The best comedians have all the traits of a stage performer: the physicality, timing, charisma, and well-developed persona. But the best film comedians also have a preternatural understanding of the medium. Film, unlike the stage, allows for seamless editing that can bring together disparate times and places and it is built for fantastic visual trickery. In essence, film is the perfect medium for surreal and anarchic humor because, unlike any other form, it can capture wackiness best.
Because The Marx Brothers began as vaudeville stage performers, discussion of their work usually uses the terms of theatre. Their witty dialogue and slapstick genius is rightfully held up as exemplary. It is easy to see their influence in the line delivery and bodily humor of comedians like Gilda Radner, Chris Farley, and Kate McKinnon. Yet, unlike the sketch comedy seen on Saturday Night Live, the Marx Brothers’ style is also delightfully cinematic.
The Marx Brothers adapted their jokes to the screen effortlessly. DUCK SOUP uses a clever montage edited out of stock footage as part of a gag. The film uses special effects to make a dog emerge out of Groucho’s stomach — a scene that doesn’t make any more sense when you see it.
ROOM SERVICE is an unusual Marx Brothers film. Based on a successful Broadway play, the film shows their range as comedians, confining them to one hotel room. Television comedies have often used the single-location episode, or “bottle episode,” to mimic the limits of the stage. In ROOM SERVICE you can feel the comedians wanting to break free of the room. The film lacks the zaniness of their earlier work possibly because at this point, the Marx Brothers had hit their stride as film stars — essentially finding themselves too big and too wild for the stage.
— Diana Martinez, Film Streams Education Director
