Love Happy is the last Marx Brothers film and has the distinction of being their worst. It also has the distinction of being one of the earliest films for a young actress named Marilyn Monroe. Who only appears for a very short scene in the film.
To be (somewhat) fair, it wasn't supposed to be a Marx Brothers film at all. It was designed to be a solo vehicle for Harpo Marx. However, it became a Marx Brothers film in order to once again get Chico out of gamble debts.
The movie itself was co-written with Harpo by former Warner Animation director Frank Tashlin. Which makes sense because there are certain scenes that have the feel of an animated cartoon.
To be honest, Tashlin was my least favorite of the Warner Animators.
For the longest time I have been on the fence on watching. I would prefer to remember the Marx Brothers the way the were early on. Even their farewell film The Big Store and their second farewell film (again only made to get Chico out of gambling debt) A Night in Casablanca, although not as strong as their earlier films, both movies had enough good bits to make them enjoyable and watchable.
It's just not the case with Love Happy. Because it was not meant to be a Marx Brothers film originally you do get this general feeling that Chico and Groucho were stuck in the film very arbitrarily. Especially Groucho who appears in a very small role as Sam Grunion who narrates the tale.
Considering that one of the biggest strengths of the early Marx Brothers films is Groucho's wit and put-downs. Having Groucho in such a limited role is one of the many shortcomings of this film.
Two other things that make it NOT feel like a Marx Brothers film was that Groucho barely appears with his brothers and this is the only Marx movie in which he does not appear in his trademark greasepaint mustache and eyebrows.
You really get the sense that Groucho himself doesn't want to do the film. And there's a reason for that. In later years, Groucho doesn't speak very highly (or at all) about this film.
Without the greasepaint mustache and eyebrows, I feel more like I'm listening to one of my cantankerous great-uncles rather than Groucho from those early films.
By that time all three of the brothers were pushing 60. They weren't particularly young by Hollywood standards when they started out. And now they were much older and trying to recapture much of the same schtick they did earlier in their career.
It would be like Charlie Chaplin trying to play the Tramp into his 60's.
By 1949 when this movie was released, humor had changed dramatically. The Marx's brand of comedy had been replaced by Abbott and Costello's brand of slapstick. I'm not sure if America in general really didn't know what to do with itself at that point.
Jazz music was starting to give way to what would be known as Country and Western. And even though there was this part of Hollywood that wanted to hold on to how they produced comedies in the past. There was something a bit cheaper about some of the movies of the 1950's which desperately tried to emulate the past.
A good example of this is Groucho's later film A Girl in Every Port. I had seen it a couple years ago when I had been really ill and uable to do anything else other than watch television. I blogged about it shortly thereafter.
The way I feel about Love Happy is the same way I feel about The Beatles Let It Be or Monty Python and the Meaning of Life. You can tell it's just not there for them anymore. It's not quite as bad as an aging rock group continuing long after their prime or the Three Stooges continuing to make movies with Joe Besser or Curly Joe.
But you can tell that the magic of those early films were long gone.
If you're a completest like me, I'd recommend watching Love Happy. However, if you're new to the Marx Brothers DON'T make this your first film. I'd recommend watching Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, Night at the Opera or A Day at the Races.
A Night at the Opera was the first one I ever watched. So, that might be my recommendation for your first one.
2 comments:
By the time A Day At The Races was completed, Groucho was a millionaire after investing in real estate. Harpo came into his own and was in demand as a solo artist. Zeppo became an agent. Chico spent most of his life in debt to gangsters. That became the only reason for what followed.
and Americans were also at the mercy of Milton Berle,Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. It was indeed the Dark Ages. ;)
I would pick Monkey Business, Duck Soup and Horsefeathers. Animal Crackers and Room Service are okay. I'm not a big fan of the MGM films - too much time spent playing cupid to the interchangable young couple. And if you thought Love Happy was the last time the brothers got together to help Chico, you haven't seen the pilot for Deputy Seraph.
I have to agree. As much as I do like At the Circus, it really wasn't as strong as their earlier films. For me, the films that followed Day at the Races it really felt like MGM really didn't know what to do with the Marx Brothers movie-wise.
You're right. Deputy Seraph was actually the last time the Brothers appeared. I refrained from mentioning it because I was thinking more along the lines of movies and that was really a television pilot that never aired.
In some ways it was better off. Mostly because Chico was in such poor health and having difficulty remembering lines.
Not being a fan of either Dean Martin or Jerry Lewis at all I agree with your "Dark Ages" comment ;-)
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