Recently when I did a couple of webcasts about Groucho Marx, a question came up on them and in e-mails: If someone has never seen a Marx Brothers movie, what's the best one to show them as an introduction to those zany boys? For a long time, my answer to that has been: "Whichever one is being shown at a theater near you where you can take the person to see them on a big screen with a big audience." Sometimes, I would add, "…just as long as what they're showing isn't The Big Store, Love Happy, A Night in Casablanca or The Story of Mankind." And I might even exclude The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers because the crude cinematography — and often, terrible prints — detract a bit from the other glories of those films.
My feeling is that if you see A Night at the Opera or Horse Feathers or one of a couple of others in optimum conditions and don't fall in love with the Marxes, there's no point in watching a second Marx Brothers movie. You either get them or you don't.
I'm a big believer in seeing certain kinds of movies — comedies but also certain kinds of pictures — in theaters with crowds as opposed to your den with 0-4 other people present. When I started seeing my lovely friend Amber, I discovered she'd never seen a lot of movies I knew she'd like. Some of them — like The Princess Bride and And Justice For All, I decided would be fine in my den…but, for instance, I didn't show her The French Connection there.
When they showed it at the Motion Picture Academy with a great print on a big screen and with its director appearing, I took her to that and she loved it. She would have probably loved it in my den but not, I think, as much. I have not shown her It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World or any Marx Brothers films or big musicals in my den.
Going to the movies is not possible to do, of course, during the pandemic. Given some of the current financial news about the big theater chains, it may not be as possible as it was once the virus is no longer holding us as prisoners. So you may have to settle for watching these films on the TV in your den.
If I were to pick a Marx Brothers movie to show to Amber or any newcomer, this would be my order of preference: A Night at the Opera, Horse Feathers, A Day at the Races, Monkey Business, Go West, Duck Soup, At The Circus…and after that, I don't think it matters. Don't write me in horror thinking I consider At The Circus a better film than Animal Crackers because I don't. If you think that, you aren't understanding what I'm saying here. Duck Soup is better than any of the MGM films but it wouldn't be my first or second pick as an introduction to Groucho, Harpo, Chico and that other brother.
Which brings me to the main point of this post, which is to let you know that on Friday evening, Turner Classic Movies is running Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Animal Crackers and Duck Soup in that order. The first one starts at 8 PM on my cable feed. If you miss Duck Soup, don't worry. TCM shows it a lot. In fact, I think this is the second time they've run it in the past week.