by Julian Spivey

The Marx Brothers were definitely at their most anarchic in their 1933 comedy “Duck Soup,” directed by Leo McCarey.

The film was so anarchic that many people at the time could have believed that Groucho, Harpo and Chico were close relatives to communism founder Karl Marx. Karl Marx wrote “The Communist Manifesto” in 1848, in the early 1930s the Marx Brothers wrote the book on Hollywood comedy.

If the Marx Brothers were at their most anarchic in “Duck Soup,” than they were arguably at their wackiest and zaniest in “Horse Feathers” one year prior.

“Horse Feathers,” directed by Norman Z. McLeod, begins with Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, played by Groucho, accepting the president position at Huxley University. Wagstaff is introduced to the students at the university and bursts into the memorable song “Whatever It Is, I’m Against It.” Marx Brothers films are notorious for mingling song with comedy. Sometimes it works well, other times it simply bores. The overlong performance of “All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm” in 1937’s “A Day at the Races” is evidence of this. However, “Whatever It Is, I’m Against It” is golden and a great way to kick off the rather short film. The film only runs 68 minutes.

The plotline of the film is that Wagstaff must find two good players for the school football team to lead them past their arch rival Darwin University. Wagstaff accidentally mistakes Pinky, played by Harpo, and Baravelli, played

by Chico, as the two football players.

Zeppo Marx, the fourth Marx Brother who often played the straight character in these films, plays Frank, Wagstaff’s son. In reality, Zeppo was only 11 years younger than Groucho. Frank is on the Huxley football squad, but is too interested in the “college widow” Connie Bailey, played by Thelma Todd, to pay much attention to football.   

It is Harpo who likely gets the most laughs in this film. Harpo used his usual mute character for the role of Pinky, as well as some of his finest sight gags ever seen in a Marx Brothers film. Some of Harpo’s best site gags from the film include: a candle that burns at both ends and the cup of coffee he pulls from his pocket when the homeless man asks for change for one. Harpo also plays his trademark harp in this film. A scene where he plays “Everyone Says I Love You” on his harp is actually more beautiful than comedic, as Harpo was a talented harpist. At one point or another in the film all four Marx Brothers play “Everyone Says I Love You.” Groucho and Zeppo sing it, Chico plays it on the piano and Harpo whistles it in addition to playing it on the harp.

At times in the film, written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S.J. Perelman and Will B. Johnstone, it seems that there may not really be a point. However, you’ll probably get so lost in the antics of the Marx Brothers that you won’t seem to mind. In the end, they do finally get to that football game they’ve been leading up to it. The film wraps up rather quickly after that.

The Marx Brothers were definitely some of Hollywood’s finest comedic actors and did as much for cinematic comedy as silent film stars Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton did. “Horse Feathers” is one of their classics that should be cherished and can be seen free of charge at: http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi3935240985/.