{"id":19072,"date":"2011-08-03T22:05:10","date_gmt":"2011-08-04T05:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19072"},"modified":"2020-12-21T23:08:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T06:08:05","slug":"day-at-the-races-a-1937","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19072","title":{"rendered":"Day at the Races, A (1937)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got the most peculiar talents of any doctor you ever met.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Poster.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Poster-200x300.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19073\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Poster-200x300.gif 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Poster-85x128.gif 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Poster.gif 236w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nThe assistant (Chico Marx) to the owner (Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan) of a struggling sanitarium tries to help solicit much-needed funds by hiring a horse doctor (Groucho Marx) who a wealthy hypochondriac patient (Margaret Dumont) has a crush on. Meanwhile, O&#8217;Sullivan&#8217;s boyfriend (Allan Jones) buys a racehorse, hoping that a jockey (Harpo Marx) will ride him as a money-making winner at an upcoming race.\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>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Doctors and Nurses<\/li>\n<li>Marx Brothers Films<\/li>\n<li>Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan Films<\/li>\n<li>Sam Wood Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nWhile this successful follow-up to <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19174\"><em>A Night at the Opera<\/em><\/a> is beloved by many (it was chosen by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.afi.com\/Docs\/100Years\/laughs100.pdf\">American Film Institute as the 59th funniest American film<\/a>), it nonetheless seems to subtly mark the beginning of the Marx Brothers&#8217; decline as a comedic force to be reckoned with. Irving Thalberg (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0028772\/trivia?tr=tr0796001\">an enormous supporter of the brothers at their new home of MGM Studios<\/a>) died suddenly during its production, and Groucho claimed to lose all interest in making films from this point forward &#8212; which can somehow be sensed here. All the right ingredients are certainly available, with plenty of humorously conceived interactions between the three brothers and their diverse supporting cast (including the &#8220;fifth Marx Brother&#8221;, stalwart Margaret Dumont):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Dumont.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Dumont-1024x640.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58961\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Dumont-1024x640.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Dumont-300x187.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Dumont-128x80.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Dumont-768x480.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Dumont-1536x960.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Dumont-432x270.png 432w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Dumont.png 1637w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>&#8212; but I simply didn&#8217;t find myself laughing out loud very often. Plus, at 111 minutes, the film definitely feels far too long, with numerous lengthy (and often tedious) musical dance sequences trying one&#8217;s patience. Interestingly, one such scene &#8212; in which Harpo plays a flute amidst a cast of African American stable hands (led by Ivie Anderson), singing &#8220;All God&#8217;s Chillun Got Rhythm&#8221;: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Anderson.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Anderson-1024x636.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"398\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58962\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Anderson-1024x636.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Anderson-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Anderson-128x79.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Anderson-768x477.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Anderson-1536x954.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Anderson-435x270.png 435w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Anderson.png 1651w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8212; was actually nominated for an Academy Award for Best Dance Direction, and the dancing <em>is<\/em> impressive (as long as you can get past the painfully commonplace stereotypes presented). <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plenty of humorous situations, dialogue, and one-liners:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Whitmore:<\/strong> Do you actually give those to your patients? isn&#8217;t that awfully large for a pill?<br \/>\n<strong>Dr. Hackenbush:<\/strong> Well, it was too small for a basketball, and I didn&#8217;t know what to do with it. Say, you&#8217;re awfully large for a pill yourself!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Horse-Pill2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Horse-Pill2-1024x640.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58964\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Horse-Pill2-1024x640.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Horse-Pill2-300x187.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Horse-Pill2-128x80.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Horse-Pill2-768x480.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Horse-Pill2-1536x960.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Horse-Pill2-432x270.png 432w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Day-at-the-Races-Horse-Pill2.png 1631w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though of course it&#8217;s worth a look. Listed as a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0028772\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/daya.html\">FilmSite Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitallyobsessed.com\/displaylegacy.php?ID=5966\">Digitally Obsessed Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/films\/2002\/07\/02\/a_day_at_the_races_1937_review.shtml\">BBC Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/105\/a-day-at-the-races#articles-reviews?articleId=30024\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got the most peculiar talents of any doctor you ever met.&#8221; Synopsis: The assistant (Chico Marx) to the owner (Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan) of a struggling sanitarium tries to help solicit much-needed funds by hiring a horse doctor (Groucho Marx) who a wealthy hypochondriac patient (Margaret Dumont) has a crush on. Meanwhile, O&#8217;Sullivan&#8217;s boyfriend (Allan Jones) buys a racehorse, hoping that a jockey (Harpo Marx) will ride him as a money-making winner at an upcoming race. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19072\"> 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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19072","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=19072"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58965,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19072\/revisions\/58965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}