Animal Crackers (1930) Review

Following up their other Broadway hit turned motion picture, the Marx Brothers once again hit pay dirt at the box office with their second film. But a skimpy plot serves only to bridge one silly gag after another with plenty of songs thrown in for good measure. While not as good as their first film, there are plenty of laughs to be found.

After the success of The Cocoanuts transitioning from stage to screen in 1929, Paramount was eager to repeat the formula especially since Animal Crackers was already running on Broadway. Victor Heerman was brought on board to direct with the hopes he would be able to keep the wild brothers under control.

All that did was lead to another clash between Groucho and a director. What resulted was essentially a stage production put on camera with little directorial creativity. Fortunately, the Marx Brothers were more than able to carry the film despite that large handicap.

The movie begins with a display of a newspaper after the credits end. To make sure we ignorant savages understand what is being presented, close up shots of pertinent information are shown. From that we are meant to glean, the setup involves an explorer, Captain Geoffrey T. (for Edgar) Spaulding, and a famous painting arriving at a wealthy socialite’s estate. Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) is a widow of some means. Which means Groucho will be soon hitting on her.

Since this was an early talkie, we are subjected treated to the sight of the butler singing as he instructs the staff on how to handle the guests. It goes on far too long before seguing to Roscoe Chandler (Louis Sorin) arriving with his prize painting by Beaugard. Don’t bother searching, the painter and painting are fictional. I suspect people searching for them on the Net would have amused the Marx Brothers a great deal.

Alas for Groucho, Roscoe tries his smooth moves on Mrs. Rittenhouse first. While nice about it, the lady can’t wait to get away from him and is thankful when her daughter rescues her. Arabella (Lillian Roth) has a tart sense of humor and, like many a movie of the time, she is interested in a lowly commoner much to her mother’s distress.

Class warfare was always a big part of the Marx Brothers humor and reflects their humble origins in the rough and tumble streets of New York. Any chance to lampoon, deflate, and humiliate the pretentious upper class was taken full advantage of with extreme glee. Not that they spared the lower class, for the hucksters and conmen they played often got their comeuppance too. Though I have to say Chico was not acting – he really was a conman and more than a little shady.

Speaking of the brothers, where are they? Time for them to enter the picture, don’t you think?

Ah, there’s one. Oddly enough, it is the dedicated straight man Zeppo, arriving as Captain Spaulding’s secretary, Horatio Jamison. Not only is he first, he’s singing. Sadly, not well. It looks like this is more of a musical than The Cocoanuts and that means more pain if you don’t like that genre.

Of course poor Zeppo doesn’t get the spotlight for long, he’s just the warm up act. In walks Groucho. By walk, I mean carried in by native porters of course. While it is a funny scene thanks to the ludicrous dialogue and having them also carry in a gun cabinet, I couldn’t help wondering what was going through the black actors’ minds. Parts like this were pretty much all you could get and it had to have rankled.

Captain Spaulding has arrived to make an announcement in song. It involves having to leave right away, which the assembled guests won’t allow to happen. After some badgering by Jamison, the intrepid explorer relents and the movie starts moving forward.

Or is it backward? Chico and Harpo make their entrances, so you know the situation is about to devolve. After the explorer swoons at the sight of a bug, Senor Emanuel Ravelli arrives with his trombone to provide the music. Somehow Spaulding knows him, or thinks he does since he looks just like someone named Emanuel Ravelli he once met. “He thinks I look alike,” quips the musician before explaining his very complicated rates for not playing.

He’s not alone, for he has a partner, the Professor. Strutting forward in an attempt to look high class, Harpo dangles a cigarette nonchalantly while blowing smoke bubbles. A curious Spaulding watches the behavior and inquires as to whether it comes in chocolate too. The mute answer satisfies the dashing explorer, though he does not dash off.

No, he saves that for later. The butler taking the Professor’s coat reveals he’s very underdressed for the occasion. Upset with the horrified reaction of the other guests, he promptly takes a pistol from the gun cabinet. Ah, so that’s why it was brought in!

Shooting at the guests and many other objects, Harpo has his first big scene of the movie. It is pure slapstick violence along the lines of a cartoon of the era. His annoyance with a canary leads to aviancide and the rampage doesn’t end until he spots a pretty blonde to chase.

Does any of it make sense? Nope and that’s why its funny. Humor is said to come from the unexpected and the Marx Brothers specialized in the completely random. Place that in the midst of the most uptight levels of society and you have comedy gold.

Okay, back to the plot, or more accurately, let’s finally introduce it. The showing of Beaugard’s painting “After the Hunt” is the big draw for all the guests staying over at the palatial mansion. A pair of socialite’s who do not like Mrs. Rittenhouse cook up a scheme to replace it with a poor copy one of them painted in art class. This is all to humiliate the older woman. Mrs. Whitehead (Margaret Irving) knows the butler who used to work for her family, so she easily talks him into the scheme. Grace (Kathryn Reece) will provide the fake and Hives (Robert Greig) will switch the paintings.

Meanwhile, Arabella and her beau, John Parker (Hal Thompson, not a black Lectroid) have a lengthy banter filled talk about his lack of money. It turns out he is a starving artist, imagine that. Proving that all socialites are on the same superficial wavelength, she proposes they switch his copy of the painting in order to show off what a great artist he is. Ah those rich people and their wacky hijinks!

That’s the plot. All of it. I wasn’t kidding when I wrote that it was skimpy.

Temporarily saving us from the plot are Captain Spaulding’s attempts to woo Mrs. Rittenhouse. “I’ve swept you off my feet” scores some points and at least he’s doing better than Chandler. But it is when Mrs. Whitehead butts in that the scene reaches levels of epic silliness. Flirting with both women, Spaulding steps out to have “a strange interlude” as he spoofs Eugene O’Neil’s plays by addressing the audience with his internal thoughts.

It’s very funny material that is impeccably delivered. Yet Groucho tops it when he proposes to both women in an attempt to practice bigamy. He’s serious, but they think the explorer is just being witty. After all, he is such a charmer. A bevy of bathing beauties changes Spaulding’s mind and convinces him he needs to sow a few wild oats first.

What appears to be a subplot at first quickly goes nowhere when Ravelli recognizes Roscoe Chandler. Interrogating him eventually reveals his true identity which leads to an unsuccessful attempt at bribery. Watch for the slight of hand and leg in this scene inserted only to give Chico and Harpo something to do. It is mildly disappointing that this part of the story goes nowhere.

Roscoe’s time onscreen is not done yet and leads to one of the better gags in the movie. As usual, Groucho’s character is hoping to get money out of an unsuspecting mark. When Spaulding asks if he has heard the one about the two Irishmen, the reaction is unexpected and hilarious. Confusion follows when names are named.

The owner of the famous painting isn’t the only would be mark, for Arabella uses her charms on Ravelli in an effort to get him to switch paintings. If you were a pretty young thing, would you encourage someone who looks like that?

One random incident after another is a hallmark of this movie, so the Professor’s chasing the blonde again leads to an insane scene involving Mrs. Rittenhouse and Mrs. Whitehead. Or is it Grace? I get the two mixed up almost as much as Spaulding gets names fouled up.

Being politically correct wasn’t even a concept back in 1930, so when Harpo gets into a one sided boxing match with Dumont it is purely for laughs. Logic has no place in the scene, therefore it ends in a game of Bridge. If I’m not mistaken, it looks like Harpo almost got Dumont to break.

Why is that important? She hated the humor and didn’t like the brothers in reality. That expression on her face above right most likely conveys her true feelings.

Under cover of a storm, Ravelli and the Professor make the big switch. Most of the time is taken up by a verbal misunderstanding when Chico wants a “flesh.” Expect a lot of visual puns here and elsewhere in the movie.

With the paintings swapped, the plot advances, such as it is. Will the hair brained schemes work? Will true love prevail? Does any of it matter as long as the gags keep coming?

Thoughts

While I was amused by Animal Crackers and laughed out loud at several of the scenes, it is not in the same class as The Cocoanuts. In that film, the comedy was better incorporated into the story which made it even funnier. It didn’t help that the supporting cast was fairly lackluster in their performances.

Lillian Roth was the hot starlet/singer at the time and she did have her moments of being saucy. The problem was Thompson, who had zero chemistry with her and whose career evaporated after the movie. There wasn’t a spark between them or in him at all. Roth was several years from wrecking her career with alcoholism and was out of movies before the Thirties hit their midpoint.

Dumont was in good form as the perpetual foil for the manic antics of the Marx Brothers. She did better when the parts called for her to be exasperated rather than amused by the boys, so this wasn’t her best.

Sorin held his own in his scenes and should be singled out for praise. He meshed well with their insanity and provided the single best reaction in the movie.

I mentioned how the director Heerman did nothing other than film a play, albeit on soundstage sets. His directing was less than pedestrian, showing no flair or creativity whatsoever. Camera shots were static without a single interesting angle, pan, or zoom. Likewise, the lighting was completely boring.

Animal Crackers is not rated, but I would put it at the friendly end of PG due to innuendo and slapstick violence. Kids will find the silly antics funny and will miss most of the double entendres.

I recommend the movie to Marx Brothers fans, classic movie buffs, and anyone who likes unrestrained silliness.

Technical

The DVD is from Universal’s The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection box set and is in 1.33:1 video ratio (closer to 1.2:1). Picture quality varies from reel to reel, but all of it is soft with no sharpness. Contrast is good and that matters a great deal for an old black and white film. Check the screenshots to see the quality, but I have to note it looks better in motion.

Two mono Dolby Digital tracks are included, one in English and the other a Spanish dub. Subtitles in both languages and French are included. Sound is clear and fares better than the video.

The only extra is the original theatrical trailer which bills the Marx Brothers as the “4 Funniest Men in Earth.” For the film buff, this will be interesting because it is glimpse into early movie trailers and a bit different from what was made later.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

 

 

 

 

 

“Three cheers for Captain Spaulding!” Once again, a verbal misunderstanding leads to laughs.

The piano scene was great fun, giving Chico a chance to shine. The inability to end the tune and the reactions to it was one of the funnier bits in the movie. Though I have to say the horseshoes were as well handled as horseshoes can be in a movie. Of course it all had to end in conflict between the partners.

The competition between Chandler and Spaulding for Mrs. Rittenhouse’s affections should have been played up more, in my opinion. But it it was clear Roscoe was there only to move the plot along, which was a waste of a good performance.

So Hives was an ex-convict, who would’ve thought it? With the cops present on the theft, his being loyal to his old house is looking pretty stupid. The things guys will do for dames, I tell you.

Man, oh man, Thompson is creepy in this movie. His singing wasn’t that impressive either. Roth was much more talented, so the duet shows how badly miscast he was. The scene wasn’t a total loss because of how it transitioned the melody to Harpo’s harp playing.

When I was a kid, I always waited eagerly for Harpo to play. Somehow his playing seemed to be on an entirely different level than the rest of the material and it appealed to me. It still does as I watch him lose himself in the music.

Rare was it for Zeppo to get a good scene and he got a great one near the end. Jamison’s handling of Spaulding’s dictation was a nearly perfect scene in timing and delivery. The scene also shows how vicious and mean spirited the explorer is, making it all the more fun when Zeppo turns the screws on the jerk.

Mrs. Whitehead’s comical seduction attempts on the Professor is a highlight of the movie. Alas for the horse loving thief, he is knocked out be the dastardly Hives. Funny how the butler knows how to knock people out, just what was he in jail for?

The drug works long enough for them to steal the paintings, but the blonde walking nearby instantly revives the superhuman pursuer of pretty women. How she could run that fast in heels is beyond me, most of the time trying to screen capture her she was only partially in the frame.

“Left handed moths ate the painting!” Possibly the most brilliant deduction ever put on the big screen.

I believe the crudely blacked out logo says FLITS, but am not completely sure. Why was this done? I have no clue, but it was done on the film negatives. The name was mentioned in the “flesh” gag earlier.

The finale betrays the stage show origins and is oddly inoffensive. That is to say, dull. True love prevails and being an art copycat lands Parker a job. Only the “brought to you by the House of David” line livens it up, mainly because it was daring to be openly Jewish back then.

Working in Harpo’s trademark silverware stealing leads to a truly absurd ending, also very much a stage play scene. Reform the Professor? Not going to happen.

So we now see why the sprayer was filled with the knockout drug. The Professor takes out friend and foe alike, but when he finds the blonde on the floor, he chooses to join her.

The End.

And I thought Duck Soup had an odd ending…