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Animal Crackers (1930)

Comedy | 97 minutes
3,24 103 votes

Genre: Comedy / Music

Duration: 97 minuten

Country: United States

Directed by: Victor Heerman

Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Chico Marx

IMDb score: 7,4 (16.039)

Releasedate: 8 August 1930

Animal Crackers plot

"The maddest comics of them all!"

The famous explorer, Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding, returns with his private secretary. Horatio W. Jamison, back from the dark continent of Africa, to attend the unveiling of artist Beauregard's painting "After the Hunt". The unveiling takes place at the home of the wealthy Mrs. Rittenhouse. But when the painting is suddenly stolen, everyone is in an uproar. When the also present, Signor Emanuel Ravelli and the crazy 'Professor', also bring a copy into play, the fence is completely off the dam.

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Full Cast & Crew

Actors and actresses

Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding

The Professor

Signor Emanuel Ravelli

Horatio Jamison

Arabella Rittenhouse

Mrs. Rittenhouse

Roscoe Chandler

John Parker

Mrs. Whitehead

Grace Carpenter

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avatar van Dievegge

Dievegge

  • 3166 messages
  • 8191 votes

The humor of the Marx Brothers mainly relies on absurd dialogues and puns. ("You go Uruguay, I go mine.") Groucho, with his ink moustache, manages to unravel the thread of any conversation with complete nonsense and fallacies. Zeppo was a bit like the fourth wheel on the tricycle, the unfunny one, although he has a sympathetic role here as the superfluous secretary. Chico is the craziest and provides comical and musical interludes together with Harpo. The latter has a sad underlay (the tears of a clown) and gives a visual touch to the humor with all those objects that he happens to have in his wide cloak. His harp solo is beautiful and joyful.

The plot, taken from a Broadway musical, revolves around three versions of the same painting: the original, a bad and a good imitation. This provides enough tension and romance to keep the attention, but in the end it's about how the brothers break this pattern with their witty nonsense. It's an old-fashioned kind of humor that still makes you laugh and forget the worries of everyday life.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Woland

Woland

  • 4796 messages
  • 3815 votes

Unsurprisingly, this film isn't really about the plot: yes, it's a farce about the unveiling of a painting with some forgeries and an African explorer as the guest of honor. But of course this is mainly a coat rack for the chaotic humor of the Marx brothers. This sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't - Groucho Marx is still funny on a regular basis with a barrage of one-liners, fallacies and insults, although that doesn't work all the time either. I don't like Chico and Harpo's jokes a bit, and in the end it's quite a bit since the story and what happens next to the jokes isn't that interesting. Then I found Duck Soup more fun and sharper.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Collins

Collins

  • 7282 messages
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Animal Crackers is based on the musical of the same name that ran on Broadway from October 1928 to April 1929 or 191 performances. Most of the roles in the film are played by the same people. The same goes for the Marx Brothers.

Animal Crackers is the second film made by the brothers for Paramount. Like the other four films, Animal Crackers is a mix of quick puns, slapstick and musical interludes, with the ghastly vocals effectively neutralizing the good humor that brings out all the brothers' follies.

The film is set in a large villa. The playground of the rich to which only illustrious guests have access. An elite that finds the caustic puns of Groucho Marx or the sociopathic behavior of Harpo Marx curious, but still considers the strange figures simply one of their own. Groucho, in particular, readily throws comments that are deeply insulting to the social class that has gathered in the villa. Groucho straight to the hostess's face: “Why, you've got beauty, charm, money! You have got money, haven't you? Because if you haven't, we can quit right now“. Wonderful humour.

Animal Crackers is a delightful comedy. Absurd sketches, bizarre puns, vicious one-liners, chaotic scenes. And sometimes with a horrible musical number to annoy you. Nice!

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original