Animal Crackers (1930)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Victor Heerman

Writers:

George S. Kaufman (play) &
Morrie Ryskind (play) ...

Release Date:

28 August 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

The maddest comics of them all!

Plot:

Mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding.

Plot Keywords:

Party | Painting | Explorer | Marx Brothers | Theft

Cast

Groucho Marx	...	Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding
Harpo Marx	...	The Professor
Chico Marx	...	Signor Emanuel Ravelli
Zeppo Marx	...	Horatio Jamison
Lillian Roth	...	Arabella Rittenhouse
Margaret Dumont	...	Mrs. Rittenhouse
Louis Sorin	...	Roscoe W. Chandler
Hal Thompson	...	John Parker
Margaret Irving	...	Mrs. Whitehead
Kathryn Reece	...	Grace Carpenter
Robert Greig	...	Hives, the Butler
Edward Metcalf	...	Inspector Hennessy

Also Known As:

Animal crackers, l'explorateur en folie (France) [fr]
El conflicto de los Marx (Spain) [es]
Koirankeksit (Finland) [fi]
Muntra musikanter (Sweden) [sv]
Os Galhofeiros (Brazil) [pt]
Sucharki w ksztalcie zwierzat (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

97 min | Argentina:98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:T | Argentina:Atp | Portugal:M/6 | South Korea:All | Australia:G | Germany:o.Al. | UK:U | USA:G (1974 re-release)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The film was re-released to theaters before being released to television. Groucho Marx' attended the premiere.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening credits, the first name of Groucho's character, Captain Spaulding, is spelled "Jeffrey". Moments later in newspaper clip, his first name is spelled "Geoffrey."

Quotes:

Capt. Spaulding: Do you mind if I don't smoke?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Devil's Rejects (2005)

Soundtrack:

Hello, I Must Be Going

strangely modern and modernly strange

Judging by the script, you'd never believe that "Animal Crackers" is over seventy years old. Think of all the "postmodern" things that happen in this movie: Groucho directly addresses the audience to apologize for a bad joke; Harpo shoots a gun at a statue, only to see the statue come to life and return fire; and Margaret Dumont freezes in time while Groucho has a "strange interlude" and rambles to the audience about the perils of marriage and living with your folks! Of course, the absolutely ancient and decaying print will remind you that "Animal Crackers" is older than the hills, but otherwise, it's much fresher and weirder than the stuff that passes for comedy today.

Like "The Cocoanuts," this movie is based on a play, and as such it is considerably longer and stagier than most of the later Marx movies. The pace does drag a bit towards the end, especially since the plot disappears (along with Zeppo) for long segments at a time. But many of the individual segments are classic, including the often (and rightly) praised bridge game and Harpo's gag with the cutlery-filled sleeves. Even the music segments hold up well, particularly Chico's piano routine that gets savaged by Groucho.

Interestingly, there is a prominent romantic subplot to this film, which puts paid to the fallacy that Marx Brothers movies didn't have romances until MGM got its hands on them. However, the romance isn't nearly as intrusive or annoying here as in their later vehicles, so there's still plenty of reason to be annoyed with good old MGM...