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 | Speakeasy | Professor | Widow | 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:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Goofs:

Continuity: Pinky and Baraveli are kneeling in the center of the section of floor they're sawing, but when they fall through into the football players' room, they fall well to the left and right of the section of floor.

Quotes:

Football Coach: [sees Wagstaff lying in the middle of the field with a cigar] What are you doing with that cigar in your mouth?
Professor Wagstaff: Why? Do you know another way to smoke it?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Collection of Chemicals (2009)

Soundtrack:

Whatever It Is, I'm Against It

Marx Brothers at their best

The Marx Brothers do it again in Horse Feathers. Next to the classic Duck Soup, this is probably their best film. Their anarchist style of comedy is unleashed on Huxley College, a troubled university with a losing football team that hasn't won a game since the 1880's. The film opens with Groucho becoming president of the college, starting off with the musical sequence "Whatever it is, I'm against it." Chico and Harpo are a iceman and a dog catcher, respectivly, and Zeppo is Grouch's son, who is enrolled in the university. The story, if it can be called that, leads up to a football game with Huxley's rival, Darwin University. This has to be seen to be believed.