Film Forum

U.S., 1930
Directed by Victor Heerman
Starring Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Zeppo Marx, Chico Marx
Approx. 97 min. DCP.

“Hooray for Captain Spaulding!” as Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and fourth wheel Zeppo rampage through a High Deco Long Island mansion, while Lillian Roth pines, “Why am I so romantic?” A priceless record of their Broadway smash, filmed at Paramount’s Astoria Studios. Long available in versions with poor image and sound, this restoration includes newly-recovered once-censored footage that was long thought lost. Some of the missing footage Universal was able to recover includes a previously missing line from “Hooray for Captain Spaulding,” Groucho’s song and dance number upon returning from Africa; a Harpo gag where he unexpectedly pulls Mrs. Whitehead’s slip out from under her dress; Groucho telling a joke about a “shotgun wedding”; and Zeppo taking dictation from Groucho for a letter to Groucho’s lawyers.

Reviews

“Brought forth gales of laughter.”
– Mourdant Hall, The New York Times

“We see again — and with great delight — the blithering Chico, Harpo the mute — shameless pickpocket and silly fool — and most of all Groucho, the incarnation of low-down trickery whose insolence has become famous.”
– François Truffaut

“The funniest brothers in the U.S.”
– TIME Magazine