Love Happy dvd movie.|
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List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $12.99 You Save: $1.99 Features • Black & White • DVD-Video • NTSC In Theaters : 03 March, 1950 DVD Release : 15 June, 2004 |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | Not as awful as I'd remembered it |
| This was the first Marx Brothers movie I ever saw, and because of that, for quite some time I had the wrong impression of them, judging them by this pale weak mediocre movie. Thankfully, in the years since I've become familiar with their other 12 films and have realised that what I first saw was not at all representative of their true talents, and the reason why 'Love Happy' is so weak and unrepresentative. If someone goes into the viewing experience expecting a Marx Brothers movie, s/he'll likely be as disappointed and turned off as I was, but if one knows that it's essentially a solo vehicle for Harpo, a project in which his brothers just happen to star also, one will probably feel more kindly towards it.
I get the feeling that if this had stayed Harpo's solo project, and his brothers hadn't been roped into appearing as well since the studio thought it would never sell otherwise, it could have been at least a halfway decent and fun little movie. It might not have been a great movie, but it also wouldn't have fallen as flat as the end result ended up doing. I feel bad for him, knowing how long he'd wanted to do a solo film and how much this project meant to him, only to have it fail so miserably, so much so he never even mentioned the film in his memoirs. And the scenes where he appears alone are mostly quite good and funny, one last glimpse of the mischievous sprite, a really good screen farewell (not counting 'The Story of Mankind'). Although it is a bit disconcerting to see some of the closeups of him, where the illusion of this ageless clown gives way to the realisation that he was in his early sixties at the time and no longer as (relatively) young as he'd been at the peak of their career. Although appearing older didn't really hurt Groucho--he just went from a dirty young man to a dirty old man. He didn't really serve much of a purpose in this film, though, although he's as great as ever in the scenes he does get. (I've heard it mentioned that the wackier his name his, the funnier and wackier the film will be. Here his name is Sam Grunion, and this film is even worse than 'Room Service,' where his name was Gordon Miller.) The major problem with this movie isn't really that the three brothers never get an entire scene together (though it does seem wasteful to have them all in the same movie yet never put them all together at the same time), but that it's just not consistent. Again, if this had remained Harpo's solo film, there probably wouldn't have been so many needless subplots or storylines that we never see really tied up or ended satisfactorily. The film is also marred by too many musical numbers, something that also hurt many of their post-Paramount films. They contribute nothing to the storyline, although I suppose that a song like "Who Stole That Jam?" isn't quite as nightmare-enducing as "The Tenement Symphony." We also have the requisite pseudo-Zeppo and the romantic subplot, although at least the pseudo-Zeppo in this picture isn't as actively annoying or nauseating as the ones in 'At the Circus' or 'The Big Store.' Even so, the viewer never really feels connected to these secondary characters, because unlike the romantic couples in 'A Night at the Opera' and 'A Day at the Races,' they're not really fully integrated into the plot surrounding the brothers, while at the same time they take up too much of the plot. Most people don't watch the Marx Brothers' movies because they want to see secondary characters taking up all the action! And there are times when one just feels like they're too old to still be doing this anymore, because it's just getting silly for men who are in their late fifties and early sixties to still be going on like this and doing their old act. A particularly vivid example is the scene where Harpo is miming to Chico that Maggie is in trouble. The pantomime scene in ADATR was funny and original, and the one in 'A Night in Casablanca' wasn't quite as funny or fresh, but it seemed right since there were so many scenes and gags in that picture hearkening back to things from their earlier films, like a poignant summing up of their entire career. Here it just goes on way too long, and gets extremely embarrassing and painful to watch. Now I understand why some people feel that the pantomime scene in ADATR marked the end of Harpo as a character who didn't talk and the beginning of him as one who couldn't talk. Even so, in spite of the problems, there are enough funny scenes and gags for this movie to not be a complete waste. It's still the weakest of their movies, but even a film where they never appear together at the same time still has some of that old magic and is better than much of what passes for comedy today. Just don't let it be your first Marx Brothers movie. |
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