**I would love to send a copy of the film to Vladimir Putin. Would he understand the gesture?**
Who would have thought that this film is almost a hundred years old? I just saw it, and it is fresher and lusher than many vegetables in the supermarket! Many people no longer know who the Marx Brothers are, but a hundred years ago, at a time when there were no internet memes (or the internet), they were the kings of comedy, and it's always worth seeing what they did. They passed away a long time ago, but they left us a polite, intelligent, sharp, accessible humor that the whole family can see.
The film was released in 1933, at a time dominated by the imminent threats of war. It reminds us of our own time, doesn't it? One hundred years later, we continue to make the same mistakes and show God that we have learned nothing from them. The film makes fun of this by giving us a portrait of a bankrupt country led by an incompetent man, very vain, arrogant and surrounded by sycophants who treat him as a savior of the nation. It could be Mussolini, or Hitler... and the explicit criticism of European dictators could not be sharper today, if we think about some tyrants of our time.
The film is dominated by the four Marxes: Zeppo, in his last appearance as a member of the group, has a much more solid character than usual and as a result we never feel that he is too much in the film. Chico also does very well. Harpo does what he's used us to, managing to be funny without saying a word and putting all his tricks as a mime and vaudeville clown to good use. Groucho, as usual, intelligently leads the group. The king of ready answers couldn't have a quicker wit or a sharper tongue. In addition, we have Margaret Dumont in a skillful and healthy collaboration with them.
Good sets and very well-imagined costumes help us compose Freedonia, a republic on the verge of collapse, bankruptcy and a foreign invasion. There is an unbelievable dose of anthological scenes in this film, from the motorcycle joke with the sidecar to the joke with the mirror. The black-and-white cinematography is sharp, well-shot, and the film doesn't look as old as it actually is. The soundtrack adds the finishing touch.
Ok, so I’m probably in a tiny minority here but I simply didn’t find the Marx brothers’ style of comedy particularly funny, and this didn’t really do much to change that view. This is all set in the tiny nation of “Freedonia” that urgently needs $20 millions to avoid bankruptcy. They can get it from a wealthy benefactress, “Mrs. Teasdale” (Margaret Dumont) but only if they agree to appoint “Firefly” (Groucho) as their new Prime Minister. Of course he hasn’t a clue, but she is sweet on him and so he is left to run/ruin this nation whilst the scheming ambassador “Trentino” (Louis Calhern) from the neighbouring “Sylvania” plots invasion. Of course, “Firefly” doesn’t come alone, but has the mischievous “Pinky” (Harpo) and “Chicolini” (Chico) in tow too, as they cause their own degree of mayhem with the local lemonade seller (Edgar Kennedy). Visually, what plays out now actually reminded me a little of “A Woman Commands” (1932) only augmented - if that is the word - by a sequence of perfectly choreographed and executed slapstick that I’m afraid just didn’t make me laugh as they deliver episodically for an hour or so. Zeppo has a go at the straighter role, but his “Bob” character barely features, and Raquel Torres brings some voluptuous glamour with her plotting “Vera”, but again on a sort of blink and you’ll miss it basis leaving this dominated by a Groucho whose alleged satire I struggled to appreciate. Sorry, but I didn’t find this anything special at all.
