|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product Details
|
Product Description
From Amazon.com essential video
The films--packaged handsomely with a booklet--are essential Marx Brothers, their first five films made from 1929 to 1933. The least timeless is their first, The Cocoanuts, based on their Broadway hit. The film--one of the first full talkies--takes place in a hotel with owner Groucho out to grab every dollar. Animal Crackers is the brothers' first classic, a lickety-split comedy about an art theft being investigated by Groucho's alter-image, Captain Spaulding. For introducing youngsters to the work of Marx, Monkey Business is the best way. The shenanigans start right at the start as the brothers stowaway on a luxury liner. It's their first film that wasn't based on a play, as they endeavored to find new material. Horse Feathers gave them more fertile ground plus a sure-fire Hollywood director at the helm (Norman McLeoad). Their fantasia of college life includes the riotous football-game finale. Music, always a key part of their plays and films is given more weight here and includes Groucho's theme, "I'm Against It." Music is again key as the musicals of the era are spoofed in the brothers' undisputed masterpiece, Duck Soup. From a land called Fredonia, Groucho plays a slapdash ruler who rewrites the rules of governing, leading to a most memorable war with Sylvania (so war gets lampooned. too). Duck Soup also boasts the most famous Marx brothers sketch: Groucho trying to fool his mirror. --Doug Thomas
Description
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very Disappointing DVD Set,
By J. Pinkerton Snoopington (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection (The Cocoanuts / Animal Crackers / Monkey Business / Horse Feathers / Duck Soup) (DVD)
Universal's "The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection" gathers Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo's first five films: The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and Duck Soup. All of them are fantastically funny films, with the brothers in fantastic comic form. There is a loose, improvisational feeling to these films that is lacking from their later work, and the good feeling exhibited by them is downright infectuous. The weakest, the stagy and awkwardly paced "The Cocoanuts," still has many great moments, and the best, "Duck Soup," is a hilarious political satire that holds its own against the best movies ever made.The high quality of these movies makes the incredible lacklustre boxed set a great disappointment. The image quality is mediocre at best, with tinny sound, blurry picture, scratches, vertical lines, and heavy grain. While it's true that some of these problems are due to poor source material (particularly in the case of "The Cocoanuts"), they're practically inexcusable in "Horse Feathers" and "Duck Soup." Obviously no restoration whatsoever was made to these films. The biggest disappointment is in the extras, or lack therof. The "entire bonus disc of additional materials" amounts to nothing more than three short "Today Show" interviews with Harpo (in mime), Groucho, and William Marx, Harp's son. While the interviews are amusing, their combined running time is less than twenty minutes and hardly qualify for an extra disc. Also scattered amond the individual discs are trailers for "Animal Crackers," "Horse Feathers," and "Duck Soup." Films of such high regard cry out for documentaries and commentaries similar to the ones on Warner Brothers' other Marx Brothers set. One nice thing about the set is its packaging, which is handsome and elegant (although perhaps too elegant...something the brothers might have mocked in one of their films). With the packaging is a 40-page booklet, a large chunk of which is made up of mundane things like the chapter listings for each film. The historical information in the booklet is perfectly adequate, but hardly as "spectacular" as the box claims.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Box o' fun,
By
This review is from: The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection (The Cocoanuts / Animal Crackers / Monkey Business / Horse Feathers / Duck Soup) (DVD)
The movies here are the first five the Marx Bros. made (when there were four of them: Chico, Harpo, Groucho & Zeppo) and these Paramount flicks are wonderfully zany, madcap, loony, etc. The quality of the prints is not good, which is a drag, and the extras are practically nonexistent. However, anyone who believes himself to be a serious fan of comedy should see these five movies. When the three Marx Bros. moved to MGM, "genius" Irving Thalberg toned down their insanity and forced them to inject Chaplinesque pathos, plus more linear storylines, which many of us believe wrecked the anarchic weirdness of the early, "funnier" movies. (Thalberg was correct, as far as the box office went. The Marx Bros. movies made at MGM made a lot more money and even Groucho said they were better movies. But what did he know about comedy?)Any Marx Bros. movie is better than no Marx Bros. movie, and the Silver Screen Collection contains their best stuff. Highly recommended, even with its faults.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Important but somewhat lacking,
By A Customer
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection (The Cocoanuts / Animal Crackers / Monkey Business / Horse Feathers / Duck Soup) (DVD)
This is an important release - the first five Marx Brothers films still in existence. (Ironic that *Universal* is issuing this set, seeing as how all 5 were originally Paramount productions.) The transfers are probably the best that can be done, but "Cocoanuts" shows its age the most, where transitions in quality (perhaps between existing prints?) are somewhat jarring. The extras are disappointing - an entire disc devoted to nothing more than 3 Today Show segments? It's a shame at least one documentary wasn't included , which would have helped introduce the brothers to a new generation of admirers. As it is, it's great to have these films finally available on DVD, in spite of their condition. Now my aging copy of "Duck Soup" on VHS can be finally retired...
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Movies & TV > Boxed Sets > Classics
- Movies & TV > Boxed Sets > Comedy
- Movies & TV > Classics > Comedy
- Movies & TV > Classics > Kids & Family > Marx Brothers
- Movies & TV > Classics > Musicals
- Movies & TV > Comedy > Boxed Sets
- Movies & TV > Comedy > Classic Comedies
- Movies & TV > Comedy > Parody & Spoof > Marx Brothers
- Movies & TV > Comedy > Series & Sequels > Marx Brothers
- Movies & TV > Kids & Family > Classics > Marx Brothers
- Movies & TV > Musicals & Performing Arts > Musicals > Classics
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
|
