Review of Animal Crackers (1930) by Xgary X — 03 Feb 2010

Famous explorer Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding returns from the dark continent to attend the unveiling of a work of art, but it is stolen from under their noses. Animal Crackers may not be the strongest of the Marx brothers films as it's firmly anchored to the stage, basically set in its entirety in the same room but it still definitely has its moments.

The earlier part of the film spends far too much time on the farcical plot and not enough on Groucho who is obviously the star of the show. Some of Chico and Harpo's antics are a little hit and miss, some of the routines outstaying their welcome somewhat (the card game in particular) and even some of Groucho's rants get positively surreal (maybe their context has been lost in the sands of time!) It certainly gets better as it goes on though, the Groucho/Chico gags a stand out and by the last scene I was LOL-ing my heart out.

And at least Zeppo doesn't sing in this one...