The Marx Brothers Collection (A Night at The Opera/A Day at The Races/A Night in Casablanca/Room Service/At the Circus/Go West/The Big Store)

The Marx Brothers Collection contains seven movies and follows their Paramount years. Starting with A Night At The Opera and ending with A Night In Casablanca the Marx Brothers are giving a purpose were in their first five films the where just wacky and the movies did not make sense. The first four movie are good to watch, but starting with Go West the trio start to loose their magic and they never seem to regain it. Overall if you are a Marx Brothers fan want all of the movie they were in then this is a great set. The only movies that are not include are Love Happy and if you want to call it a Marx Brothers movie the History of Mankind. The Marx Brothers Collection gets an AAAA++++.A Night at the Opera is one hour and thirty – one minutes and was released in theaters on November 15, 1935. Basically the Marx Brothers get caught up trying to put to lovers in the opera of Il trovatore.This movie has some firsts to it. It was the very first movie the brothers did after Zeppo left the group. Also Groucho was thinking of leaving the group but Chico talked him out of it. It was the first movie the brothers did for Warner Brothers after they were let go by Paramount Pictures and finally this movie would be the first of a long line of movie story plots. In their first five pictures the Marx Brothers were just zany and would insult the good and the bad. Starting with A Night at the Opera till their final movie Love Happy the Marx Brothers would only insult the bad people and come to the rescue of the innocent. Lastly this is the first movie to feature the first of many fake Zeppos; at least that what film historians call them.I am not got into the plot of the movie because I am sure that a few other reviewers gave away the whole story. The Marx Brothers as a trio, would be their finest film and the only to come close to (performing as a trio) is A Day at the Races. After A Day at the Races the quality of the Marx Brothers goes downhill big time. A Night at the Opera is known for two main scenes; the stateroom and contract scenes. One other footnote the Marx Brothers went on tour acting out part of the scenes to see what was and was not funny. A Night at the Opera gets an AAAAA+++++.DVD EXTRASPlay MovieScene SelectionsSpecial FeaturesI. Commentary by Leonard MartinII. Remarks On Marx (33 minutes)III. Vintage Shortsa. How to Sleep (10 minutes)b. Sunday Night at the TrocaderoIV. Theatrical TrailerLanguagesI. Spoken Languagesa. EnglishII. Subtitlesa. Englishb. Françaisc. Españold. OffA Day at the Races is one hour and forty – nine minutes and was released in theatres on June 11, 1937. Basically Judy Standish is the owner of Standish Sanitarium for which the sanitarium is in dept. Her friend Tony brings is Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush because Emily Upjohn trusts only him. Mrs. Upjohn does not know that Dr. Hackenbush is actually a veterinarian. When Dr. Hackenbush is exposed as a fraud by Tony and Stuffy he is tricked into helping to save Standish Sanitarium. In order to save the sanitarium Judy friend Gil enters his horse in a steeplechase race. Due to the death of Irving Thalberg during the making of the film, the brothers went to doing A Films to doing B Films because the head of MGM, Louis B. Mayer did not think highly of the Marx Brothers. A Day at the Races has the distinction of being the longest Marx Brothers movie and the only one to be nominated for an Academy Award. The film was nominated for Best Dance Direction, but lost to A Damsel in Distress. A Day at the Races gets an AAAA++++.DVD EXTRASPlay MovieScene SelectionsSpecial FeaturesI. Commentary by Glenn MitchellII. On Your Marx, Get Set, Go! (27 minutes)III. A Night At The Movies (9 minutes)IV. Vintage Cartoonsa. Old Smokey (7 minutes)b. Mam’s New Hat (8 minutes)c. Gallopin’ Gals (7 minutes)V. Audio Vaulta. A Message from the Man in the Moon (2 minutes)b. Leo Is on the Air Radio ProgramVI. Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes)LanguagesI. Spoken Languagesa. EnglishII. Subtitlesa. Englishb. Françaisc. Españold. OffRoom Service is one hour and eighteen minutes and was released in theatres on September 30, 1938. The main story is that Gordon Miller (Groucho) has the entire cast and crew held up in a hotel while he tries to find a backer for the play Hail and Farwell. In the meantime he has racked up a huge hotel bill and tries not to get evicted or thrown in jail along with Chico, Harpo and Leo Davis who is the writer for the play. Granted there are some laughs in this movie but not the kind that were in a Night At the Opera and a Day at the Races. Room Service has a few footnotes to it. Room Service is the only movie not written specifically for the Marx Brothers and the only movie the Marx Brothers made for RKO Studios. This is the only movie where Harpo does not play the harp and Chico does not play the piano. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is song by all three brothers at the fake death scene and at the end of the movie. Also missing from this from this movie is Margaret Dumont; Groucho’s love interest. Room Service gets a B.DVD EXTRASPlay MovieScene SelectionsSpecial FeaturesI. Party Fever (9 minutes)II. The Daffy Doc (6 minutes)III. Theatrical Trailer (1 minute)LanguagesI. Spoken Languagesa. EnglishII. Subtitlesa. Englishb. Françaisc. Españold. OffAt The Circus is one hour and twenty – six minutes and was released in theaters on October 20, 1939. The main plot of the movie is the Marx Brothers help out Jeff Wilson, the owner of Wilson Wonder Circus, who has been robbed of ten thousand dollars. The whole movie is very predictable and except for when you get to the last ten minutes are there any laughs. Some of the joke sketches run too long and the musical ‘Swingali’ for which Harpo plays the harp could have been omitted from the movie. It ads nothing to the story and does not move it along. Margaret Dumont, Groucho love interest in the Marx Brothers movies, does not appear until fifty – five minutes into the film. At The Circus gets a C- for little laughs and a weak story.DVD EXTRASPlay At The CircusScene SelectionsSpecial FeaturesI. Dog Daze (10 minutes)II. Jitterbug Follies (8 minutes)III. Theatrical Trailer (3 minutes)LanguagesI. Spoken Languagesa. EnglishII. Subtitlesa. Englishb. Françaisc. Españold. OffGo West is one hour and twenty – six minutes and was released in theaters on December 6, 1940. Basically the boys try to recover a deed that was given to them but get stolen by a couple of greedy gangsters. Just like At The Circus the laughs are few and missing from this movie is Groucho’s love interest Margaret Dumont. Some interesting notes is Groucho does not have a solo song in this movie like past movies though he does sing with his brother Chico (a rarity) and John Carroll. Also Groucho plays guitar in this movie, something he has not done since Horse Feathers. There are very few funny scenes in this movie. Finally if you go to the Theatrical Trailer of the Special Features of this DVD, it looks like some scenes were cut. Go West gets a D+ for very few laughs and a weak story.DVD EXTRASPlay Go WestScene SelectionsSpecial FeaturesI. Vintage Shortsa. Quicker in a Wink (9 minutes)b. Cavalcade of San Francisco (8 minutes)II. The Milky Way (7 minutes)III. Leo Is on the Air – Go WestIV. Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes)LanguagesI. Spoken Languagesa. EnglishII. Subtitlesa. Englishb. Françaisc. Españold. OffThe Big Store is one hour and twenty – three minutes and released in theaters on June 20, 1941. Basically the main story is the Marx Brothers help Tommy Rogers and his Aunt Martha Phelps from being taken over by Mr. Grover (the store manager) who wants to kill them both and run the store. There are some funny scenes like the bedroom scene and the final chase scene but that is it. The musical numbers are good; there are seven in all. This is the only Marx Brothers film where Harpo is teamed up with Groucho, Harpo and Chico play the piano together and Harpo plays the harp twice in the movie. Also this would be Margaret Dumont (Groucho’s love interest) seventh and final film with the group. The Big Store was billed as the final Marx Brother movie but would go on to make another three more films together: A Night in Casablanca, Love Happy, and The Story of Mankind (not a true Marx Brothers film, but all three appear in it). The Big Store gets a C-.DVD EXTRASPlay The Big StoreScene SelectionsSpecial FeaturesI. Flicker Memories (7 minutes)II. Officer Pooch (8 minutes)III. Where There’s Music (3 minutes)LanguagesI. Spoken Languagesa. EnglishII. Subtitlesa. Englishb. Françaisc. Españold. OffA Night In Casablanca is one hour and twenty four minutes and was released in theatres on May 10, 1946. This is the twelfth Marx Brothers film. Basically Groucho takes over the Hotel Casablanca were three previous hotel managers have been murdered. Unbeknownst to Groucho there is hidden World War II German treasure hidden in the hotel and Count Pfferman/Heinrich Stubel is trying to sneak it out of the country. That is basically your movie in a nutshell. The laughs are gone in this movie and there are very little musical numbers. Groucho doesn’t even sing in this movie. One little bit of trivia is Sig Ruman who plays Count Pfferman/Heinrich Stubel was also in A Night At The Opera and A Day At The Races. A Night In Casablanca gets a D- for no laughs.Play A Night In CasablancaScene SelectionsSpecial FeaturesI. Acrobatty Bunny (7 minutes)II. So You Think You’re A Nervous Wreck (10 minutes)LanguagesI. Spoken Languagesa. EnglishSubtitlesI. EnglishII. FrançaisIII. EspañolIV. Off

The most complete collection of the Brothers Marx available (lacking only their classic Paramount quintet, and "Love Happy", Harpo's long-planned pet project, the atypical film swansong of the brothers as a team), the package offers not only their biggest commercial successes ("A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races"), but all the rest of their MGM output, as well as their RKO loanout, "Room Service", based on the Broadway hit which the studio adapted specifically for the brothers, and their 'comeback' film, "A Night in Casablanca" (made to help pay off Chico's gambling debts...but that's ANOTHER story!)While nearly everyone will agree that the Paramount productions were the Marx' greatest creative triumphs, by the time of the final film (the classic "Duck Soup"), 30's audiences were no longer 'buying' the team's brand of insanity, and the studio dropped the brothers. Zeppo retired, swapping his status as 'straight man' to become an agent, and the future looked very uncertain. But Irving Thalberg, MGM's legendary production head, was a bridge-playing buddy of Chico's, and he felt confident that all the brothers needed were a good, cohesive storyline, a 'hook' to immediately generate audience sympathy for them, and attractive co-stars to provide romance. The Marxes were signed by Hollywood's most prestigious studio, and "A Night at the Opera" proved his theories correct, becoming a BIG hit! While Thalberg's untimely death, in 1936, (as "A Day at the Races" was in production), would end the MGM 'magic' for the brothers, their subsequent films still provided some 'classic' moments; "At the Circus" introduced the immortal Groucho tune, 'Lydia, the Tatooed Lady', and some great one-liners (Groucho to Chico: "I bet your mother spent the first year of your life throwing rocks at the stork..."); "Go West" climaxed with a hilariously destructive train race; and "The Big Store", their final MGM film, recaptured much of the spirit of "Opera" and "Races", with Tony Martin, the best 'Zeppo' substitute since Allan Jones, as the romantic lead."Room Service" and "A Night in Casablanca" are both worth watching, for their novelty value, alone; the RKO film gave the brothers their most 'normal' characters, with Groucho a stage producer (young Lucille Ball played his girlfriend), Chico his 'Go-For', and Harpo, a hanger-on, and was the only film where neither Chico or Harpo had a musical interlude; "Casablanca" pitted the brothers (uncomfortably, at times), against 'real' villains, the Nazis (personified by long-time Marx nemesis Sig Ruman).I could go on, but the films are so much fun that they don't need any more of an endorsement than this: If you are familiar with Groucho, Harpo, and Chico, you'll already be ordering this collection; if you're not, I envy the hours of laughter and discovery you have ahead of you, when you purchase it!

Great DVD !

This is a decent collection. It does not contain their funniest movie "Duck Soup" but that was made by another studio and that is the reason it is absent from this collection. It does contain their arguably second funniest movie "A Night at the Opera". The rest of the collection is hit and miss but the Marxes are like sex and pizza, even when it is not up to par, it is still good. I offer my 2 cents on this collection:A Night at the Opera--The Brothers at the height of their powers.A Day at the Races--I dont understand how some rank this low. This film contains some of their funniest bits like "get your tootsie frootsie ice cream".At the Circus--Maybe a notch below the first 2 films, but this one has always been a favorite of mine. Groucho sings "Lydia the tatooed lady".Room Service--Admittedly not one of my favorites. This was originally a play that someone decided to adapt into a Marx Brothers movie. It is ok, but lacks the zaniness of their other films.The Big Store--The Brothers were starting to show their age and some think this film was a big step down. Not me. Some very crazy bits and I love that be-bop singing salesgirl.Go West--It has it's moments, but the Brothers seemed to be tired of making films at this point.A Night in Casablanca--The Brothers took a couple of years off before being reunited to make this, their last film as an ensemble cast. (Their very last film, Love Happy, did not have a scene with all of them on screen at the same time). Though not as good as they were a decade before, they seemed to muster everything they had left to deliver the laughs one last time. A definite step up from Go West.Overall, a good collection and the added shorts and documentaries make this a real bargain.

Wonderful

I.m a Marx brothers fan.Loved the collection

Ich habe diese Collection verschenkt und der Beschenkte hat sich sehr gefreut

Fantastic collection! Belongs in every one's collection, if you appreciate comedy.

Non ci sono i sottotitoli.

Careful! This collection does not contain any full feature (while some comments say it contains 7 Marx Brothers movies) it's only about movie clips and excerpts from TV Shows. I Sent it back to Amazon right upon delivery. If you are looking for full length features do not buy this one.