Marx Bros. "Let It Be" - oops - "Love Happy" on DVD!

[Tim Casey]

I just picked it up at Best Buy. released by Republic Home Video and Artisan, $10.99. Buy this and the already released MGM box and the upcoming Paramount box and you've got the Marx Brothers Complete!

It co-stars Raymond Burr (in a minor supporting role) and Marilyn Munroe (in a 30-second walkon where she does a "Jessica Rabbit" imitation) and has lots of great Harpo and Chico stuff in it. Groucho is only there in some add-on footage and is never in the same frame as Chico. It looks like Harpo talked him into getting at least a little bit involved in what proved to be their last film.

It's much better than I expected, and the DVD is gorgeous!

[czeskleba]

Love Happy was originally written/developed as a Harpo solo film, but then Harpo ran into problems with not being able to convince any studio to produce it unless it was a "Marx Brothers" film. Hence, Chico was given a role and Groucho agreed to do a cameo which was shoehorned in. So it's sort of a Marx Brothers film in the same way "All Shook Down" is a Replacements album.

That's actually Marilyn Monroe's film debut, by the way.

[reechie]

That's actually Marilyn Monroe's film debut, by the way.
Not quite her debut, she had a couple of bit roles previously, but certainly after her rise to fame, the producers had no problem calling it "The Film That Discovered Marilyn Monroe."

Chico got involved because of his usual gambling debts, and eventually it was discovered that the film couldn't be financed without all three brothers, so Groucho was coaxed away from You Bet Your Life to do his bits and pieces



It's much better than I expected, and the DVD is gorgeous!
Nice way to complete a DVD collection of their films.

And like Let It Be, there's even a rooftop finale! :D

[czeskleba]

It's been years since I've seen Love Happy. I remember not being that impressed by it, although I don't remember it that well. Anything the brothers did is worth seeing, but Harpo's comic persona doesn't age well. For some reason, it's just not as funny to watch a 62 year old man doing physical comedy as a 30 year old. Whereas Groucho's persona is equally funny regardless of age. I guess physical comedy is more age-dependent than verbal.

[Michael]

...Yup, finally the MB have thier due on DVD!...now i'm waiting for the W.C. Fields DVD Box Set! YEA!!!

[reechie]

Now all we need is The Story Of Mankind! ;)

[Tim Casey]

"It's been years since I've seen Love Happy. I remember not being that impressed by it,"

I was in the same boat, but I have to admit, I sure laughed a lot last night watching it. And Harpo actually did quite well in it (as did Chico). I guess it's the difference between watching it as a 17-year-old and watching it as a 46-year-old!

[Ken_McAlinden]

Not quite her debut, she had a couple of bit roles previously, but certainly after her rise to fame, the producers had no problem calling it "The Film That Discovered Marilyn Monroe."...In addition to bit parts in a number of films, she actually had a lead role in a 1948 Columbia B-picture called "Ladies of the Chorus". She hadn't gotten the bionic makeover from Fox yet, though. :)

Regards,

[Evan L]

Now all we need is The Story Of Mankind! ;)

Ur, Sorry Rich, but we really DON'T(not if you count a film where the Marxes don't appear together). Just MHO.

Evan

[reechie]

Ur, Sorry Rich, but we really DON'T(not if you count a film where the Marxes don't appear together). Just MHO.

Of course, I was joking...I've got those three scenes on videotape from a TV showing, and that's plenty!
:D

That flick does go down as one of the most dunderheaded casting moves in film history. Who's stupid enough to hire all three Marx Brothers, and then put them in separate scenes? Irwin Allen, that's who!
:laugh:

[Tim Casey]

Didn't know about "The Story Of Mankind". What year was it? Whom did they play (in separate scenes)?

[Steve Hoffman]

1957, wasn't it? Never actually saw it but Hedy ("that's Hedley") Lamar was in it.

[Larry Geller]

BTW, this print runs longer than any prior video release (prior ones ran app. 87 min, this one is over 90). The female lead has a rather suggestive dance number in the middle of the film that hasn't been seen on TV or video for a long time, if ever (way too sexy for 50s or 60s TV!).

[Ken_McAlinden]

It had all of the Irwin Allen ingredients: Under-utililized big name stars past their prime, lots of canned footage, pretentiousness, disastrous attempts at intentional humor, and lots and lots of unintentional humor.

Allen had all of his signature ingredients in place from the very beginning, and much like some of the great low-budget filmmakers could make every penny spent visible as production value, Allen diligently made sure that every corner cut made it on the screen. :)

Regards,

[reechie]

Didn't know about "The Story Of Mankind"...Whom did they play (in separate scenes)?
Chico is first, playing a monk advising Christopher Columbus that the world is flat.

Harpo plays Sir Issac Newton, playing his harp under an apple tree and discovering gravity in the process (and since this is Technicolor, once and for all answering the question of what color his wig was meant to be: RED.).

Groucho, in probably the best scene of the three, plays Peter Minuet, swindling the Native Americans out of Manhattan Island with a bunch of worthless trinkets.

Big budget, star studded affair. Also starred Vincent Price as The Devil, Sir Cedrick Hardwick as God, Virginia Mayo as Cleopatra, Hedy Lamarr as Joan Of Arc, Peter Lorre as Nero, Dennis Hopper as Napoleon, Edward Everett Horton as Sir Walter Raleigh...you get the idea. They blew the budget on the cast, and forgot to write a movie around them!
:rolleyes:

[Larry Geller]

BTW, I prefer the George Martin version of Love Happy to the Phil Spector version!

[reechie]

A couple of bits of useless Story Of Mankind trivia, in Groucho's scene, songwriter Harry Ruby plays one of the indians, and Groucho's last wife Eden plays the pretty indian girl Groucho flirts with, then runs off with at the end of the scene.

[Joel Cairo]

Big budget, star studded affair. Also starred Vincent Price as The Devil, Sir Cedrick Hardwick as God, Virginia Mayo as Cleopatra, Hedy Lamarr as Joan Of Arc, Peter Lorre as Nero, Dennis Hopper as Napoleon, Edward Everett Horton as Sir Walter Raleigh...you get the idea. They blew the budget on the cast, and forgot to write a movie around them!
:rolleyes:


Sort of like "Mad, Mad World", eh...? :)

-Kevin

[reechie]

Not even close to the quality.

What you have is Price and Hardwick debating over whether or not the world should be destroyed or saved, by going through different events in mankind's history. These events are acted out by the actors. It's kind of like a sketch comedy movie without any laughs.

Big cast, lots of stars, few of them having any scenes together. Hence, putting the Marx Brothers in separate segments.