Tag Archives: 1930s

Marx Brothers 3: Monkey Business (1931)

The Marx Brothers as stoways on an ocean steamer. 77min imdb

Recap:

In this movie the Marx Brothers are stoways on an ocean steamer, always on the run from the ship’s crew and always chasing the girls. Then Zeppo and Groucho are hired as the henchmen of a criminal while Harpo and Chico become the bodyguards of the criminal’s designated victim. Eventually the four of them pretend to be Maurice Chevalier to immigrate into the USA, and then the criminal abducts Zeppo’s love interest.

Well, yes. In some of the best movies the plot is just the shortest path between two punchlines. And while working for MGM sure was a smart move careerwise, this old Paramount movie has more gags in it than several of the later films together. So what can I say? They just don’t make old movies like they used to, so if you haven’t seen it, watch it now. And if you know it already you will want to re-watch it soon anyway.

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Trailer

Revolt Of The Zombies (1936)

Second zombie movie of the Halperin Brothers about a man who stops at nothing to get the girl he wants. 65min imdb

(VPN:D)

Recap:

Boy meets girl. They get engaged. But when he finds out that she really loves another, he withdraws. Then he discovers how to zombiefy people and decides to be a ruthless man who takes what he wants, using all the people who he has zombiefied.

Well, yes, that’s the story. The Halperin Brothers have had moderate success with White Zombie, the story of a lovelorn man who uses voodoo to get what he wants and fails, and so they tried this recipe again and, well, did not really succeed. I can live well with Halperin voodoo zombies not being Romero flesh eating zombies, but this movie starts playing with the idea of using an army of zombies to wage a horrible war but then turns out to be a lukewarm love triangle with an bare minimum of creepiness. Some people (like me) will watch it because there are zombies in it, but few will not be disappointed.

Marx Brothers 9: At The Circus (1939)

In their 9th movie the Marx Brothers try to recover the hero’s stolen money. 87min imdb

(VPN:USA)

Review:

So there is this dude who has 10k Dollars that he needs to make his circus dream come true, but he tgets knocked down from behind and robbed. The Marx Brothers try to solve the case, but fail. So instead, Groucho goes for Margaret Dumont for some gold digging.

Yes, it’s true, this not one of the better Marx movies, and of course there are WAY! too many musical numbers which all suck except for those three with one of the Brothers in them. And yet: it’s fun. This movie does not reinvent the wheel but it takes you for a joyride.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

White Zombie (1932)

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 66min Bela Lugosi in the first zombie movie ever.

Recap

So there is that couple and they want to marry in the Caribbean. However their host wants the bride for himself, so he talks to the local voodoo priest who turns her into a zombie.

This is definitively a “should see”. Of course the movie is, well, old, for example the running gag is a man who smokes but never has matches on him. Yes, about 90 years ago people were still smoking on the screen, and a man without matches was an incredibly funny screwball. And yet this movie is a classic that you may not want to miss, and I give you three good reasons:

The music is super, one of the best horror scores ever.

Bela Lugosi is in it.

This is the first zombie movie ever. Zombies back then were voodoolated slaves and it took more than 35 years until George Romero invented the modern zombie, so this is a priceless historic document.

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