Hot on the heels of the brothers' success On Broadway, they finally took the plunge and decided to begin a career in the movies. Actually, their movie careers had a false start several years earlier with a two-reel silent film called Humor Risk. As has been pointed out elsewhere, this film (produced around 1920) was "more risk than humor" and it was never shown to the general public. But by 1929, the Marxes' standing on the stage was rock solid and motion pictures were the next logical step. So, while performing nightly in the Broadway production of Animal Crackers, they began shooting their first feature, The Cocoanuts, at Paramount's Kaufman Astoria Studios on Long Island. (These studios are still used for various film and television productions and the complex is also the home of The American Museum of the Moving Image.)
Between the release of The Cocoanuts in 1929 and their thirteenth and last film, Love Happy, twenty years later, the Marxes went through a lot of changes. Changes in studios, writers, directors, producers...but the charm is always there. Throughout their films, good or bad, they were always the Marx Brothers. Who could ask for more? (Each movie link below features a brief description along with a screen shot or related graphic, plus links to audio files and transcriptions of scenes.)
- The Cocoanuts
Paramount Pictures, 1929
- Written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
- Directed by Joseph Santley and Robert Florey
- Produced by Sam Harris and Monta Bell
- Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
- Supporting Cast: Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton, Cyril Ring, Kay Francis, Margaret Dumont, and Basil Raysdael
- Animal Crackers
Paramount Pictures, 1930
- Written by George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Bert Kalmar, and Harry Ruby
- Directed by Victor Heerman
- Supporting Cast: Lillian Roth, Margaret Dumont, Louis Sorin, Hal Thompson, Margaret Irving, Kathryn Reece, Robert Greig, and Edward Metcalf
- Monkey Business
Paramount Pictures, 1931
- Written by S.J. Perelman and Will B. Johnstone, with additional material by Arthur Sheekman
- Directed by Norman McLeod
- Supporting Cast: Rockcliffe Fellowes, Harry Woods, Thelma Todd, Ruth Hall, and Tom Kennedy
- Horse Feathers
Paramount Pictures, 1932
- Written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S.J. Perelman, and Will B. Johnstone
- Directed by Norman McLeod
- Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
- Supporting Cast: Thelma Todd and David Landau
- Duck Soup
Paramount Pictures, 1933
- Written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Arthur Sheekman, and Nat Perrin
- Directed by Leo McCarey
- Supporting Cast: Margaret Dumont, Raquel Torres, Louis Calhern, Edmund Breese, Leonid Kinsley, Charles B. Middleton, and Edgar Kennedy
- A Night At The Opera
MGM, 1935
- Story by James Kevin McGuiness, screenplay by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
- Directed by Sam Wood
- Produced by Irving Thalberg
- Supporting Cast: Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones, Walter King, Siegfried Rumann, Margaret Dumont, Edward Keane, and Robert Emmet O'Connor
- A Day At The Races
MGM, 1937
- Story by Robert Pirosh and George Seaton, screenplay by Robert Pirosh, George Seaton, and George Oppenheimer
- Directed by Sam Wood
- Produced by Irving Thalberg
- Supporting Cast: Allan Jones, Maureen O'Sullivan, Margaret Dumont, Leonard Ceeley, Douglas Dumbrille, Esther Muir, Sig Rumann, and Robert Middlemass
- Room Service
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 1938
- Play by John Murray and Allan Boretz, screenplay by Morrie Ryskind
- Directed by William A. Seiter
- Produced by Pandro S. Berman
- Supporting Cast: Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, Frank Albertson
- At The Circus
MGM, 1939
- Screenplay by Irving Brecher
- Directed by Edward Buzzell
- Produced by Mervyn LeRoy
- Supporting Cast: Kenny Baker, Florence Rice, Eve Arden, Margaret Dumont, Nat Pendleton, Fritz Feld, James Burke, Jerry Merenghi, Barnett Parker
- Go West
MGM, 1940
- Screenplay by Irving Brecher
- Directed by Edward Buzzell
- Produced by Jack Cummings
- Supporting Cast: John Carroll, Diana Lewis, Eve Wilson, Walter Woolf King, Robert Barrat, June MacCloy
- The Big Store
MGM, 1941
- Story by Nat Perrin, screenplay by Sid Kuller, Hal Fimberg, and Ray Golden
- Directed by Charles Reisner
- Produced by Louis K. Sidney
- Supporting cast: Margaret Dumont, Douglass Dumbrille, Tony Martin, Virginia Grey, William Tannen, Marion Martin, Virginia O'Brien, Henry Armetta, Anna Demetrio, Paul Stanton, Russell Hicks, Bradley Page, Charles Holland
- A Night In Casablanca
Independent, Released by United Artists, 1946
- Screenplay by Joseph Fields and Roland Kibbee, additional material by Frank Tashlin
- Directed by Archie L. Mayo
- Produced by David L. Loew
- Supporting Cast: Sig Rumann, Lisette Verea, Charles Drake, Lois Collier, Dan Seymour, Lewis Russell, Frederick Gierman, Harro Mellor, David Hoffman, and Hall Harvey
- Love Happy
Independent, Released by United Artists, 1949
- Story by Harpo Marx, screenplay by Frank Tashlin and Mac Benoff
- Directed by David Miller
- Produced by Lester Cowan
- Presented by Mary Pickford
- Supporting cast: Vera-Ellen, Ilona Massey, Marion Hutton, Raymond Burr, Melville Cooper, Paul Valentine, Leon Belasco, Eric Blore, Bruce Gordon, and Marilyn Monroe
©1995-2006, Frank M. Bland
The pages under www.marx-brothers.org/whyaduck were originally created by Frank Bland for his site www.whyaduck.com.
Frank did kindly give me permission to use the contents of his site.
If you find text referring to "I" or "me" on pages under www.marx-brothers.org/whyaduck, this will usually refer to Frank.
