The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection coming to BD on Oct. 18th from Universal (1 Viewer)

[ShellOilJunior]

Groucho: Oh no, you're not gonna get me off this bed.

Lucille: I didn't know you were a lawyer. You're awfully shy for a lawyer.

Groucho: You bet I'm shy. I'm a shyster lawyer.

 

[Astairefan]

have never used classicflix, but do go there or information sometimes, I think that the amazon price will drop, the monster sets are down, so here is to hope

I'm in the same position with classicflix (never had any reason to look at buying anything from them until now). While I do agree with you that the Amazon price will lower, my concern is that it won't be equal to the $20 difference that classicflix is now offering (of course, I wouldn't mind being wrong in this instance). Is there anybody that has any experience here, good or bad, with buying from classicflix?

 

[PMF]

I love the Paramount Marx Brothers films much better than the MGM ones.

Finally. What a relief to hear someone say it out loud.
Long before the age of "Political Correctness" I never dared say such a thing like that in public; especially in a long theater line at the 1970-80's revival houses, when everyone arrived dressed as their favorite Marx Brother. BUT, the fact of the matter is that you, Ronald Epstein, are correct, sir. And why? Because it's pure Marx Bros in their rarest state; as opposed to the way in which they were cleaned up and incorporated by MGM to serve a studios image, serve other stars, boring ballads and use them at near cross-purposes. In a Paramount film, the Marx Bros. dominated and ruled the day. But, I can be grateful for "The Big Store" and "At the Circus"; as this was the double-bill that first introduced me to the Marx Bros. on my 13th Birthday. Yup, you are right; and yet, I'd still buy the rest of their catalogue; because anything Marx Bros. is better that nothing at all.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Oh, I would buy their entire catalog as well. Even the ones that ... well ... suck.

Nothing beats the complete zaniness of their early 1930s films. What Universal is about to release is truly the cream of the crop.

That being said, I probably won't watch The Cocoanuts or Animal Crackers. Both are rather subpar early efforts.

I think I can safely say, that as far as the Paramount films go, Duck Soup, Horsefeathers and Monkey Business are their top three (and in that order).

 

[PMF]

And let's not forget that the original AFI vote for Top 100 Films (of the 20th century) included "Duck Soup".
10 years later, AFI updated that very same list and dropped 23 of the original titles.
"Duck Soup" was one of the 77 titles that remained.

 

[Matt Hough]

The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers were based on Broadway musicals that featured the Marx Bros. along with standard musical comedy tropes which tend to interrupt the welcome zaniness. Those comedies written expressly for them definitely put them directly in the spotlight and limit (but don't entirely eliminate) the romantic interludes that gave Zeppo something to do.

Irving Thalberg and his successors added back the romantic interests in fairly equal measure in the MGM films thinking the comedy was too relentless without the romantic interludes. THose of us who love the Marxes want them unadulterated.

 

[PMF]

Those comedies written expressly for them definitely put them directly in the spotlight and limit (but don't entirely eliminate) the romantic interludes that gave Zeppo something to do.

Yes, that is true; but, then again, those interludes did belong to a Marx Brother.
We will never know, but I wonder how those MGM's would have played out if Zeppo remained.
And then there's Gummo.
Gummo boggles my imagination, as all of the brothers have historically stated that Gummo was the funniest of them all. Can you imagine seeing them live and on stage? What a trip that must have been.

 

[John Doe]

 

[B-ROLL]

It comes with a booklet! Nobody told me there'ld be reading involved ...!!!

 

[rdf8585]

Not a fan if that's the final packaging. It looks like the far right has one of those set-ups where the bottom disc is partially under the hub that the top disc is on. You have to be really careful sliding the bottom disc in and out. I probably would have to get a separate case with this kind of packaging. Couldn't they have just done one disc per "page" or better yet, thrown all three in a three disc flipper case?

 

[B-ROLL]

Not a fan if that's the final packaging. It looks like the far right has one of those set-ups where the bottom disc is partially under the hub that the top disc is on. You have to be really careful sliding the bottom disc in and out. I probably would have to get a separate case with this kind of packaging. Couldn't they have just done one disc per "page" or better yet, thrown all three in a three disc flipper case?

I was thinking the same thing, but as this is somewhat of a prestige set, I 'm sure a three bluray flip case wouldn't do either. I suspect like the Spielberg and Hitchcock sets, the discs will be made available individually ...

 

[AlexNH]

Does anyone know why Universal is releasing the films and not Paramount?

 

[Matt Hough]

Does anyone know why Universal is releasing the films and not Paramount?

Universal purchased the rights to all pre-1949 Paramount films quite some time ago.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Does anyone know why Universal is releasing the films and not Paramount?

They haven't been in Paramount's hands since being sold to Universal in the late 40s/early 50s. Most Paramounts from that era are now Universal.

 

[AlexNH]

Thanks! I forgot about that!

 

[Garysb]

From the documentary, "The Unknown Marx Bros" there are clips from a 1931 promotional film that included a scene from their first Broadway show, "I'll Say She Is" It begins about 18.30 of video below. Presumably the promo film was from Paramount. I wonder why they don't include the complete short with this set.

 

[battlebeast]

If not, I'll be sticking the blurays inside the DVD set and keeping them together that way.

I DO THAT TOO!! I like the DVD packages. So much sharper than the blu Ray cases. When I spend money, I want a decent package!

 

[bigshot]

The Theatrical Office scene was part of a film called The House That Shadows Built. It doesn't appear to be included. They don't mention the trailers for any of the films either. All of this should be included.

 

[Ahab]

It comes with a booklet! Nobody told me there'ld be reading involved ...!!!

Doncha know:

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I'm in the same position with classicflix (never had any reason to look at buying anything from them until now). While I do agree with you that the Amazon price will lower, my concern is that it won't be equal to the $20 difference that classicflix is now offering (of course, I wouldn't mind being wrong in this instance). Is there anybody that has any experience here, good or bad, with buying from classicflix?

I just checked ClassicFlix, and their price is $47.99 right now, so it's only $12 less expensive than Amazon. I'm not sure if they charge for shipping, as well (I'm a Amazon Prime member). I would expect Amazon's price to come down to this level at some point. I have never bought anything from ClassicFlix, either, so am reluctant to try an unknown etailer (had a bad experience with a different site with WKRP in Cincinnati at a low price).