Starring: The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico), Allan Jones, Walter Woolf King, Margaret Dumont, Kitty Carlisle, Sig Rumann
Director: Sam Wood
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of the Marx Brothers Collection with six other films and a ton of extras.
The brothers Marx, minus Zeppo who had retired from performing, moved from Paramount Pictures to MGM and this was their first project at their new home. It's also their best film as a trio.
Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho) is hired by a widowed socialite hopeful Mrs. Claypool (Dumont) to help her break into high society, but he instead spends his time either insulting or wooing her. At a final performance in Italy, Driftwood meets Fiorello (Chico), the best friend and manager of Riccardo (Jones), a singer looking for his first break, while falling in love with another singer named Rosa (Carlisle). Riccardo's dream is thwarted by the opera's star, Lassparri (King), a prima donna who wants Rosa for himself. Driftwood signs Riccardo to a contract, mistakenly thinking he's signing Lassparri, who is really under contract in New York by Herman Gottlieb (Ruman). Along the way, Lassparri's former dresser Tomasso (Harpo) joins the entourage. The usual chaos follows starting on the boat to America, and as usual, Driftwood and his new friends have to work for that happy ending the only way they know how: completely sabotaging Lassparri's first appearance in New York.
The film's most memorable scene takes place on boat, where Driftwood finds his stateroom, which isn't much bigger than a good-sized closet. His enormous trunk barely fits in, and it's also carrying three stowaways: Riccardo, Fiorello and Tomasso, ruining his planned rendezvous with Mrs. Claypool. The stowaways are hungry, so Otis has to order dinner, where Fiorello and Tomasso keep increasing the number of the hard boiled eggs they want (and Driftwood has ordered everything else). In due time, fifteen people end up in the cabin. An uncredited Buster Keaton designed the scene:
Yes, it's mighty crowded in there. Highly recommended movie.
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