The Marx Bros. are an acquired taste and to say that this film is a laugh riot from start to finish would be stretching the truth. There are some very funny moments indeed and they mostly belong to the motormouth Groucho. It's hard to remember what his best line in this movie is because there are so many great ones. The two other brothers are as they have always been in nearly every of their previous endeavors and the new addition Allan Jones is sappy but weren't all the straight men that way. The fourth Marx brother, Zeppo said that he was ten times as funny as Groucho but he wasn't allowed to show it off and that is probably the reason he bowed out after Paramount dropped them.
MGM or rather Irving Thalberg saw that there was still life in their act but he made them into more heroic figures than Paramount. Still, there is enough irreverence in them to drive a cop mad (the bed switching routine) and to make a mockery of a very public event honoring three Russian aviators and almost causing an international incident in the progress.
As there is a sappy straight man there must be a sappy straight woman and the two of them sing a sappy love song that takes up way too much screen time. There aren't enough of Groucho's favorite foil Margaret Dumont either but seeing Sig Rumann as the target of Groucho's one-liners is almost as much fun. Too bad the other villain, Walter King is such a slimy bowl of puss that you almost wished that he died from that blow to the head he receives from Harpo.
The opera scene is of course one of the great moments in film history and had perfect timing from all concerned and the film ends happily as most of the MGM films did. So maybe the Marxes weren't their typical low-life selves but they could still make mischief like no other comedy team and we should appreciate Thalberg for giving them an opportunity like this, otherwise they could have been easily forgotten today.
MGM or rather Irving Thalberg saw that there was still life in their act but he made them into more heroic figures than Paramount. Still, there is enough irreverence in them to drive a cop mad (the bed switching routine) and to make a mockery of a very public event honoring three Russian aviators and almost causing an international incident in the progress.
As there is a sappy straight man there must be a sappy straight woman and the two of them sing a sappy love song that takes up way too much screen time. There aren't enough of Groucho's favorite foil Margaret Dumont either but seeing Sig Rumann as the target of Groucho's one-liners is almost as much fun. Too bad the other villain, Walter King is such a slimy bowl of puss that you almost wished that he died from that blow to the head he receives from Harpo.
The opera scene is of course one of the great moments in film history and had perfect timing from all concerned and the film ends happily as most of the MGM films did. So maybe the Marxes weren't their typical low-life selves but they could still make mischief like no other comedy team and we should appreciate Thalberg for giving them an opportunity like this, otherwise they could have been easily forgotten today.