The Marx Brothers, comprised of Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo, and later Gummo, were a comedy troupe who got their start on the stage before transitioning to film in the late 1920s. They were incredibly popular in the ’30s and ’40s, producing some of that era’s most iconic comedies, like A Night at the Opera and Duck Soup. The brothers each had their own distinct on-screen persona, and their movies were praised for both their clever dialogue and intense physical comedy. Few comedy acts were so good at combining wit with slapstick.
Perhaps most importantly of all, the Marx Brothers were masters of chaos. Their humor was anarchic and irreverent, poking fun at anything and everything. As a result, they took every gag and set piece to extreme and absurd lengths. Their best work is timeless, remaining just as entertaining now as it was more than eight decades ago. These are the finest of their films, as ranked by the users of IMDb.
Editor’s Note: Some movies listed are not available for streaming at the moment.
10 ‘At the Circus’ (1939)
IMDb Score: 6.8/10
The villainous John Carter (James Burke) plots to take full control of the circus he co-owns with Jeff Wilson (Kenny Baker). He enlists goons to steal $10, 000 from Jeff, thus forcing him to hand over his half of the business. Jeff, along with circus employees Tony (Chico Marx) and Punchy (Harpo Marx) call on lawyer J. Cheever Loophole (Groucho Marx) to help them save the business and thwart Carter’s schemes. Naturally, all manner of mayhem ensues, involving trapeze acts, a gorilla suit, and people being fired out of cannons.
At the Circus is generally considered a minor entry in the Marx Brothers’ catalog, though it does bear occasional flashes of their comedic brilliance, like the badge scene, the ostrich ride, and Harpo’s musical numbers. It could have been a classic, but the Brothers don’t seem to be passionate about the material. Here, they appear to be forcing the comedy rather than letting it flow naturally as they do in most of their earlier movies.
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9 ‘Go West’ (1940)
IMDb Score: 6.8/10
This Western comedy sees the brothers heading to the American frontier. Groucho plays S. Quentin Quale, a lovable schemer with a knack for getting into hilarious predicaments. He crosses paths with two fellow con men, Joe (Chico Marx) and Rusty Panello (Harp Marx) who are the new holders of the deed to a property known as Dead Man’s Gulch. When the Railroad announces its intention to buy the Gulch, the property suddenly becomes worth a fortune, leading to a frantic scramble for control of the deed.
Go West is another late-career Marx brothers movie which is solid but not amazing. The brothers are charming, but they don’t unleash their full chaotic talents, which is a pity. Nevertheless, the movie does feature some great one-liners, like “I was going to thrash them within an inch of their lives, but I didn’t have a tape measure” and “I give you my solemn word as an embezzler that I’ll be back in two minutes.”
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8 ‘The Cocoanuts’ (1929)
IMDb Score: 6.8/10
The Cocoanuts was the Brothers’ first feature film after years of success on the Broadway stage. It’s set in a fictional resort hotel in Florida, with Groucho as the fast-talking and opportunistic hotel owner, Mr. Hammer, joined by Zeppo as his assistant Jamison. They attempt to keep the establishment functioning while two ne’er-do-wells attempt to rob the guests and a charismatic con artist (Cyril Ring) tries to swindle the wealthy Mrs. Potter (Margaret Dumont) out of her fortune.
The plot, however, is beside the point, serving more as a means of connecting the various gags and comedy set pieces. A memorable one involves Chico not knowing what the word ‘viaduct’ means, while another sees Harpo staggering around drunkenly while Mrs. Potter makes a formal speech. The Cocoanuts received mildly positive reviews but was a solid commercial success, paving the way for the more accomplished comedies that would follow.
7 ‘A Night in Casablanca’ (1946)
IMDb Score: 6.9/10
A Night in Casablanca takes place in a hotel shortly after WWII, where an escaped Nazi war criminal named Stubel (Sig Ruman) has hidden several priceless works of art. He has already murdered three managers of the hotel in the hopes of getting his hands on the treasures. Totally unaware that his predecessors have met mysterious ends, the bumbling Ronald Kornblow (Groucho Marx) accepts a job as the new manager. Chico Marx plays Kornblow’s bodyguard Corbaccio, while Harpo is the valet Rusty. They’re all incredibly incompetent, but this may actually give them a chance of making it out alive.
As its name implies, A Night in Casablanca is a send-up of romantic war dramas like Casablanca. This may sound a bit gimmicky but it’s actually the best of the Brothers’ late-career pictures (although the action ending feels somewhat out of place). It’s the kind of movie that will please fans of the Brothers but won’t win over any newcomers, which is probably what they intended.
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6 ‘Monkey Business’ (1931)
IMDb Score: 7.4/10
“Look at me. I worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty.” In this one, the Marx Brothers are stowaways on an ocean liner. They spend the voyage attempting to evade capture by the naval officers, annoying most of the guests in the process. Eventually they realize that they have to steal some passports in order to get off the ship. To make matters worse, the rascals soon get mixed up with rival gangsters, romantic entanglements, and a crate full of monkeys.
Monkey Business draws on several sketches and routines the Brothers had performed on stage years prior and honed to perfection. The result is a steady stream of rapid-fire dialogue and surreal situations. Groucho is great, but the highlights are Chico and Harpo. The former is crafty and fast-talking, delivering a lot of memorable wordplay. The latter, a silent mischief-maker, creates havoc with his physical comedy.
5 ‘Animal Crackers’ (1930)
IMDb Score: 7.4/10
“One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.” Wealthy socialite Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) hosts a lavish party in honor of Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho Marx), an explorer who has just returned from his latest sojourn in Africa. At the event, art collector Roscoe W. Chandler (Louis Sorin) plans to show off his latest priceless painting, but the evening is upended when the artwork goes missing.
All kinds of chaos and misunderstandings follow as the characters attempt to catch the art thief. Animal Crackers is a ton of fun, thanks to its witty dialogue, musical interludes, and the Brothers’ ability to turn every scene into a canvas for their comedic genius. It includes some of their very best lines, like “There’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do before I quit: Retire” and “Ever since I met you, I’ve swept you off my feet.”
4 ‘Horse Feathers’ (1932)
IMDb Score: 7.5/10
With Horse Feathers, the Marx Brothers set their zany sights on the world of academia. Groucho plays Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the newly appointed president of Huxley College. The plot takes a whimsical turn as Wagstaff, along with his mischievous compatriots played by Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo, attempt to win a football game against rival Darwin College to secure Huxley’s reputation. The problem is that two of the men that Wagstaff thought were professional athletes are, in fact, liquor deliverymen for the local speakeasy.
The film is a whirlwind of absurdity, building up to a climactic football game filled with bizarre strategies and comical chaos. It features a number of goofy (but still entertaining) visual gags where the characters take people’s figures of speech literally. For example, after a man playing a card game says “Cut the cards”, Harpo takes out a hatchet and chops it in two. There’s also a great scene where Harpo and Chico attempt to kidnap two much larger men and wind up being kidnapped themselves.
3 ‘A Day at the Races’ (1937)
IMDb Score: 7.5/10
In this wacky gem, Groucho Marx plays Dr. Hugo Hackenbush, a vet posing as a medical doctor, who becomes embroiled in a plot to save a financially struggling sanitarium. Chico Marx plays Tony, a shady racetrack tipster, while Harpo is the mute and mischievous Stuffy. The trio joins forces with the sanitarium’s owner, Judy Standish (Maureen O’Sullivan), to thwart the scheming villain, Mr. Morgan (Douglas Dumbrille), who aims to turn the establishment into a casino.
This is one of the Marx Brothers’ most absurd plots, and that’s saying something. It has many laugh-out-loud moments, like when Stuffy is about to accidentally drink poison and Hackenbush says, “Hey, don’t drink that poison! That’s $4.00 an ounce!” Or when Hackenbush is described as “a doctor with peculiar talents” and responds that he has “the most peculiar talents of any doctor around.” Only the Marx Brothers could pull off such ridiculous quips, and they more than succeed.
A Day at the Races
- Release Date
- June 11, 1937
- Director
- Sam Wood
- Cast
- Groucho Marx , Chico Marx , Harpo Marx , Allan Jones , Maureen O’Sullivan , Margaret Dumont
- Rating
- NR
- Runtime
- 111
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Genres
- Comedy , sport
- Writers
- Robert Pirosh , George Seaton , George Oppenheimer
- Tagline
- America’s Joy-Friends are back again in the grandest entertainment gallop of 1937! More howls, more girls, more song hits than “A Night At The Opera”! Oh boy!
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2 ‘A Night at the Opera’ (1935)
IMDb Score: 7.8/10
A Night at the Opera, one of the Marx Brothers’ most iconic movies, brings the troupe’s anarchic comedy to the high-class world of opera. Manager Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx), associate Fiorello (Chico Marx), and assistant Tomasso (Harpo Marx) find themselves tangled up with opera singers Ricardo (Allan Jones) and Rosa (Kitty Carlisle). They all set sail from Italy to New York, getting up to all kinds of mischief both on board and when they reach their destination. In an echo of Monkey Business, there’s a subplot involving stowaways.
The film represented a more ambitious type of comedy for the Brothers, with more of a focus on plot and characterization rather than just gags. Their comedy set pieces are also more elaborate, like the famous stateroom scene where 15 people crowd into Driftwood’s tiny cabin. It all builds up to a grand musical finale, which also made for a bigger spectacle than anything they had done up til that point.
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1 ‘Duck Soup’ (1933)
IMDb Score: 7.8/10
“This means war!” Groucho Marx delivers his best performance here as Rufus T. Firefly, a hilariously absurd leader who is appointed as the head of the country of Freedonia. Chico and Harpo Marx also show up as a pair of spies who can’t seem to remember which side they’re supposed to be on. The plot follows the deteriorating relations between Firefly and the ambassador of neighboring Sylvania (Louis Calhern), threatening to spark a war between the two countries.
Duck Soup is not only a comedic tour de force but a biting political commentary, reflecting the turbulent political currents then underway in Europe. It represents the Marx Brothers’ most complete project, helped in no small part by terrific direction from Leo McCarey. Critics were lukewarm toward it on release but it is now frequently ranked among the greatest comedies of all time. It has been cited as an influence by everyone from The Beatles to Sacha Baron Cohen.
Duck Soup
- Release Date
- November 17, 1933
- Director
- Leo McCarey
- Cast
- Groucho Marx , Harpo Marx , Chico Marx , Zeppo Marx
- Rating
- Not Rated
- Runtime
- 69 minutes
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Writers
- Bert Kalmar , Harry Ruby
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