Despite not sharing the high acclaim of Duck Soup or A Night at the Opera, this Marx Brothers film still delivers in spades; with all of the anarchic humour, witty one liners and general absurdity you’d expect.
Each of the 4 brothers adds something distinctly of their own to the mix, if you don’t find yourself what’s happening on screen one minute then there will be something right round the corner that’ll get you instead!
The opening music number is one of the most peculiar song and dance numbers you’ll ever see on screen, but its classic Groucho and if you’re anything like me it’ll be stuck in your head all day too! The token harp and piano sequences are sliced into the film as any Marx fan will have come to expect, but its not all that bad. Plus all 4 variations of “Everyone Says I Love You” work very well, from the romantic to the bizarre, see Harpo whistling to his horse to see what I mean.
The films college football and gangster sub plots adequately string the jokes together, but you never really have to worry about any of that kind of thing as they always take a bit of a back seat to the comedy, and you’ll be glad it they do with the some of the classic one liners on display. Though it is perhaps these weaker plot points that makes Horse Feathers pale in comparison to some of the other early work by the Brothers, and in some ways makes the film seem a bit forgettable.
It’s a shame that the only version of this film that exists today is incomplete; over the years due to damage, decay and censorship; however it still manages to hold up despite a few jump cuts. By the end you’ll be wanting to watch some more fantastic Marx Brothers comedy soon, I know I am!
7.5/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023027/
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