Item Details:

ANIMAL CRACKERS

MARX BROTHERS

GOLDEN AGE OF COMEDY

Original Movie Poster Lobby Card

Publisher: Paramount Pictures

In their second hit together, the Marx Brothers attempt to help society lady Margaret Dumont recover a painting that was stolen from her estate. With their crazy antics and classic scenes including Groucho's elephant jokes and Harpo asking Chico for a flashlight, this is one of The Marx Brothers' top films. Pictured on this card along with Groucho and Dumont is lovely singer and actress Lillian Roth.

Size: 14.0 x 11 in; 35.56 x 27.94 cm

Signed: unsigned

The conventional wisdom is that Animal Crackers is the first great Marx Brothers movie. Like its predecessor, it’s based on a Broadway play the brothers did before the movies. There’s dynamic and well filmed angles, all traversing a large set. It looks grand and cinematic and impossible to do in a play. Groucho is very fluid with his delivery, his wisecracks having natural beats in the story. With funny quips and a back and forth, there’s a rhythm to the pacing that makes the jokes land perfectly. Impossible to forget, Margaret Dumont feels loose and comfortable, and has fun with the role. Her ability to make such minor things funny with her delivery, sometimes besting the performances of the brothers, is fortunately not something that fans and critics have overlooked. Her uncovered face makes her more expressive than the brothers who are following their characters’ established personalities.

Private Collection