[Jaime_Weinman]

It's mentioned at thedigitalbits.com that WB (which owns the MGM films) has a "Marx Brothers Collection" planned for June. There was also a post on alt.comedy.marx-bros by Bob Weide, producer of the documentary "The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell" (this post is from Nov. 28, 2003):

Quote:

Opera and Races are coming out soon on DVD... I can confirm this because they're including a new mini-doc as bonus material, for which they interviewed me.

The big question is, will Night at the Opera be restored? Every print I've seen is a reissue print from 1942, when MGM chopped the early scenes up to remove any reference to the fact that the opening scenes take place in Italy (that's why the film begins so abruptly, and why there are some awkward jump cuts in the "Party of the First Part" scene). I have no idea if the original print still exists. It's one of several Marx Bros. movies that was either chopped up on reissue (Animal Crackers) or just exists in a plain old choppy print (Horse Feathers).

There was also a recent NY Times article that mentioned that a Duck Soup SE is in the works at Universal.

[Larry Sutliff]

Quote:

Every print I've seen is a reissue print from 1942, when MGM chopped the early scenes up to remove any reference to the fact that the opening scenes take place in Italy

I've heard that only the re-issue print survives, but perhaps we'll be surprised when the DVD is released.

[Roger Rollins]

I am fairly certain that all which survives on A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (at least in the MGM/Turner/Warner vaults) is the curious abrupt-cut opening to the film.

This issue piqued my curiosity when I was a student at USC, where many MGM files are housed. According to the original release cutting continuity, the film was released in 1935 with that abrupt cut at the beginning.

Also, according the MGM files I researched there, the first theatrical re-issue of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (at least in the U.S.) was in 1948, not 1942. This was corroborated by the FILM DAILY YEARBOOK of 1949 covering 1948's film release activity.

Further clues lie in the running time in original reviews match the running time of current prints, and the screenplay of the film, published by Viking in the early 70's, contains the original full script, prior to editing, and then the final release version script. This also indicates that the current version with the abrupt beginning is indeed how the film was originally released, strange as that may seem.

So from my vantage point, there was no fiddling with the film after release. If anyone has any factual evidence to the contrary, I'd be pleased to know about it since this issue has been a source of curiosity to me for years.

Meanwhile, there has been no genuine announcement that WB is going to release this picture in June (I don't believe these "rumor mill"-types who are so often a font for errata). However, Robert Weide's comments are solid evidence enough for me that these are definitely in the works, and that is truly welcome news.

I hope that Warner Bros. releases all 7 of the Marx pictures they control, and not just the first two. What a great boxed set that would make!

[Ronald Epstein]

This is a dream come true. I spent my
childhood years engrossed in The Marx Brothers.

Trivia Question (I ask cause I don't know the answer)...

Which film ends with (I think) Harpo jumping
on the back of a guy and exiting, with another
guy following up with, Hey, where's my ride?

[Jaime_Weinman]

Quote:

So from my vantage point, there was no fiddling with the film after release. If anyone has any factual evidence to the contrary, I'd be pleased to know about it since this issue has been a source of curiosity to me for years.

Thanks for the information. What puzzles me is not so much the abrupt opening as the awkward removal of several lines from the Groucho/Chico "Party of the first part" routine (cut parts are in bold):

CHICO: I don't know, I'm a stranger here myself.
GROUCHO: Stranger? Aren't you Italian?
CHICO: No, I only look that way because my mother and father are Italian.

and

"What do you care? Some Italian name. I can't pronounce it."

The lines are in the script, and they were definitely in the film as shot, because you can see jump cuts where the lines originally were. But if the film was reissued after WWII, I don't know why they would have bothered to remove references to Italy. A puzzlement.

[MarkBourne]

Quote:

There was also a recent NY Times article that mentioned that a Duck Soup SE is in the works at Universal.

That article is here. Requires free registration, but well worth it.

(And over the past year the NYT has made an assertive push to regularly cover DVDs and home theater in its Movies coverage. The "DVD & Video" page is here.)

Re the Marx's movies, I have the OOP Image collection and regularly slip one into the player, especially after a crappy day at the office (now there's a title worthy of the Brothers). Naturally I'm very pleased to hear about the SE for Duck Soup, my fave of them all. I'm also crossing my fingers for a restoration of Animal Crackers that puts Groucho's "I think I'd like to make her" line back into "Hooray for Captain Spalding" (that cut is particularly ragged) and a new print of Horse Feathers that rebuilds the way choppy "ice man" scene from start to finish.

Here's hoping.

[Geo Gabor]

I've had a question about my Monkey Business DVD that I've posed on this forum before, but nobody has ever been able to answer it. When I play the DVD, the audio is coming out of the left front speaker channel. Not the center speaker, not stereo (right and left), but only the left speaker. Does anybody else get this weird occurrence with this disc?

[Brian W.]

Quote:

There are still the rumours of Marx Brother releases by WB in 2004 (if only mentioned in regard to region 1 :-).

I can tell you, as someone who works in home video here in L.A., it ain't a rumor. I know for a fact that at least A Night at the Opera, The Big Store, Room Service, Go West, and At the Circus are all in the late stages of preparation by Warner's.

[Ronald Epstein]

Brian,

Great News, except ignoring Night At The Opera,
all the Marx Brothers titles you listed suck!

I hope the MAJOR titles, Duck Soup, Horse
Feathers, Monkey Business, Animal Crackers, A
Day At the Races and The Cocoanuts are
scheduled for release.