Review of Animal Crackers (1930) by Guy G — 21 Feb 2012

[B+/85] This delirious paragon of Marx Brothers anarchy and gleeful nonsense seems pulled right of the Vaudeville stage with a kind of wonderful cavalier, devil-may-care relish. From the get-go it's clear that the plot and personages are merely slapdash cardboard backdrop for the zany and unpredictable parade of fun that ensues: a mayhem of comedy sketches, scatter-fire jokes, pantomime tomfoolery, and a grab-bag of all kinds of gags, as well as romantic and humorous musical interludes; but the brilliant thrust of the overarching attitude (stretching sometimes to the point of groaning inanity) feels like genuine liberation.

Many of the quips and one-liners were so stupidly clever and durable, they have never ceased being repeated over eighty years. And though some of that stuff will no doubt come off as old-hat, there's no disqualifying the genius at work here, where the Marx Brothers assumed the grandeur of impish, subversive princelings.