Perhaps indicative of how low Love Happy ranks among Marx Brothers fans (and perhaps the brothers themselves), press materials for the film, and in fact this DVD, would suggest that Marilyn Monroe serves as a co-star. In truth, Marilyn’s part is little more than a walk part, lasting about two minutes. In the credits she is listed under “Introducing” as if this is her film debut. It isn’t. She had appeared in several tiny roles starting around 1947. In Love Happy, she appears in once scene where she walks into Groucho’s office and complains that men keep following her. Groucho looks her up and down and comments that he can’t imagine why.
Groucho (sans his usual greasepaint moustache and thick eyebrows), plays Detective Sam Grunion, a private eye who recounts the story of the “famous” Romanoff diamonds, smuggled into the United States in a sardines can. The jewels come into Harpo’s possession, a sweet guy who has been stealing food to give to a local theater troupe who is working on a musical revue. The diamonds end up at the rehearsals, which causes all kinds of farcical episodes. In one of the film’s funniest scenes, a Russian émigré named Lady Egelichi (Ilona Massey) attempts to seduce him, while simultaneously having her clownish henchman—one is played by Raymond Burr—torture him to find out where the diamonds are. Of course Harpo’s gimmick has always been that he never talks!
Vera Allen and Paul Valentine play the stars of the musical. They each perform several dances. Chico plays the piano and Harpo plays a harp. That part of the Marx Brothers shtick always seemed stale, but they stayed true to it to the end.
Given that Harpo is credited with the story for Love Happy, it should come as no surprise that he dominates the screen time and gets in a few really funny lines. Harpo is very likable, but asking him to carry a film might have been too much. Groucho has surprisingly little screen time which is a real determent to the project and Chico shows up as jack of all trades Faustino the Great, and does his usual ‘shtick.’
Produced by Mary Pickford, it’s pretty obvious that Love Happy was made out of necessity (Chico’s gambling debts) than any great desire. That being said, The Marx Brothers were an important part of Hollywood history and fans of their work will want this film in their collections for completists sake.
Presented in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Olive Films has done a fine job with the standard DVD release. The elements have surprisingly little damage. While not pristine, there are no major problems; the regular age related artifacts pop up here and there.
The Mono soundtrack has a slight tininess at times, but aside from that dialogue is clear throughout. Things are also well balanced, given the age of the material.
There are no subtitles available.
There are no extras included.
