The Marx Brothers Collection (2003)

 

 

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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 moview, 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.

I am not sure why so many people complain. I loved it, the piece with his(groucho) daughter is so cute.not bad quality,the times did not make great pictures.what does people want DVD quality from the 30's. get this and put it in your collection. I have all of movies and bio's this is in the top 3. the unkown marx bros is real good for 10 bucks too, get that one if you dont want to fork over more cash. but this is good, bet your life pilot,radio clips, etc...

It is obvious from all of the negative reviews that this is not a very good product because of it's misleading title and failure to work on US DVD players. I do not think, however, that amazon.com can be blamed for this. They do not make the DVD, they only sell it, and they have always made it clear that customer service is their highest priority. If people become bent out of shape because they bought it and didn't like what they got, maybe they'll be smart enough to check around next time. They apparently only keep it in their database because some extreme Marx Brothers devotees might actually want to own it. People really ought to stop accusing amazon.com of cheating them.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Groucho Garbage
All the Marx brothers are rolling over in their grave over this collection of trash. I was hoping that this would be anything more than it is ... GARBAGE. Read more

Published on May 9 2004 by Robin Robinson

1.0 out of 5 stars Misleading
When one sees a box set saying it is a Marx Brothers Collection, you would expect it to BE A MARX BROTHERS COLLECTION. Read more

Published on Mar 3 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZON IS RIPPING YOU OFF!!!!!!!!!
The weasels at Amazon.com, in their never-ending attempts to separate you from your hard-earned moolah, are selling THE MARX BROS. Read more

Published on Feb 14 2004 by MATTHEW C HAHN

1.0 out of 5 stars A total pointless buy
I bought the set for my boyfreind for xmas. The dvd did not work on his MAC dvd computer let alone my dvd player. How could these dvd's not work??!? Read more

Published on Feb 14 2004

1.0 out of 5 stars Uggh!
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. Read more

Published on Feb 2 2004 by Robert Wagner

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Buy This
Wait until May, when a collection of the Marx Brothers five later films will be collected into a box set. Read more

Published on Jan 31 2004 by Jamie Jeffords

1.0 out of 5 stars worst marx collection
I can't tell you how disappointed I feel after waiting a month and finally receiving the Marx Brothers Collection. Read more

Published on Jan 19 2004 by Bruce Breslow

2.0 out of 5 stars Amazon tries to weasel out
Got this for a gift. Three of the discs won't even play. I was at least interested in having the content, so I sent it back to exchange. Read more

Published on Jan 18 2004

1.0 out of 5 stars Another unhappy viewer
As with others who purchased this DVD set, it turned out to be exceedingly disappointing. Not only was the description completely misleading, several of the DVDs are... Read more

Published on Jan 13 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Kind of weak, kind of good
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. Read more

Published on Jan 2 2004 by Nathan C. Anthony

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