stars The masters!!
Still as funny as ever! Gift for my brother, he was thrilled. Now I need a copy for me.
Published on July 15, 2007 by Blondie

4.0 out of 5 stars as good a take on academia as there was (at least til randal jarrell) ...
does it matter that i complain the plot makes no sense? hardly! this was the marx brothers second movie (again based on one of their broadway shows) and the madness of the early... Read more
Published on March 21, 2007 by Jonathan Lapin

3.0 out of 5 stars The Marxes' Strange Interlude
The first 15 minutes of "Animal Crackers" (1930) represent the Marx Brothers in top form, with Groucho's "Hooray for Captain Spaudling" an enduring classic. Read more
Published on June 28, 2006 by Scott Rivers

4.0 out of 5 stars Hooray for Captain Spaulding!
The Marx Brothers' second movie, filmed in a studio in Astoria, Queens, and terribly stagey. Groucho is Captain Spaulding, the African explorer, and though there are some... Read more
Published on September 27, 2005 by Bomojaz

5.0 out of 5 stars Animal Crackers
There's little plot to speak of, its stage origins are undisguised, there's a sappy duet by two fresh-faced young lovebirds you've never heard of trilling a song you'll never want... Read more
Published on June 19, 2005 by Steven Hellerstedt

4.0 out of 5 stars Still fresh and original
"Animal Crackers" is one of the Marx Brothers stage hits to be transferred to the screen. Groucho is Captain Spaulding, the African explorer, who has just returned from an... Read more
Published on February 26, 2005 by The Movie Critic

4.0 out of 5 stars No trains will be sold after the magazine leaves the depot..
Wow. There are actually some funny movies out there that DON'T include obscenities, naked people, or jokes about barfing!! This movie is worth buying for that fact alone. Read more
Published on May 8, 2004 by L. Fellows

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