Room Service

1938
Starring
Groucho Marx as Gordon Miller
Chico Marx as Harry Binelli
Harpo Marx as Faker
Lucille Ball as Christine
Ann Miller as Hilda

It’s the Marx Brothers, doing a play written for other people that they don’t have the luxury of changing too much of the plot to suit their own needs, or even Groucho’s name to something comical (Gordon Miller? Why not W. Saltlick Frogthrower or something equally comical?) Faker (played by Harpo) is from the original play, from my understanding, having not seen the real play, and all of his lines were just given to Chico or Groucho. It’s also the only film they made with RKO, as they were loaned out for one movie. Sadly this is far from their best film, more near the bottom, as they are limited by their source material and not let to shine the way they normally can. Frank Sinatra also did a version of this play as a movie called Step Lively. I bet that is completely different from this version. Or it could be identical. I can imagine Ol’ Blue Eyes chasing women without saying a word and honking a horn all the while!

Continue reading →