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37 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
This documentary, very much in the style of the typical 'TV biography' contains a great many unseen clips, long forgotten trailers and more. The story is well told, and narrattor Leslie Nielsen is fine, in an understated way. There are interviews with many of those closest to the brothers, and, although for obvious reasons, Groucho, Chico and Harpo dominate, the other members of the family also get included in the story. An excellent introduction to the Marx Brothers, only bettered by either reading Harpo's Autobiography "Harpo Speaks!" or, of course, by watching the films they made.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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52 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Hooray For Captain Spaulding!
12 Feb 2003
Format:DVD
As a biography of the Marx Brothers, the documentary does a competent if not excellent job. There are numerous interviews with their few surviving friends and various Marx offspring. But if you're looking for an in-depth, detailed portrait of how they lived their lives, then I would recommend reading one of the numerous books that have been published on the subject (Harpo's autobiography HARPO SPEAKS! is particularly worthy, especially on their childhood and pre-movie period).
That said, where this program shines is when it displays various pieces of scratchy old footage. Whether it was seeing Harpo's first role in a recently discovered silent movie, or an elderly Groucho trading barbs with Bill Cosby, the clips here are gems. Included here is material shot for the aborted Marx Brothers 50's TV series which (if not for Chico's deteriorating health) would have featured Groucho, Harpo, and Chico as guardian angels (the theological implications of this are astounding). There are also a few of the commercials that Harpo did for Labatt's Beer. As his son points out in one of the interviews, they're the most surreal advertisements you're likely to see. The bulk of this footage (and the documentary itself) consists of their public and television appearances after their movie careers had ended.
The DVD also contains a few outtakes from Groucho's YOU BET YOUR LIFE television show. Relatively tame by today's standards (a sample, which was too raunchy for those early days of television: "You met your wife in the dark-room? Was she well developed?"), but funny all the same. Groucho's quick wit gets him into trouble with the overbearing censors of the era, and as a disapproving contestant on You Bet Your Life tells him, "That's going to be censored, Groucho." The despondent reply: "I know."
This isn't the place to go if you want to spend a couple of hours convulsed with laughter. But it is a wonderful, if light, look at the career of the Marx Brothers. The production of the documentary has a slightly cheap feel to it, and Leslie Neilson's narration is a little flat. But while it can't compete with the volumes of books written on the subject, it does do one thing that the prose can't -- show us the Brothers in action. And with material that you're not likely to have seen anywhere else, this is invaluable for any fan of the Marx Brothers.
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Geart Documentary but Incomplete on DVD
20 Jan 2003
Format:DVD
This is a great documentary, but the DVD has severly edited the documentary that was show on PBS. I have the whole documentary on tape and this is not it. The DVD leaves out the WWI years and a lot of the later films. Why? I don't know, but be warned, if you have seen the documentary before, this DVD is an edited version.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
You Bet Your 126 Minutes!
28 Aug 1998
What is wonderful about this video program is that it reveals a great deal number of interesting, attractive episodes on Marx Brothers; and their rare home movies, clips of TV appearance or photos. This video sure has more than what a number of books on Marx Brothers have covered so far. If you have seen any of Brothers on TV of film, found them incredibly funny and felt thirsty for more about this incredible comedy team, this is the thing you should really check out! END
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