Animal Crackers (Marx Brothers)

Jamison: "Now, uh, you said a lot of things here that I didn't think were important, so I just omitted them."
Spaulding: "So...you just omitted them, eh? ...You just omitted the body of the letter, that's all. You've just left out the body of the letter, that's all! Yours not to reason why, Jamison! You've left out the body of the letter!...All right, send it that way and tell them the body'll follow."

The wealthy Mrs. Rittenhouse (Dumont) is having a party to celebrate the return of the brave adventurer Captain Spaulding (Groucho). The Captain is brought into the party in a sedan chair and tries to haggle the price of his ride.

"Well, what do I owe ya?...What? From Africa to here, a dollar eighty-five? That's an outrage. I told you not to take me through Australia. You know it's all ripped up. You should have come right up the Lincoln Boulevard"

Undaunted, the guests all sing "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" and want to hear stories about his adventures. So he tells the timeless joke:

"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know."

Meanwhile, the musicians show up: Signor Ravelli (Chico) and the Professor (Harpo), who charge more for not showing up and performing than they do for an actual performance. Mrs. Rittenhouse has a famous painting that will be unveiled that evening by Mr. Chandler (Sorin). But the painting is stolen and replaced (twice) and soon the versions of the painting are gone...and it's up to Spaulding to save the day and the painting.


A vast improvement over "The Cocoanuts," this film allows the zaniness of the Brothers to take center stage. The plot is just an excuse for some classic Marx Brothers gags.

• Groucho get some funny jokes, like the elephant one I already mentioned. And two of his favorite songs were from this film: "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" which became his theme song, and "Hello I Must Be Going" which was the name of his biography by Charlotte Chandler (which I own / love).
• Chico and Harpo have some funny gags: playing cards with Margaret Dumont and Margaret Irving, where they cheat the entire time (Harpo has all Aces). In another scene, as they prepare to swap the painting with a replica Chico asks for a "flash" (flashlight) and Harpo keeps misunderstanding and pulling other items from his deep pockets.
• And Zeppo finally gets a chance to shine. In one scene, Groucho dictates a letter. The letter is mostly legal jargon that doesn't make sense in context... While writing Zeppo asks crazy questions like "How do you spell semi-colon?" and goes along with the whole scenario, until he is asked to reread the letter (see the opening quote for part of the exchange), and manages to get a bigger laugh than Groucho. Even though he is still the straight man in the act, it is nice to see him get a joke (instead of being the joke or setting up Groucho's joke).

This was the only Marx Brother film I had never seen prior to owning the box set. Apparently it wasn't rereleased (on video or tv) until the 1980s, and it was hard to find (contractual reasons or something like that). Not my favorite Marx Brother film, but definitely in the top 5.

To read another review of this film (and other Marx Brother films) go to this site: http://theageofcomedy.laurelandhardycentral.com/animalcrackers.html

Animal Crackers (1930) minutes
Director: Victor Heerman
Starring: Groucho Marx as Captain Spaulding
Chico Marx as Signor Ravelli
Harpo Marx as The Professor
Zeppo Marx as Jamison
Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Rittenhouse
Louis Sorin as Roscoe Chandler
Lillian Roth as Arabella Rittenhouse
Margaret Irving as Mrs. Whitehead
Robert Greig as Hives
Hal Thompson as John Parker