Movies - Horse Feathers

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	Movies - Horse Feathers

Horse Feathers (1932) was the fourth Marx Brothers film. It stars the four Marx Brothers, Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo, as well as Thelma Todd as the College Widow, and was written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S. J. Perelman, and Will B. Johnstone. Kalmar and Ruby also wrote some of the original music for the film. Many of the films gags were said to be taken from the Marx Brothers' stage comedy from the 1920s, Fun in Hi Skule.

Plot

The film revolves around, among other things, college football and a game between the fictional Darwin and Huxley Colleges. Many of the jokes about the amateur status of collegiate football players and how eligibility rules are stretched by collegiate athletic departments remain remarkably current. Groucho, of course, is the head of the college, and Zeppo is his son. Chico is an "iceman", which serves as a double meaning, being a deliverer of ice and of bootleg booze from the speakeasy, and also a "skirt chaser" by nature. Harpo is a part-time dogcatcher and also a part-time "iceman". At one point Groucho and Chico are debating the cost of ice. Groucho argues the bill should be much smaller than it is:

:Chico: I make you proposition. You owe us $200, you pay us $2000, and we call it square. :Groucho: That's not a bad idea. I tell you what... I'll consult my lawyer. And if he advises me to do it... I'll get a new lawyer!

The opening number features Groucho and a group of college professors singing and dancing in full academic robes and mortarboard hats. The song sets the tone for Groucho's sarcastic view of the school:

:I don't know what they have to say :It makes no difference anyway; :Whatever it is, I'm against it!

The part of the anatomy professor is played by Robert Greig, a character actor, who appeared in over 100 films, many in the role of a butler. He also appeared with the Marx Brothers in Animal Crackers.

The film prominently features the song "Everyone Says I Love You", by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, which was later the title song of the 1996 Woody Allen movie Everyone Says I Love You
. All four brothers perform the song: Zeppo sings it, Harpo whistles it, Chico sings it while playing piano, Harpo plays it on his harp, and Groucho sings it while strumming a guitar. In all but one case, the song is a serenade to the "College Widow", except for when Harpo (the dogcatcher) whistles it to his horse. As is often the case with the Marx Brothers films, Harpo's performances are show-stoppers.

In one clever bit, Harpo and Chico saw their way out of a locked room, where they are being kept prisoners, with their clothes removed (see image) except for their long underwear (and Chico's ever-present pinhead hat). How they got the saws into the floor, or how they even got the saws in the first place, are left to the imagination. This plot device of seemingly grabbing some convenient tool from "off-screen" would later be a staple of the Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Swordfish

One famous scene features Chico guarding the speakeasy, and Groucho trying to get in. The password is "Swordfish". This bit was the inspiration for the title of the movie thriller Swordfish
. The sketch includes several jokes about fishes, with some puns-within-puns:

:Groucho: I got it! "Haddock". :Chico: 'At's a-funny, I got a "haddock" too. :Groucho: What do you take for a "haddock"? :Chico: Sometimes I take an aspirin, sometimes I take a calomel. :Groucho: I'd walk a mile for a calomel. :(and so on)

Musical numbers

Whatever It Is, I'm Against It
I Always Get My Man
Collegiate
Everyone Says I Love You
Bridal Chorus
Wedding March
I'm Daffy Over You

Lyrics

Whatever It Is, I'm Against It (Groucho's version)

I don't know what they have to say, it makes no difference anyway, whatever it is, I'm against it!, no matter what it is or who commenced it, I'm against it.

Your proposition may be good, but let's have one thing understood, whatever it is, I'm against it!, and even when you've changed it or condensed it, I'm against it.

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