Horse Feathers 1014242 221158199 2008-06-23T08:26:25Z Tassedethe 7098284 Disambiguate [[Robert Greig (disambiguation)]] to [[Robert Greig (actor)]] using [[:en:Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation_popups|popups]] {{Infobox Film | name = Horse Feathers | image = HorseFea.jpg | caption = Poster by [[Al Hirschfeld]] | director = [[Norman Z. McLeod]] | producer = [[Herman J. Mankiewicz]] (uncredited) | writer = [[S. J. Perelman]]<br>[[Bert Kalmar]]<br>[[Harry Ruby]]<br>Will B. Johnstone | starring =[[Groucho Marx]]<br>[[Harpo Marx]]<br>[[Chico Marx]]<br> [[Zeppo Marx]]<br>[[Thelma Todd]]<br>[[Reginald Barlow]] | music = | cinematography = Ray June | editing = | distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]] | released = [[August 10]], [[1932]] | country = {{USA}} | runtime = 68 min. | language = [[English language|English]] | budget = | amg_id = 1:23170 | imdb_id = 0023027 }} '''''Horse Feathers''''' ([[1932 in film|1932]]) was the fourth [[Marx Brothers]] [[film]]. It stars the four Marx Brothers, [[Groucho Marx|Groucho]], [[Chico Marx|Chico]], [[Harpo Marx|Harpo]], and [[Zeppo Marx|Zeppo]], as well as [[Thelma Todd]] as Connie Bailey, and was written by [[Bert Kalmar]], [[Harry Ruby]], [[S. J. Perelman]], and [[Will B. Johnstone]]. Kalmar and Ruby also wrote some of the original music for the film. Several of the film's gags were taken from the Marx Brothers' stage comedy from the 1920s, ''Fun in Hi Skule''.<ref name="Louvish">{{cite book | last = Louvish | first = Simon | authorlink = Simon Louvish | coauthors = | title = ''Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers'' | publisher = [[St. Martin's Press|Thomas Dunne Books]] | date = [[2000]] | location = [[New York City]], [[New York]] | pages = | url = http://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Business-Lives-Legends-Brothers/dp/0312252927 | doi = | id = | isbn = }}</ref> ==Plot== The film revolves around, among other things, [[college football]] and a game between the fictional [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]] and [[Thomas Henry Huxley|Huxley]] Colleges. ([[Thomas Henry Huxley|Huxley]] was a defender of [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of [[evolution]].) Many of the jokes about the [[amateur]] status of collegiate [[American football|football]] players and how eligibility rules are stretched by collegiate athletic departments remain remarkably current. <ref>[http://www.filmsite.org/hors.html ''Horse Feathers'' at Filmsite.org.]</ref> Groucho plays Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the president of Huxley College, and Zeppo is his son Frank, who convinces his father to recruit professional football players to boost the Huxley team's chance of winning. There are also many references to [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]. Baravelli (Chico) is an "iceman", who delivers ice and bootleg liquor from a local [[speakeasy]]. Pinky (Harpo, wearing his usual pink-colored "fright wig") is also an "iceman", as well as a part-time dogcatcher. Through a series of misunderstandings, Baravelli and Pinky are recruited to play on Huxley's football team; this requires them to enroll as students at Huxley, which, of course, results in nothing but comic chaos throughout the school. The climax of the movie, often referenced as one of the greatest football-related scenes in movie history <ref>[http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=williams/080404_scenes ''The top 11 scenes in football movie history'' at ESPN.com.</ref>, includes the four protagonists winning the football game by taking the ball into the [[end zone]] in a horse-drawn garbage wagon that resembles a [[chariot]] and which Pinky rides as such. === Musical numbers ===<!-- This section is linked from [[Groucho Marx]] --> *"Whatever It Is, I'm Against It" *"I Always Get My Man" *"Collegiate" *"Everyone Says I Love You" *"Bridal Chorus" *"Wedding March" *"I'm Daffy Over You" === Notable scenes === The opening number features Wagstaff and a group of college professors singing and dancing in full academic robes and mortarboard hats. The song sets the tone for Wagstaff's irreverent view of the school: :''I don't know what they have to say'' :''It makes no difference anyway;'' :''Whatever it is, I'm against it!'' One famous scene features Baravelli guarding the speakeasy, and Wagstaff trying to get in. The password for entry is [[Swordfish (password)|"Swordfish"]]. This bit was the inspiration for the title of the movie thriller ''[[Swordfish (film)|Swordfish]]''. The sketch includes several jokes about fish, with some puns-within-puns: :Wagstaff: I got it! "[[Haddock]]". :Baravelli: 'At's a-funny, I got a "[[Headache|haddock]]" too. :Wagstaff: What do you take for a "haddock"? :Baravelli: Sometimes I take an [[aspirin]], sometimes I take a [[Mercury(I) chloride|calomel]]. :Wagstaff: I'd walk a mile for a [[Camel (cigarette)|calomel]]. :Baravelli: You mean chocolate [[Caramel|calomel]]? I like-a that too, but you no guess it. During this scene, the mute character Pinky wants to come in and is asked the password; he responds by pulling a fish with a small sword stuck down its throat from his coat. At one point Wagstaff and Baravelli are debating the cost of ice. Wagstaff argues that his bill should be much smaller than it is: :Baravelli: ''I make you proposition. You ''owe'' us $200, you ''pay'' us $2000, and we call it square.'' :Wagstaff: ''That's not a bad idea. I tell you ... I'll consult my lawyer. And if he advises me to do it, I'll get a new lawyer.'' The joke immediately after that one illustrates that the Hays Office was not in total control of film scripts yet, and hints at Chico's real-life lifestyle. The essence of this joke would be repeated by Chico in ''[[Duck Soup]]'': :Baravelli: ''Last week, for eighteen dollars, I gotta co-ed with two pair o' pants.'' :Wagstaff: ''Since when has a co-ed got two pair of pants?'' :Baravelli: ''Since I joined the college.'' A notable scene taken from ''Fun in Hi Skule'' consists of the brothers disrupting an anatomy class. <ref name="Louvish"/> In this scene, the part of the anatomy professor is played by [[Robert Greig (actor)|Robert Greig]], a character actor who appeared in over 100 films, many in the role of a butler. He appeared with the Marx Brothers as Hives, the butler, in ''[[Animal Crackers (film)|Animal Crackers]]''. After Chico and Harpo "bear him out", Groucho takes over the class and continues the lecture: :Wagstaff: ''Let us follow a corpuscle on its journey... Now then, baboons, what is a "[[corpuscle]]"?'' :Baravelli: ''That's easy! First is a [[captain]]... then a [[lieutenant]]... then is a [[corporal|corpuscle]]!'' :Wagstaff: ''That's fine. Why don't you bore a hole in yourself and let the sap run out?'' Earlier in the scene, he recited this little poem in response to the professor asking the students to explain the symptoms of [[cirrhosis]], which Baravelli mis-hears as "so roses": :''So roses are red'' :''So violets are blue'' :''So sugar is sweet'' :''So so are you.'' A little later, Wagstaff advises Pinky that he "can't burn the candle at both ends". Pinky then reaches into his trenchcoat, and pulls out a candle burning at both ends. The film prominently features the song "Everyone Says I Love You", by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, which was later the title song of the eponymous [[1996]] [[Woody Allen]] movie ''[[Everyone Says I Love You]]''. All four brothers perform the song: Zeppo leads off with a "straight" verse, befitting his usual non-comical characterization: :''Everyone says I love you'' :''The cop on the corner and the burglar too'' :''The preacher in the pulpit and the man in the pew'' :''Says I love you.'' Harpo whistles it to his horse, and later plays it on the harp. In keeping with his standard mute characterization, he does not sing it. Chico sings a comical verse, with his standard fake Italian accent, while playing piano: :''Everyone says I love you'' :''The great big mosquito when-a he sting you'' :''The fly when he gets stuck on the flypaper too'' :''Says I love you.'' Groucho sings a somewhat sarcastic verse while strumming a guitar, befitting his attitude throughout the film of being suspicious about the college widow's intentions: :''Everyone says I love you'' :''But just what they say it for I never knew'' :''It's just inviting trouble for the poor sucker who'' :''Says I love you.'' Except when Harpo (the dogcatcher) whistles it to his horse, the song is used to serenade Connie Bailey (played by [[Thelma Todd]]). <!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Saw.jpg|thumb|182px|left|Saw scene from "Horse Feathers"]] --> Eventually, Pinky and Baravelli are sent to kidnap two of the rival college's star players to prevent them from playing in the big game. The intended victims (who are much larger men than Pinky and Baravelli) manage to kidnap the pair instead, removing their outer clothing and locking them in a room. In order to escape, Pinky and Baravelli saw their way out through the floor. The saws came from a tool bag Pinky carried with them that held their "kidnappers' tools," which included, among other things, rope, chisels, hammers and at one point, a small pig. This is an example of the [[Surrealism|surreal]] edge of Marx Brothers humor, which later became a heavy influence on [[Bugs Bunny]] cartoons. One direct example of that influence occurs in the speakeasy. Two men are playing cards, and one says to the other, "cut the cards". Pinky happens to walk by at that moment, pulls a large meat cleaver out of his trenchcoat and chops the deck in half. This none-too-subtle gag, which was recycled from the brothers' first [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] show, ''[[I'll Say She Is]]'', would be repeated by [[Curly Howard]] against [[Moe Howard]] in the [[Three Stooges]]' [[1936]] [[short subject]] ''[[Ants in the Pantry]]'', and by [[Bugs Bunny]] against [[Yosemite Sam]] in the 1948 cartoon, ''[[Bugs Bunny Rides Again]]''. A picture of the brothers in the "chariot" at the end of the film made the cover of [[Time magazine|''TIME'']] in [[1932]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601320815,00.html |title=Cover |accessdate=2007-04-02 |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=August 15, 1932 |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}</ref> <div style="clear: both"></div> ==Cast== *[[Groucho Marx]] as '''''Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff''''' *[[Chico Marx]] as '''''Baravelli the Iceman''''' *[[Harpo Marx]] as '''''Pinky''''' *[[Zeppo Marx]] as '''''Frank Wagstaff''''' *[[Thelma Todd]] as '''''Connie Bailey''''' *[[David Landau]] as '''''Jennings''''' *[[James Pierce]] as '''''Mullen''''' *[[Nat Pendleton]] as '''''McCarty''''' *[[Reginald Barlow]] as '''''The Retiring President''''' *[[Robert Greig (actor)|Robert Greig]] as '''''The Biology Professor''''' ==Period references== A term that occurs often in ''Horse Feathers'', but may not be familiar to modern viewers, is "college widow". The term, which is somewhat derogatory, referred to a woman who stays in college after graduation in order to find a husband.<ref name="Marxology">{{cite web |url=http://marxology.marx-brothers.org/horse.htm |title=Horse Feathers |accessdate=2007-04-02 |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher=Marxology |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}</ref> It is used to describe Connie Bailey ([[Thelma Todd]]). Such women were stereotypically "easy"; in the film, the character is shown as being involved with each of the Marx brothers and the principal antagonist, Jennings. A modern adaptation of the concept (albeit with a gender reversal) would be Wooderson ([[Matthew McConaughey]]) from ''[[Dazed and Confused (film)|Dazed and Confused]]'' who hangs around high schools because "[he] keeps getting older but the girls stay the same". During the climactic football game, at one point Groucho utters the exclamation, "Jumping anaconda!" This seemingly nonsensical phrase probably is a reference to the notorious [[stock market]] performance of [[Anaconda Copper#Great speculation|Anaconda Copper]] immediately preceding the [[Great Depression]].<ref>[http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.php?/site/articles/groucho_marx_biography_marx_brothers_you_bet_your_life/ Groucho Marx biography |Marx brothers | you bet your life!] - ''Clownministry.com''. </ref> Groucho had delivered other jokes related to the stock market in the Brothers' preceding films (for example, "The stockholder of yesteryear is the stowaway of today" in ''[[Monkey Business (1931 film)|Monkey Business]]'') and all the Marx Brothers had experienced severe losses in the [[stock market crash|1929 crash]]. == Missing Sequences == The only existing prints of this film are missing several minutes, due to both [[censorship]] and damage. The damage is most noticeable in [[jump cut]]s during the scene in which Groucho, Chico and Harpo visit Connie Bailey's apartment. Several sequences were cut from the film, including an extended ending to the aforementioned apartment scene, additional scenes with Harpo as a dogcatcher, and a scene where the brothers play poker as the college burns down. (A description of the latter scene, along with a still image, exists from a pressbook from the year of the film's release, however.)<ref name="Marxology"/> ==See also== *[[List of United States comedy films]] ==References== {{refimprove|date=January 2008}} {{reflist|2}} ==External links== *[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744191,00.html Original 1932 Time Magazine review] *{{imdb title|id=0023027|title=Horse Feathers}} *{{tcmdb title|id=78393|title=Horse Feathers}} *[http://www.Marx-Brothers.org Marx-Brothers.org] {{Marx Brothers}} [[Category:Marx Brothers (film series)]] [[Category:American football films]] [[Category:1932 films]] [[Category:Black and white films]] [[Category:Sports comedy films]] [[Category:English-language films]] [[Category:Paramount films]] [[Category:American films]] [[Category:1930s comedy films]] [[Category:Films made before the MPAA Production Code]] [[Category:Films directed by Norman Z. 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