“pardon me, while i have a strange interlude”
it’s been YEARS since i last saw this but i still remember it like the back of my hand. a masterclass in comedy, was always within my favourites of the marx brothers work though it doesn’t quite reach the heights of ‘duck soup’ or ‘a night at the opera’. watching this reminded me of how much i love margaret dumont, she’s one of my favourite comedic foils of all time. the duo of dumont and groucho is one of my favourite (sort of) double acts ever, she contrasts him so well it makes everything he says significantly funnier, the way she plays the pompous aristocrat is just so fantastic you almost forget that she’s actually in on the joke. back when i was religiously watching these movies harpo was always my favourite brother because slapstick/physical humour is generally my favourite, or at least top 3 favourite, types of comedy to watch and hardly anyone does it better than harpo. in the years since then i think groucho has probably taken that top spot for me, i always find myself thinking of different groucho lines throughout all the movies and laughing to myself. this one in particular is very good, always loved the ‘flashlight’ exchange between chico and harpo and some of groucho’s best lines are from this film. that last bit with all the cutlery falling from harpo’s sleeve for like a minute and a half and him not moving an inch is genuinely so funny.
“pardon me, while i have a strange interlude”
it’s been YEARS since i last saw this but i still remember it like the back of my hand. a masterclass in comedy, was always within my favourites of the marx brothers work though it doesn’t quite reach the heights of ‘duck soup’ or ‘a night at the opera’. watching this reminded me of how much i love margaret dumont, she’s one of my favourite comedic foils of all time. the duo of dumont and groucho is one of my favourite (sort of) double acts ever, she contrasts him so well it makes everything he says significantly funnier, the way she plays the pompous aristocrat is just so fantastic you almost forget that she’s actually in on the joke. back when i was religiously watching these movies harpo was always my favourite brother because slapstick/physical humour is generally my favourite, or at least top 3 favourite, types of comedy to watch and hardly anyone does it better than harpo. in the years since then i think groucho has probably taken that top spot for me, i always find myself thinking of different groucho lines throughout all the movies and laughing to myself. this one in particular is very good, always loved the ‘flashlight’ exchange between chico and harpo and some of groucho’s best lines are from this film. that last bit with all the cutlery falling from harpo’s sleeve for like a minute and a half and him not moving an inch is genuinely so funny.
