Marx Bros. Collection-Worth a blind buy? (1 Viewer)

[Steve Christou]

Rufus T.Firefly: Not that I care, but where is your husband?

Mrs.Teasdale: Why, he's dead.

Rufus T.Firefly: I bet he's just using that as an excuse.

Mrs.Teasdale: I was with him to the very end.

Rufus T.Firefly: No wonder he passed away.

Mrs.Teasdale: I held him in my arms and kissed him.

Rufus T.Firefly: Oh, I see, then it was murder. Will you marry me? Did he leave you any money? Answer the second question first.


I love the Marx Bros, my favorite screen comedians and IMO Duck Soup was their funniest, most perfect comedy.

A Night at the Opera is the best of this collection. But I prefer their Paramount comedies, funnier and zanier than the more expensive musical-comedies they did for MGM.

 

[John Hodson]

I'll agree with that while adding that this is, IMHO, another stand out set from Warners - price, presentation and quality and a lesson for other studios on how to treat their classic catalogue (my head's still spinning from the review at dvdfile.com - "other than providing a social analysis of its time, A Day at the Races doesn't really offer too much" - and the comments at thedigitalbits.com - "This five-disc set... (is) really for Marx fans only. I, for one, am a Marx Brothers fan and I'm glad this set is on DVD, but I wish it was a bit better.)"

---
So many films, so little time...

 

[Chris Bardon]

Resurrecting this thread because of something I noticed on thedigitalbits this morning-they posted cover art for the "Marx Bros silver screen collection". Does this mean that there's another set coming out with the rest of the films, or just a new package of the firswt release? The bits linked to an amazon page with no real information about what films were included.

 

[Vincent Matis]

Chris,

That's another boxset:
http://homevideo.universalstudios.co...?childId=34933

Cheers,

Vincent

 

[Eric Peterson]

Does anyone have definitive proof that this is really going to be a 6 Disc set? With Universal's bargain-barrel attitude lately, I'm expecting these films to be crammed on 2, maybe 3 discs, but the link says 6 discs. That's almost excessive in the other directions since these films are barely an hour long each. Even WB fit two films on a single sided/double density disc for the films with few extras.

I have the original Image boxset and would love to unload it now, while it still has some value, but I have an extremely nervous stomach about doing so.

I have a real hard time believing that Universal is going to release each of these films on a seperate disc, especially with the way they are currently handling A&C, The monsters, etc...

Anybody seen anything concrete?

 

[Richard Kim]

Having never seen a Marx Bros. film (yes, shameful I know), should I buy the Universal set before the WB set?

 

[John Whittle]

I don't know if you benefit from watching them in order. The later films are much more polished and made with larger bugets. Also the technology of talking pictures had advanced and the sound is much better.

I hope that Universal has done some restoration work on these titles, the source material for the Image releases was marginal at best. They were the prints we'd all watched for years complete with splices, marks, scratches, etc.

I really hope that the finegrains are in better shape and that Universal puts a little money into fixing the picture and especially the sound!

John

 

[Ronald Epstein]

ATTENTION!

If you are deciding between the current Warner
Brothers collection -or- the upcoming Universal
collection....

...take it from the world's biggest Marx Brothers
fan (that's me).....

Buy the upcoming Universal set

The Marx Brothers were in their prime when they
filmed their 3 best features: Horesfeathers,
Monkey Business and Duck Soup. They
are the funniest of all the Marx Brothers films
ever made and a MUST SEE for anyone unfamiliar
with them.

While the current Warner Brothers set has the two
gems, Night At the Opera and A Day At The
Races, I don't think they are as funny as the
earlier Marx Brothers efforts found on the Universal
set.

Buy the upcoming UNIVERSAL set FIRST. Watch Monkey
Business, Horsefeathers and Duck Soup. At
that point you can move on to the other features.

 

[Conrad_SSS]

To each his own...while there's no denying that HORSE FEATHERS and DUCK SOUP are terrific Marxian masterpieces, I think MONKEY BUSINESS is only so-so, and COCOANUTS and ANIMAL CRACKERS are creaky (but interesting).

My opinion is that A NIGHT AT THE OPERA is the Marx Bros.' greatest film, but don't take my word for it. GROUCHO thought it was their best film as well.

He ought to know...

:wink:

 

[Planet_jake]

I always thought that Groucho considered 'A Day at the Races' to be thier best film.

 

[JustinCleveland]

Groucho was a shill, he thought every film was their best

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

It was actually intended to be a solo Harpo film. Then they put Chico in place of another character, and wrote a very small role for Groucho and BANG instant Marx Brothers film.

I change my mind daily about whether Duck Soup or Night At The Opera is their best film. They're both great.
Horse Feathers is excellent, and was the first Marx Bros film I ever saw - I was 10 years old, and I had to help my mother organise some neighbourhood dinner thing, but every chance I got, I would run into the lounge and watch some more of this film.
Monkey Business from memory (it's been a while) is great on the ship, a bit half-hearted on-shore.
But they're all worth watching. Even the least of the Marx films have some moments of brilliance.