Marx Brothers Motion Pictures Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Cocoanuts

'The Cocoanuts' was adapted from the Broadway musical by George S. Kaufman, and it was the first talkie to credit more than one director, namely Joseph Stanley and Robert Florey. It pioneered many techniques that became standard, such as overhead shots of dancers in the kaleidoscope pattern -- Busby Berkely was *not* the first to do this! But they filmed only in the wee hours of the morning because the soundstage was not soundproof and they wanted to avoid traffic noise!

Filmed in Astoria, NY, 'The Cocaonuts' is set in a Florida resort hotel which the Marx Brothers, who are initially con artists, save from scandal, but not before a lot of chaos and mayhem of course. The Florida land boom of the 1920s is satirized, and selections from Bizet's 'Carmen' are parodied.

The Marx Brothers detested the film version of 'The Cocoanuts', and they offered to buy the negatives from Paramount so as to burn them (Paramount declined). Harpo's red wig looks black in this film; so in subsequent films a lighter shade of red was chosen (which was mistaken for blonde by the public).

Answer: Animal Crackers

After a lot of zaniness the missing painting (well actually there were three of them) is returned to the Long Island Home of Mrs. Rittenhouse (Dumont) and the bad guy (Harpo) is apprehended, sort of.

In the movie, Groucho parodies Eugene O'Neill's plays with strange asides. He also famously quips, "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know." Then he says, "Then, we tried to remove the tusks, ... but they were embedded in so firmly, we couldn't budge them. Of course, in Alabama the Tusk-a-loosa. But that's entirely ir-elephant to what I was talking about."

The song "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" became the theme for Groucho's radio/TV game show 'You Bet Your Life' (1947-61). The telephone that Harpo chewed on was made of chocolate. 'Animal Crackers' was released after the Hays Production Code became effective, so censors deleted many of Groucho's bawdier lines from the original musical play. When Margaret Dumont sings, "He was the only white man to cover every acre," Groucho was to respond with this (censored) line: "I think I'll try to make her."

Because of legal issues regarding the soundtrack, the film could not be legally shown in U.S. cinemas 1953-1974, and it was not released for TV broadcast until 1979.

Answer: Monkey Business

"Monkey Business" was the first Marx Brothers film produced in Hollywood, and the first written expressly for the cinema; the previous ones were adaptations of plays. It's also the first to lack Margaret Dumont's presence.

One famous line of Groucho's is to Thelma Todd: "You're a woman who's been getting nothing but dirty breaks. Well, we can clean and tighten your brakes, but you'll have to stay in the garage all night." Unfortunately, in 1935 she was found dead in her car, engine running, inside the garage.

The Marx Brothers have no character names in this movie, but are just credited as The Stowaways. At one point concealed in barrels they sing "Sweet Adeline" in barbershop harmony. When they try to get off the ship they use a passport stolen from Maurice Chevalier (as himself), and must impersonate him. The Brothers also manage to rescue a kidnap victim (Thelma Todd) after leaving the ship. The film was based on routines the Marx Brothers perfected in the vaudeville days, and despite the lack of plot, it was a box office smash. A sequel was planned involving more gangsters and kidnapping, but after the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the idea was scrapped.

Answer: Horse Feathers

'Horse Feathers' was Paramount's highest-grossing film of 1932. The Marx Brothers (including Zeppo) starred with Thelma Todd. "Horse feathers" is 1930s slang for nonsense. In the password scene at the speakeasy, Chico gives Harpo four guesses. Exasperated after three, he says, "You can't come in here unless you say 'swordfish'." Groucho guessed it.

Harpo and Chico end up having to enroll in the university, and of course make a mess of it. The film hinges on a college football match but much of it lampoons Prohibition. ESPN considered the film's climax, in the which heroes win the game through the old hidden ball gag, one of the best scenes in football movie history. There is a lot of surreal comedy, such as when asked to cut the cards, Harpo pulls a hatchet from under his coat and chops the deck in two.

Connie (Thelma Todd) is "college widow", meaning she hangs around college campuses and dates the male students and is considered "easy". Connie gets involved with all four Marx Brothers (or rather they involve themselves with her) as well their antagonist. The movie was censored to the extent that a great many parts are now lost. Zeppo plays Groucho's son, though Zeppo was only 11 years younger than his brother.

Answer: Duck Soup

'Duck Soup' lampoons nationalism and compares war to a minstrel show. The spiritual parody "All God's Chillun Got Guns" was almost removed for fear of offending African Americans. "This means war!" was repeated many times throughout the film, though the Marx Brothers did not originate it. (Warner Bros. would eventually borrow the phrase for its 'Looney Tunes' characters.) Sylvania is a thinly disguised parody of Italy, and Benito Mussolini banned "Duck Soup" for its subversive overtones.

This was the Marxes' fifth and final movie with Paramount. In 1930s slang, "duck soup" meant something easy to do, and the phrase was also chosen to continue with the animal titles of previous films.

In the famous mirror scene, spy Pinky (Harpo) is dressed as Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) and pretends to be his reflection by matching his every move. The Marx Brothers perfected it but did not invent it; Harold Lloyd had already used this act (or something like it) in 'The Marathon' (1919) as did Charlie Chaplin in 'The Floorwalker' (1916). Harpo did it decades later wtih Lucille Ball in an 'I Love Lucy' episode.

Answer: A Night at the Opera

Kitty Carlisle, known later as a TV gameshow panelist, was a trained operatic singer, and in the film she did really sing, but for some reason the director overdubbed her voice with another soprano. In the contract scene, Groucho comments on the sanity clause, to which Chico replies, "You can't fool me! There ain't no Sanity Clause!" There's also lots of topical humor. Driftwood (Groucho) asks Fiorello (Chico) whether he knows what duplicates are. "Sure, those five kids up in Canada" (the Dionne Quintuplets).

The movie was originally set in Milan, Italy, but the title card indicating this was removed when the movie was re-released during World War II. It is now lost.

Producer Irving Thalberg influenced the Marx Brothers to attack only villains in this movie rather than everyone who crossed their path, unlike their previous films.

If you watch 'A Night at the Opera' for no other reason, watch it for the famous stateroom scene. Groucho is in a cabin the size of a janitor's closet with his steamer trunk that takes up most of the room. Three stowaways pop out of it and won't leave until they are fed. By the end of the scene, the tiny room is filled with over a dozen people climbing over each other. "Is it my imagination," says Groucho, "or is it getting crowded in here?"

This was the first Marx Bros. film without Zeppo. Harpo was 47 at the time and did his own stunts. (He later regretted that.) The original script for this movie was rejected by Irving Thalberg, but it later became Mel Brooks' 'The Producers' (1967).

The British rock band Queen named their studio album 'A Night at the Opera' (1975), featuring the hit "Bohemian Rhapsody", after this film.

Answer: A Day at the Races

Groucho's character, actually a veterinarian, must save the Standish Sanitarium from being turned into a casino, in part by treating Mrs. Emily Upjohn (Dumont) so that she will make a large donation. His name was supposed to be "Quackenbush", but producers feared lawsuit from real Dr. Quackenbushes. Hi-hat is a horse entered in a steeplechase competition to raise money for the sanitarium. Whitey's Lindy Hoppers dance to "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" and got a nomination for an Oscar for Best Dance Direction (which no longer exists).

In the original release, the ballet scene was blue-tinted and the water carnival scene was sepia-toned. The film was a big hit, but during production producer Irving Thalberg died, and many critics believe that none of the later Marx Brothers were as good as the earlier ones.

Answer: At the Circus

Former silent-film star Buster Keaton created elaborate, complex gags for the movie, which the Marx Brothers resisted. The movie features circus-riding ballerinas performing bareback on horses (many of whom had been rodeo cowgirls).

One actor wore a gorilla skin. Growing too hot, he punched holes for ventilation. The owner of the suit angrily removed it. The studio could only find a much smaller orangutan skin, and so a little person had to wear it. Groucho once told Dick Cavett he got hundreds of letters asking how come the gorilla got smaller in the second half of the picture!

Answer: Room Service

'Room Service' is not usually ranked among the Marx Brothers' best films. For the first time, the Marx Brothers starred in a movie adapted from a play not written originally for them, which may explain why it lacks the usual zaniness, and it doesn't take advantage of their many stock characters, gags, and routines. Lucille Ball has a supporting role as Christine Marlowe, who arranges a backer for the boys.

'Room Service' was the only Marx Brothers film made at RKO Studios. Lucille Ball got the last laugh, as she and her husband Desi Arnaz eventually bought RKO Studios. They renamed it Desilu Studios, whence came 'Star Trek' (1966) and other television classics.

Answer: The Story of Mankind

In this romanticized look at history, Groucho plays Peter Minuit, who bought Manhattan Island from the Lenape people. Harpo plays a mute Isaac Newton, and Chico is a monk. (The three brothers never appear in the same scene, a rarity.) Other stars include Peter Lorre as Nero, Dennis Hopper as Napoleon, Francis X. Bushman as Moses, Agnes Moorehead as Elizabeth I, and Virginia Mayo as Cleopatra. Irwin Allen directed this Technicolor fantasy.

Dutch-American journalist Hendrik Willem van Loon wrote and illustrated the children's book 'The Story of Mankind' in 1921; it won the Newberry Medal the following year. A doomsday device has been invented on Earth, and a celestial tribunal puts mankind, represented by Ronald Colman, on trial. The prosecutor is Mr. Scratch (Vincent Price), the Devil. Both Colman and Price make their case using examples from world history, including ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome; the Renaissance and Enlightenment; up to the mid-20th century. You'll have to read the book or watch the movie to find out the tribunal's decision!