CRAMMING THROUGH ZEPPO/MARX BROTHERS 'HORSE FEATHERS'

Zeppo and Grouchy Marx from HORSE FEATHERS Year: 1932 Rating: ***

While THE MARX BROTHERS are all great performers, Chico Marx is the character-actor of the bunch, moving the exposition and far more grouchy than Groucho, the one-line-spouting leader... 

And while they're all funny, Harpo Marx is the token zany physical comic while Zeppo, appearing in their first five films and here playing the college student son of new campus president Groucho, is the young handsome straight man... 

Harpo and Chico Marx from Horse Feathers

Which is something needed to counterbalance all the incessant running around that, in the case of HORSE FEATHERS, gets a bit tiring as the initial plot... of a big collegiate football game scam... gets lost in the mix...

Leaving perhaps the best sequence to Harpo Marx's insanely-amazing harp-playing in a Zepppo-era Marx Brothers feature where the piecemeal detours distract from the connected main course.

Harpo Marx in Horse Feathers

Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers with Thelma Todd

Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers with Chico Marx

Zeppo Marx and Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers

Zeppo Marx and Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers

Zeppo Marx in Horse Feathers