LOVE HAPPY (1949) *** What are the Marx Brothers at something less than full power? Pretty damn good. Harpo could carry a film just by doing whatever he could towards standing around, and there's never been anyone more dangerous with a trench coat full of props. Chico, ya gotta love 'im. GrouchO is fine, but strangely and unequivocally eclipsed by his brothers. It should be said that this one has fewer knock-down awe-inspiring moments than some, but the musical efforts by Harpo, and particularly Chico, are amazing. They're so great, and so unique. And you don't even have to see it to know that any scene with Harpo and a penguin is going to rule. Vera-Ellen knocks 'em dead in several of her scenes, but it's become traditional to get more twiterpated when Marilyn Monroe makes her historic entrance. You make the call, I vote for Vera. It's commonplace to consider this a lesser light in the Marx Brothers' canon. Maybe, but if so it's only because so much of everything else is so great, some even greater. In Through the Out Door was one of the very best records of 1979, but everyone just remembers it as the least great Led Zeppelin record. When mere mortals scoff at the immortals it barely rises to twittering. I'll do my tweeting some place else.
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