Horse Feathers (1932)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Norman Z. McLeod

Writers:

Bert Kalmar (screenplay) and
Harry Ruby (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 August 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

The Maddest Comics of the Screen!

Plot:

Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley U, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin U.

Plot Keywords:

College | Widow | Professor | Speakeasy | Education

Cast

Groucho Marx	...	Prof. Quincy Adams Wagstaff
Harpo Marx	...	Pinky
Chico Marx	...	Baravelli
Zeppo Marx	...	Frank Wagstaff
Thelma Todd	...	Connie Bailey
David Landau	...	Jennings

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Spain:T | Portugal:M/6 | South Korea:All | USA:Approved (PCA reissue certificate no. 1713-R) | Australia:G | Finland:S | Germany:o.Al. | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Occidental College -1600 Campus Road, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

"Darwin" & "Huxley," the two opposing college football team, are named after the originator of the theory of evolution, 19th century naturalist Charles Darwin, and his leading advocate, biologist Thomas Huxley.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the "I'm against it" number, Groucho kicks a stack of papers off the desk, and we see them landing on the floor. The papers can be seen on the desk in subsequent shots.

Quotes:

Professor Wagstaff: I'm Professor Wagstaff of Huxley College.
Baravelli: That means nothing to me.
Professor Wagstaff: Well, it doesn't mean anything to me either. I'll try it over again. I'm Professor Huxley of Wagstaff College.
Baravelli: Well, you didn't stay at the other college very long.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Robot Chicken: Password: Swordfish (#2.10)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Wedding March

Whatever it is, he's against it!

HORSE FEATHERS, the fourth of the five Paramount Marx Brother Movies, is one of their best - tackling the world of higher education in America. Groucho is the latest of the Presidents of Huxley College, which is doing very badly (apparently) not because of poor scholastic standards but due to not having a successful football team. His son (Zeppo!) steers him toward solving this issue, but with typical Groucho ineptness he thinks the two semi-professional football players he is looking for are Harpo and Chico. He proceeds to regret his own mistake, until the climactic football game.

The music numbers of this film are well remembered, particularly Groucho's introduction ("I'M AGAINST IT!") and "Everyone Says I love you". The latter was sung to the anti-heroine of the story, Thelma Todd in her second and last film with the brothers. Thelma plays the "college widow", a popular fictional figure in early 20th Century American humor - a euphemism for an ever-ready widow of a college professor who was there to have sex with students or the staff. George Ade, the humorist who wrote FABLES IN SLANG, wrote a play called "THE COLLEGE WIDOW" in the teens of the 20th Century. Thelma is certainly effective as the vamp trying to help David Landau (President of Darwin College) get the football signals of Huxley College. Her scenes with Groucho and Chico are quite funny. Chico is playing the piano and she sings. She says she has a falsetto voice. Chico says that's all right, his aunt has a false set of teeth. And Groucho, when taking Thelma for a boat trip throws her a lifesaver (literally), while returning with a duck who interrupted his singing.

The final football game is the second best spoof of college football on film (the one in Harold Lloyd's THE FRESHMAN is a better one). In the end we see the boys demolish football huddles, football signals, even hot dogs (poor Nat Pendleton).

A delightful antique, it is well worth watching. This is one film I'm not against.