And Then Suddenly, Out of Nowhere...Randomness
Today's review: A Day At the Races.
The poster for this movie (besides having a bit of shocking innuendo) claimed that this was 1937's "BIG laugh, music, and girl show!" It's a tagline that sounds more fitting for a musical than a Marx Brothers comedy. However, it's also very fitting, because it's the musical bits that really stand out in this movie. And unfortunately, they aren't memorable in a good way.
If you took out the musical aspects, the plot itself is just...average, for the Brothers. There's a sanitarium run by the leading lady that's in danger of being taken over by some shady characters, and so they call for a Dr. Hackenbush (Groucho) to keep the wealthiest patient (Margaret Dumont, obviously) around. Meanwhile, our leading man has bought a horse that he hopes can earn enough money to keep the sanitarium afloat. So there's a long stretch where creditors are chasing after the heroes, the bad guys are trying to prove Hackenbush is a fraud (he's actually a horse doctor), and the Brothers are causing distractions to keep from getting caught. It all comes to a head in the big race, which is played relatively straight, and actually works all right. There are also some good routines, like Hackenbush's doing a bit of telephone trickery, or Harpo and Chico interrupting a romantic interlude. If this had been the main story, it would have been an ok Marx Brothers movie. It's not a classic, but it entertains well enough.
But the musical numbers are just bizarre, and not always for the reasons you'd think. To begin with, this is the longest Marx Brother movie to date, and that's because the musical numbers go on forever. Now, the first one, set in a nightclub, is at least vaguely understandable. It's a chance to give Harpo and Chico their musical moments, let the lead sing a love song, and sets up a few events for later in the movie. In theory, it could have been like the same moment in the Night at the Opera scene*. But instead, they went for grandeur. The song involves fountains, boats, bridges, trees, and a ballet. It also involves two orchestras, one of which is in tails and playing strings and brass, and the other set is wearing Zorro hats and playing xylophones and guitars. Given that the song is about Venice, none of this makes a great deal of sense. Even worse is that they've set things up for a gorgeous setpiece involving the dancers' reflection in the perfectly clear water, but the choreography is terrible, just a bunch of girls tossing their skirts around. And while the solo dancer is definitely very talented, she leaves you feeling a bit dizzy. It's all too much of a muchness, and thus it's actually a relief when Chico and Harpo get their turn. At least the unearthing of the harp is creative, and Chico's enthusiastic playing actually demonstrates how technically proficient he was.
The second number, on the other hand, is just awkward all around, particularly for modern audiences. While it starts out all right (a "cheer up" song between the romantic leads), Harpo walks out as the song ends and stumbles into a group of African-American children playing. Suddenly, the entire population of the shanty town (and it is a shanty town, with poorly made houses and barnyard animals everwhere) starts singing about how Harpo is Gabriel. Then it transitions into a song about how everyone's got rhythm and can dance their blues away. None of this happens organically; it just feels like they wanted to literally jazz things up by putting in blues, gospel, and jazz into their movie. There aren't any horrendously awful stereotypes in there, but it's not a crowning moment of racial acceptance. And to top it all off, in order to escape from the bad guys, the Marx Brothers have to resort to, you guessed it, blackface. If you removed that bit (please do) and did a bit of tweaking with Harpo's initial involvement, the whole scene could be put in another movie, since the Brothers are barely involved at all. I'm not sure you'd want to put it anywhere, though, since it doesn't seem to fit in anyplace. Worse, there's not much more to be said once you're done goggling at the musical numbers.
My best guesses as to why things turned out the way they did is that either the studio was trying to ape other musical extravaganzas and crammed it into another proven success, or they realized that they had a mediocre movie on their hands and tried to jazz it up. Whatever the cause, the end result feels too disjointed, but not in the same way as the Brothers' early work. It's an unfortunate setback, but at least it doesn't damage any reputations.
*Strangely, as the movie fades in on the racetrack near the end, the "Cosi Cosa" song is playing. It's a nice throwback, but doesn't really seem to fit. Another indication that the movie's a bit slapdash.
The poster for this movie (besides having a bit of shocking innuendo) claimed that this was 1937's "BIG laugh, music, and girl show!" It's a tagline that sounds more fitting for a musical than a Marx Brothers comedy. However, it's also very fitting, because it's the musical bits that really stand out in this movie. And unfortunately, they aren't memorable in a good way.
If you took out the musical aspects, the plot itself is just...average, for the Brothers. There's a sanitarium run by the leading lady that's in danger of being taken over by some shady characters, and so they call for a Dr. Hackenbush (Groucho) to keep the wealthiest patient (Margaret Dumont, obviously) around. Meanwhile, our leading man has bought a horse that he hopes can earn enough money to keep the sanitarium afloat. So there's a long stretch where creditors are chasing after the heroes, the bad guys are trying to prove Hackenbush is a fraud (he's actually a horse doctor), and the Brothers are causing distractions to keep from getting caught. It all comes to a head in the big race, which is played relatively straight, and actually works all right. There are also some good routines, like Hackenbush's doing a bit of telephone trickery, or Harpo and Chico interrupting a romantic interlude. If this had been the main story, it would have been an ok Marx Brothers movie. It's not a classic, but it entertains well enough.
But the musical numbers are just bizarre, and not always for the reasons you'd think. To begin with, this is the longest Marx Brother movie to date, and that's because the musical numbers go on forever. Now, the first one, set in a nightclub, is at least vaguely understandable. It's a chance to give Harpo and Chico their musical moments, let the lead sing a love song, and sets up a few events for later in the movie. In theory, it could have been like the same moment in the Night at the Opera scene*. But instead, they went for grandeur. The song involves fountains, boats, bridges, trees, and a ballet. It also involves two orchestras, one of which is in tails and playing strings and brass, and the other set is wearing Zorro hats and playing xylophones and guitars. Given that the song is about Venice, none of this makes a great deal of sense. Even worse is that they've set things up for a gorgeous setpiece involving the dancers' reflection in the perfectly clear water, but the choreography is terrible, just a bunch of girls tossing their skirts around. And while the solo dancer is definitely very talented, she leaves you feeling a bit dizzy. It's all too much of a muchness, and thus it's actually a relief when Chico and Harpo get their turn. At least the unearthing of the harp is creative, and Chico's enthusiastic playing actually demonstrates how technically proficient he was.
The second number, on the other hand, is just awkward all around, particularly for modern audiences. While it starts out all right (a "cheer up" song between the romantic leads), Harpo walks out as the song ends and stumbles into a group of African-American children playing. Suddenly, the entire population of the shanty town (and it is a shanty town, with poorly made houses and barnyard animals everwhere) starts singing about how Harpo is Gabriel. Then it transitions into a song about how everyone's got rhythm and can dance their blues away. None of this happens organically; it just feels like they wanted to literally jazz things up by putting in blues, gospel, and jazz into their movie. There aren't any horrendously awful stereotypes in there, but it's not a crowning moment of racial acceptance. And to top it all off, in order to escape from the bad guys, the Marx Brothers have to resort to, you guessed it, blackface. If you removed that bit (please do) and did a bit of tweaking with Harpo's initial involvement, the whole scene could be put in another movie, since the Brothers are barely involved at all. I'm not sure you'd want to put it anywhere, though, since it doesn't seem to fit in anyplace. Worse, there's not much more to be said once you're done goggling at the musical numbers.
My best guesses as to why things turned out the way they did is that either the studio was trying to ape other musical extravaganzas and crammed it into another proven success, or they realized that they had a mediocre movie on their hands and tried to jazz it up. Whatever the cause, the end result feels too disjointed, but not in the same way as the Brothers' early work. It's an unfortunate setback, but at least it doesn't damage any reputations.
*Strangely, as the movie fades in on the racetrack near the end, the "Cosi Cosa" song is playing. It's a nice throwback, but doesn't really seem to fit. Another indication that the movie's a bit slapdash.