{"id":19025,"date":"2011-08-01T09:56:26","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T16:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19025"},"modified":"2020-12-21T22:48:46","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T05:48:46","slug":"animal-crackers-1930","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19025","title":{"rendered":"Animal Crackers (1930)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Now then, Captain, I think between the two of us we can solve the mystery of the stolen painting &#8212; especially if you go home.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19026\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Poster.jpg 497w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA world-renowned African explorer (Groucho Marx) is feted by a society woman (Margaret Dumond), who is eager to show off a valuable painting which various people &#8212; including her own daughter (Lillian Roth) &#8212; are intent on replacing with a forgery.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bourgeois Society<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Marx Brothers<\/li>\n<li>Musicals<\/li>\n<li>Play Adaptations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Animal Crackers<\/em> was the Marx Brothers&#8217; second movie, and &#8212; like their debut film, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18991\"><em>The Cocoanuts<\/em><\/a> &#8212; also a filmed version of one of their hit Broadway musicals. Peary notes that when it was re-released in 1974 &#8220;amid great fanfare&#8221; (Paramount had allowed its licenses to expire, so it hadn&#8217;t been shown in theaters since the 1950s), &#8220;critics were so happy to see another Marx Brothers picture that they overpraised it&#8221;. He argues (and I agree) that &#8220;overall it&#8217;s a disappointing film, where the innocuous art-theft plot gets in the way of the comedy&#8221;. With that said, I disagree with Peary that the film &#8220;come[s] to a dead halt when Chico plays the piano&#8221; (I&#8217;m actually tickled by Groucho and Dumont&#8217;s reactions to his repetitive rendition of his theme song, &#8220;I&#8217;m Daffy Over You&#8221;); or when &#8220;romantic leads Hal Thompson and Lillian Roth&#8230; sing a duet&#8221; (Thompson IS instantly forgettable, but Roth &#8212; &#8220;the pretty actress-singer who&#8217;d become an alcoholic&#8221; and was later portrayed by Susan Hayward in 1955&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=21899\"><em>I&#8217;ll Cry Tomorrow<\/em><\/a> &#8212; is positively infectious, and well worth waiting for whenever she appears on-screen). <\/p>\n<p>In the remainder of his review, Peary calls out numerous &#8220;comedic highlights&#8221;, including &#8220;Groucho leading the guests in a rousing &#8216;Hooray for Captain Spaulding&#8217;, which would become his television theme song&#8221; (though all I could think about during this ditty was how much it sounds like it belongs in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta), and &#8220;Groucho recalling his trip to Africa&#8221; (&#8216;The first morning saw us up at six, breakfasted, and back in bed at seven &#8212; this was our routine for the first three months&#8217;)&#8221;. While Peary notes that it&#8217;s &#8220;a nice change of pace watching Dumont play scenes with Harpo and Chico, and not just Groucho&#8221;, I&#8217;ll admit I&#8217;m less a fan of their particular routines here &#8212; though it is a delight to see the finale of the infamous bridge scene, in which it&#8217;s revealed that Harpo has stolen Margaret Irving&#8217;s heels (nb: he shows up wearing a dress later on as well). Pun lovers, by the way, will be in absolute heaven while watching <em>Animal Crackers<\/em>; just wait until you hear the one about removing tusks in Tuscaloosa&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> See the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Animal_Crackers_%28film%29\">&#8220;Re-Release&#8221; section of Wikipedia&#8217;s article<\/a> to read more about the film&#8217;s celebrated emergence from obscurity. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plenty of appealingly surreal scenarios<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Surreal.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Surreal.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19036\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Surreal.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Surreal-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Surreal-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Groucho dictating a letter to Zeppo<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Dictating-Letter.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Dictating-Letter.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19032\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Dictating-Letter.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Dictating-Letter-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Dictating-Letter-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Chico playing his trademark song, &#8220;I&#8217;m Daffy Over You&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Chico-Playing.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Chico-Playing.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19033\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Chico-Playing.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Chico-Playing-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Animal-Crackers-Chico-Playing-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Rittenhouse<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Dumont.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Dumont.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19034\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Dumont.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Dumont-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Dumont-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Lillian Roth as Arabella<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Roth.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Roth.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19035\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Roth.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Roth-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Animal-Crackers-Roth-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Seemingly endless amusing puns and clever wordplay:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Capt. Spaulding:<\/strong> How much would you charge to run into an open manhole?<br \/>\n<strong>Ravelli:<\/strong> Just the cover charge.<br \/>\n<strong>Capt. Spaulding:<\/strong> Well, drop in sometime.<br \/>\n<strong>Ravelli:<\/strong> Sewer.<br \/>\n<strong>Capt. Spaulding:<\/strong> Well, we cleaned that up pretty well. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Capt. Spaulding:<\/strong> One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don&#8217;t know.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes &#8212; as one among many &#8220;must-see&#8221; early Marx Brothers classics. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Genuine Classic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0020640\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.nytimes.com\/movie\/review?res=9900E4DA1338E433A2575AC2A96E9C946194D6CF\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/anim.html\">FilmSite Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/67408\/animal-crackers#articles-reviews?articleId=87349\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Now then, Captain, I think between the two of us we can solve the mystery of the stolen painting &#8212; especially if you go home.&#8221; Synopsis: A world-renowned African explorer (Groucho Marx) is feted by a society woman (Margaret Dumond), who is eager to show off a valuable painting which various people &#8212; including her own daughter (Lillian Roth) &#8212; are intent on replacing with a forgery. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Bourgeois Society Comedy Marx Brothers Musicals Play Adaptations&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19025\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19025"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58953,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19025\/revisions\/58953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}