 "Great collection of these talented fellows" | 2010-01-19 |
| - Reviewed By D. Adams from North Carolina |
| This was an incredible value. The Marx Brothers have been a family favorite for years, my sons got into them from the first time they saw them. I guess Blu-Ray is really pushing down the pricing for standard DVD, which means Amazon customers benefit. Night In Casablanca is a classic, my favorite second only to Animal Crackers. Good quality transfer, but then the lines are what make the movie. |
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| "Five classic Marx Brothers movies" | 2010-01-11 |
| - Reviewed By Midwest |
This set includes 5 good Marx Brothers comedies.
Duck Soup
Monkey Business
The Coconuts
Horse Feathers
Animal Crackers
All are good solid comedies, but in my opinion Duck Soup is far and away the best of the bunch.
The Marx Brothers humor is timeless. There is very little in any of these films that is terribly dated. You could take almost any
of the gags used in these films and put them in a modern comedy and it would still work just as well.
Matter of fact modern comedians could learn a lot from the old timers like the Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy, and Red Skelton.
Humor is difficult to do well, and good slapstick is probably the most difficult, but these guys were masters at it. Good gags
and jokes, good delivery, and good timing. It seems that so many modern comedians are lacking to some degree in all three of
them, but the old timers knew how to do it up right.
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 "I'm very glad you asked" | 2009-12-24 |
| - Reviewed By New Timon |
I had my first encounter with the Marx Brothers films only four years ago when I caught Duck Soup on television one night, and from the time the alarm clock went off to the end of the movie, the smile literally never left my face. All I had really known of these films up till that day were the imitations of Groucho by Meathead in All in the Family, and those of Harpo(?) by Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy. Indirectly, however, I had long been acquainted with their humor from all the comedians that followed in their wake: so much so, in fact, that I had been accused of imitating the Marxes while I still just barely recognized the name and reputation.
During the two months following that first experience of Duck Soup, I was able to catch a few of their other movies on television. When I found the two sets on sale here at Amazon, and faced the disappointment that A Day at the Races and A Night at the Opera (of which I had only caught part) were not included in the set with Duck Soup, there was no way I would wish for (being a birthday gift request) a set of Marx brothers films that didn't leave at my disposal, to view at pleasure, the opening scene to Horse Feathers ("Whatever it is I'm against it"). Curiously, I was first acquainted with that title by eating at a pub of that name in one of those Hudson River towns not too far north of New York City (the name of the town escapes me).
I've had this set for almost two years now, and am still able to draw as much enjoyment from them as ever. These five comedies not only bear re-watching but really demand it, as they are so packed with comedic brilliance. I now own both collections, but these are the ones that I find myself watching, Animal Crackers and Duck Soup being the best to my liking. There have been no regrets in this purchase, and I think these five movies are the ones to get, if you were deciding between the two.
In any case, I highly recommend this to anyone who loves comedy. Groucho and co. are probably the best comedic cast ever assembled, along with Monty Python and the SNL cast that worked during the '89-`91 seasons. These comedies match excellent writing with excellent performances, and so remain as fresh as ever. I think it can be summed up by stealing a phrase from Seinfeld: these people can't not be funny.
As far as the packaging goes, if we were to judge the covers, the Silver Screen Collection has all six discs (five movies and bonus materials) in a silver-tinted black and white sleeve case all decked out with apparent stills from the films (even on the discs), and that unfolds with three discs on either side of a 38 page booklet containing photos, a short write-up, a synopsis of each movie, and a list of the scenes on each disc. There appear to be photos of the original promotional posters as well.
I see that some people are unhappy with the limited bonus material, especially compared to the other set, and say you should get this set for the movies as if there were any other possible reason. And there may be some down time in these shows, which I usually use for falling asleep on a sunny weekday afternoon. There's nothing quite like falling asleep to the sound of Chico trying to get a flashlight from Harpo. I honestly don't know what these people are looking for.
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| "All you need to get you through the holidays!" | 2009-12-18 |
| - Reviewed By Jon from NY |
I bought this set years ago when it came out - I've received more mileage out of it than any twenty other dvds I own, unrestored prints and all.
In fact, if your exposure to the Marx Brothers was via PBS over the last 40 years you will see them exactly as you remember them, and that's been fine with me.
Regarding the absent extras, the sad fact is there are precious few happy stories from behind the scenes; myself, I'd just as soon not know (though I do, having been in possession of the "Marx Bros Scrapbook" since I was nine).
These unpleasant tales just take the joy out of the films, avoid them. Are there any truly happy comedians, who've led untroubled lives, that are worth a damn?
HOWEVER, I insist that you also acquire "A Night At the Opera", available separately or through the Marx Bros Collection dvd set (green/yellow box), because it is hands down their funniest film.
My Dad would wake myself and brother up in the wee hours of the morning to watch these films since I was four or so. He never shared more of himself than he did with the memory and love of these films.
Turn your son, daughter, neice, nephew, neighbor's kids on to this early in life before their sense of humor is ruined by inane SNL cast movies and other dreck and KEEP THE FLAME LIT -
right under the "peanut vendors" hat where it belongs...
ENJOY!
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 "Classic Madcap Comedy But Too Bad About the DVDs!" | 2009-10-03 |
| - Reviewed By Frederick Baptist from Singapore |
The picture and sound quality on all the 6 discs here are in very poor condition not having been restored or remastered in any way which is truly tragic. Having watched The Chaplin Collection, Vol. 1 (Modern Times / The Great Dictator / The Gold Rush / Limelight) recently and seeing what a great job of restoration of both sound and picture that they did the lost opportunity to make this Marx Brothers release a truly great one is lamentable. The picture quality and sound quality of "Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers" is very, very poor but in any case these haven't aged well over the years as I didn't find most of the films funny except for a few of Groucho's witty one-liners that were able to raise a chuckle or two from me. Both picture and sound quality improve over the next 3 films but not by much though. It seems to me that the quality of the films as well as the jokes improve from film to film and I liked "Duck Soup" the best although I note with interest that I thought every one of the Chaplin films even the silent ones aged better than any of the films here and I laughed a lot more watching those. I guess few if any can match up to the genius that was Chaplin. For example, nothing that Harpo did I found in the least bit funny after watching Chaplin who was undoubtedly the far far superior slapstick/mime comedian although I have to say I enjoyed Groucho's one-liners more and more as I went through the films resulting in his best work arriving in "Duck Soup". I thought the last war scenes were the best Marx Brothers routines in this set. If this trend of the films getting better with each subsequent release continues I guess I can expect a lot more from "Night At the Opera" and "Day At the Races" which I haven't yet watched but may yet get separately later.
The frustrating thing is that Marketing at Universal has done its job with a very well packaged set that opens up revealing all the discs with a nice 34-page booklet stuck to the centre spine; if only production did its job too with a quality product. The last bonus disc is a rip-off and waste with less than a half hour of interviews only on it. They could have saved the extra disc and put the content on the extra space on the 5 other discs. A missed opportunity indeed and with the very poor quality reproductions and lack of any restoration I'd advise you either get the individual films properly re-done if/when they are released or should they decide to do the right thing and re-release this box set with the proper remastering done.
As is though this collection comes highly NOT recommended! |
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| "Crazy madcap humor" | 2009-09-17 |
| - Reviewed By Karl O. Hawley |
| This collection is crazy madcap humor. Some of it is very funny. Some of it just plain corny. "Horse Feathers" has a lot of film breaks in the middle of it unfortunately. |
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