Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The Marx Brothers hit their peak with "Duck Soup". Sure, "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" were both bigger box office hits and, while both those latter films have their moments they just can't quite compete with the inspired anarchy of "Duck Soup". Let's start with the positives first. It doesn't look like most of the films have any footage missing as near as I can tell. Sure, some of the editing still looks ragged but most of their early films (and films from that era for that matter) have that "look". The first three movies are a bit static looking (since the first two were based on their stage plays that's not a surprise--they look like photographed stage plays). With "Monkey Business" and "Horse Feathers" The Marx Brothers began to develop a style that was a bit more cinematic. All five films are essential for fans.
Now the bad news. Universal has been slapping together boxed sets lately of older films and TV series with little to no extras and without any effort at restoration. They're where Warner Brothers was about 6 years ago. The prints often don't look as sharp as they could and there's plenty of analog blemishes to muddy up the picture as well. Digitally many of these flaws could easily be corrected on these prints. Since the original negatives are long gone (they were shot on nitrate stock. Nitrate stock is quite unstable begins to disintegrate and shrink after a couple of decades). Unfortunately, we're left with prints that are several generations removed from the original negatives which means that these will probably never look perfect. Could they look better? Absolutely as there's been minimal effort to clean them up and none of them look as if there has been an effort to restore them. "Horse Feathers" still appears to be missing some material (unfortunately most of it is probably permanently lost)that probably could have been restored from foreign prints.
The extras are a bit skimpy at best. We get some older "The Today Show" interviews. There's no documentary on The Marx Brothers career, the challenges they faced in reaching an audience and why, ultimately, MGM put them under contract only to dilute their best qualities. I'm also disappointed that there's no audio commentary. Surely former UCLA Professor Howard Suber would have been available to do a commentary on these terrific films? What about vintage newsreels discussing the previews of their movies?
While I appreciate the book, the introductory essay is skimpy. The quotes of Groucho from various films and images from the films/posters was a bright idea it's just that Universal didn't go far enough. A nice short documentary incorporating the interviews included here would have been nice. I appreciate the idea of the book but I also wish that it could be removed from as it is a bit cumbersome in the middle of the accordian style set. Still, the design of the set is quite nice.
I give the films 5 stars for the quality of these classics but 2 stars for the inferior presentation from Universal. It's a pity as Warner has most of the lesser Marx movies but did a marvelous job of restoring them and adding extras including commentaries to them. Considering that Universal has a great restoration department and that they've done a marvelous job of restoring Hitchcock's classic films "Rear Window" and "Vertigo", I'm really disappointed that more effort wasn't made here. It's an example of Hollywood not valuing its past.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection (The Cocoanuts / Animal Crackers / Monkey Business / Horse Feathers / Duck Soup) (1930)
Celebrate the 75th anniversary of the greatest comedy act in history with The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection. This essential DVD set features the legendary four Marx Brothers in five of their most acclaimed and best loved films - Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, Monkey Business, Animal Crackers and The Cocoanuts - the only five movies ever made with all four brothers together: Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo!
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