Customer Reviews

Greatest dvd boxset in the world. - By: Mr. S. F. H. Gilani, 08 Aug 2007
This boxset contains 5 wonderful Marx Brothers films. The picture quality & sound on all of them is superb. If, like me, you are a Marx Bros. fan, then this really is a fantastic set of films to own. It is difficult for me to choose a favourite from the 5 movies here, simply because they are all hilarious & the quality of the jokes & gags is incomparable.

Worth mentioning are the extra features, which are excellent because they are on all 5 movies. For example, on "Day at the races", there are 3 cartoons with a horse theme. I enjoyed these, & I found myself laughing almost as much as when I was watching the actual movies. Other non cartoon extras include short films involving a couple whose trip to the cinema becomes a chaotic mess !!

Highlight : In " At the Circus", watch Chico & Harpo try their best to find stolen money on a trainin the strongman's cabin. ( With the Strongman ASLEEP IN THE SAME ROOM !!). Sublimely funny !!

A very complete package which is VERY good value. Get it !!!

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Wonderful Humor with nice old film music - By: sinenomine, 11 Jul 2007
I ordered this box set after having read the good reviews on Amazon.uk & Amazon.de, but without knowing exactly what I would get. Well, what I got is simply marvellous. In the new movies the humor is often so forced & unnatural that it's no more funny, but rather painful. That's not the case with this box set, or at least notin "Go West", the only movie of the set I have already watched. The quality of the image is good, the music is good, only the description at the site of Amazon.uk is a shame. You are just told that these films arein English, & that's all. But most of them arein several languages (according to what is said at the cover,in English &in Italian some of them alsoin French). All the films have English subtitles. That's an important detail for persons who have problems with the ears & for those, like me, whose native tongue is not English. The subtitles are optional. The price (less then £ 20) is really fair.

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madness on the silver screen............... - By: yerblues, 05 Jul 2007
Have been a marx bros fan for about 20 years but its taken until this week to finally sit down & watch 3 of their later films: at the circus / go west / the big store - having always been put off by generally negative reviews.. (thankfully amazon are selling the box set for an amazingly reduced price now so its an excellent time to purchase folks - instead of the £61 price tag at HMV!!!).....

I've come to the conclusion at long last that people shouldn't take reviews too seriously as at the end of the day its about personal choice & critics dont possess special powers other than being handy with a pen....

My favourite marx bros films are Horsefeathers (1932), Duck Soup (1933) & A Day at the Races (1937). I think A Night at the Opera is very good but quite overrated & not as good as ADATR ... The early films Animal Crackers (1930) & Monkey Business (1931) are very enjoyable & full of great moments....anyway, to get back to this box set, this is how I'd rate them:

A Night at the Opera (1935) ****
A day at the Races (1937) *****
At the Circus (1939) ***
Go West (1940) ****
The Big Store (1941) ****
A Nightin Casablanca (1946) ****

so the 'weakest' film IMHO is 'At the Circus' & although thoroughly enjoyable & with some great moments I can understand the general synopsis - the brothers were simply let down by a lackluster script. On the other hand 'The Big Store' had mein hysterics with many truly fine moments - I believed I was gonna have a heart attack I was laughing so much (what a way to go eh..) & the pace was kept up throughout...The film is marred slightly by the sickly vocalising of Tony Martin. I've only seen this film oncein my life so its hard to tell if it will have the lasting appeal of their earlier classics. The 3 brothers really shinein this movie & i disagree with one reviewer who proclaimed that Groucho just seemed to be going thru the motions here...NONSENSE...Equally mad & surreal are 'Go West' & 'A Nightin Casablanca'

Forget Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel & hardy, Harold Lloyd etc etc.... Harpo was the greatest of his kind & he should be revered. A great musician, actor, comedian, loved by all who knew him. Aged between 47 & 58 during the making of these films makes it even more impressive that he did all his own stunts... A genius..

and his brothers weren't half bad too..........

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Marvellous - By: S J Buck, 09 Mar 2007
At its current Amazon price (£[...]) this is an absolute steal & well worth getting. On six DVD's you get two of their best ever films "A Night At The Opera" & "A Day at the Races" plus another four which whilst not as good still have some great moments.

In A Night at the Opera & A Day at the Races Grouchos' funny lines come outin a non-stop stream & they are endlessly quoteable:

"Mrs. Claypool: Are you sure you have everything, Otis?
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, I haven't had any complaints yet."
(remember this was madein 1935 & to get this past the censors was quite an achievement)

"Dr. Hackenbush: Emily, I have a confession to make. I really am a horse doctor. But marry me, & I'll never look at another horse."

The extras are pretty good, the best being a chance to see a rare interview with Groucho Marxin January 1961. There are a number of extra short films, commentaries & even some looney tunes cartoons.

Absolutely brilliant!

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Fast Forward till the Bros. appear - By: PHILIPPE VANDENBOSSCHE, 06 Jun 2006
As one other reviewer pointed out: their Paramount films are the top,to which you can add Opera & Races. Significantly, only those two have a documentary on the Bros.' work, on top of the boring shorts that seem to have been dug out from MGM's bin. But using the Fast Forward on your remote, you can pick out the Bros.' appearances, without having to stand the "mellerdrammer" songs & other slimy stuff. The same goes for most of the Laurel & Hardy feature films, when Hal Roach didn't think them capable of supporting a whole film... he was wrong, of course. But as for our beloved Marx Bros.: their acts alone already make this set worthwhile. Oh, did anyone find the "Missing scene" or "Audio Musical" extras on the "Big Store" disc? I didn't.