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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Republic Pictures
Salesrank: 21514
Released: June 15, 2004 |
| Our Price: $7.33 |
| Used Price: $7.39 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Smuggled jewels, a musical production, a beautiful thief, and stolen \sardines" combine to create comic mayhem.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: NR
Release Date: 15-JUN-2004
Media Type: DVD"""
Love Happy Reviews:
Harpo Makes the Most of His Swan Song 
2009-10-20 - I could do my ever-so-smart-reviewer thing and list all the mistakes in this movie, but you can all do that pretty easily. Sure, there are a number of things I would have done differently, but it all boils down to this: it is a VERY entertaining movie if you do NOT look at it as a "Marx Brothers" movie. It just happens to have Chico and Groucho complementing Harpo-the-Clown.
Harpo and Chico look fabulous. It's unbelievable that they can jump and skip so effortlessly at ages 61 and 62. Groucho looks a little older here, but as another reviewer states, it doesn't hurt him a bit. I think the only real fault of this film is that it needs to be about 20 minutes shorter, by cutting out all the secondary plot possible. As a tight little film, it would have been an excellent send-off for these characters. As it is, it's a little long, but I found it highly entertaining and I laughed out loud many times.
Groucho immediately acquits himself as the best stand-up comic of all time. Chico gets to shoot the keys, and Leon Belasco fiddles to shame most modern "comedians" who can do nothing. Vera Ellen is fabulous; and Harpo is, as always, an endearing clown, performing better pantomime than you'll see from the clowns in Cirque du Soleil (who greatly disappointed me last time I saw them).
This is a pristine print of the complete film. If you have not seen this particular print, you have never seen the whole film. Snatch it before it gets withdrawn and some bastardized version replaces it.
Longer version of a lesser Marx Brothers romp 
2008-08-14 - LOVE HAPPY is the Marx Brothers' final starring feature film, though the spotlight here is on Harpo (the real star of the picture), while Chico and especially Groucho have supporting roles. This one is primarily for Marx completists, who will be delighted to learn that the print used for this DVD transfer runs 91 minutes rather than the standard 85-minute version previously released on VHS ... and seen on TV and in theatrical revivals. I'm not sure where this longer cut has been languishing all these years (the DVD is a Republic Pictures/Lions Gate release, yet there's a Paramount/Viacom logo too), but the shorter edition is the one that's been in general circulation over the past four decades. It's surprising that Republic didn't toot their own horn about having made this longer version available. Did they even realize it was a longer version?
The pictorial quality of this DVD is stunning. Every other edition I've seen -- including a 35mm print that dated back to 1953 -- looked like it was processed on outdated film stock, giving the picture a dimly-lit pictorial quality. Not so in this case: the image is sharp and distinct, giving this independent production a glossy, polished look it did not possess before.
None of the "new" scenes are what I'd call major sequences ... though, happily, additional gags conceived by Frank Tashlin (SON OF PALEFACE, ARTISTS AND MODELS, THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT) are now reinstated. (Unhappily, there's no extra footage of Marilyn Monroe.) I'm puzzled why these cuts were made in the first place -- in some instances it only shortens a scene by a matter of seconds.
Comparing the DVD to the old VHS edition, these are the restored sequences I noticed: the original introduction to Chico's character, narrated by Groucho; Harpo feeding a string of hot dogs to hungry actors inside a bull costume; Groucho showing the audience snapshots of him and Ilona Massey romping together in various locales; Harpo whirling around inside a giant washing machine while a gleeful Raymond Burr looks on; an additional encounter between Chico and Leon Belasco, narrated by Groucho; Melville Cooper showing Ilona Massey X-rays of Harpo; additional sight gags during the climactic rooftop chase (although there`s still a clumsy fadeout during the chase). Plus, there are additional, fleeting quips from Groucho (none of which are especially funny), as well as different music scoring for some scenes.
Again, I'm not sure why this movie was tinkered with. Why would United Artists, the original theatrical distributor, remove a number of Groucho's bits when he has so little to do to begin with? For that matter, why cut any Marx scenes in a film that has superfluous footage involving secondary characters?
The extra footage is fascinating to watch but it doesn't change my overall opinion of LOVE HAPPY. I think that the film has a number of very funny and imaginative scenes, but it still ranks as a lesser Marx effort. Nevertheless, if you're a true Marx Brothers fan, you'll want (and need) this DVD for your collection.
Not as awful as I'd remembered it
2006-03-10 - This was the first Marx Brothers movie I ever saw, and because of that, for quite some time I had the wrong impression of them, judging them by this pale weak mediocre movie. Thankfully, in the years since I've become familiar with their other 12 films and have realised that what I first saw was not at all representative of their true talents, and the reason why 'Love Happy' is so weak and unrepresentative. If someone goes into the viewing experience expecting a Marx Brothers movie, s/he'll likely be as disappointed and turned off as I was, but if one knows that it's essentially a solo vehicle for Harpo, a project in which his brothers just happen to star also, one will probably feel more kindly towards it.
I get the feeling that if this had stayed Harpo's solo project, and his brothers hadn't been roped into appearing as well since the studio thought it would never sell otherwise, it could have been at least a halfway decent and fun little movie. It might not have been a great movie, but it also wouldn't have fallen as flat as the end result ended up doing. I feel bad for him, knowing how long he'd wanted to do a solo film and how much this project meant to him, only to have it fail so miserably, so much so he never even mentioned the film in his memoirs. And the scenes where he appears alone are mostly quite good and funny, one last glimpse of the mischievous sprite, a really good screen farewell (not counting 'The Story of Mankind'). Although it is a bit disconcerting to see some of the closeups of him, where the illusion of this ageless clown gives way to the realisation that he was in his early sixties at the time and no longer as (relatively) young as he'd been at the peak of their career. Although appearing older didn't really hurt Groucho--he just went from a dirty young man to a dirty old man. He didn't really serve much of a purpose in this film, though, although he's as great as ever in the scenes he does get. (I've heard it mentioned that the wackier his name his, the funnier and wackier the film will be. Here his name is Sam Grunion, and this film is even worse than 'Room Service,' where his name was Gordon Miller.)
The major problem with this movie isn't really that the three brothers never get an entire scene together (though it does seem wasteful to have them all in the same movie yet never put them all together at the same time), but that it's just not consistent. Again, if this had remained Harpo's solo film, there probably wouldn't have been so many needless subplots or storylines that we never see really tied up or ended satisfactorily. The film is also marred by too many musical numbers, something that also hurt many of their post-Paramount films. They contribute nothing to the storyline, although I suppose that a song like "Who Stole That Jam?" isn't quite as nightmare-enducing as "The Tenement Symphony." We also have the requisite pseudo-Zeppo and the romantic subplot, although at least the pseudo-Zeppo in this picture isn't as actively annoying or nauseating as the ones in 'At the Circus' or 'The Big Store.' Even so, the viewer never really feels connected to these secondary characters, because unlike the romantic couples in 'A Night at the Opera' and 'A Day at the Races,' they're not really fully integrated into the plot surrounding the brothers, while at the same time they take up too much of the plot. Most people don't watch the Marx Brothers' movies because they want to see secondary characters taking up all the action! And there are times when one just feels like they're too old to still be doing this anymore, because it's just getting silly for men who are in their late fifties and early sixties to still be going on like this and doing their old act. A particularly vivid example is the scene where Harpo is miming to Chico that Maggie is in trouble. The pantomime scene in ADATR was funny and original, and the one in 'A Night in Casablanca' wasn't quite as funny or fresh, but it seemed right since there were so many scenes and gags in that picture hearkening back to things from their earlier films, like a poignant summing up of their entire career. Here it just goes on way too long, and gets extremely embarrassing and painful to watch. Now I understand why some people feel that the pantomime scene in ADATR marked the end of Harpo as a character who didn't talk and the beginning of him as one who couldn't talk.
Even so, in spite of the problems, there are enough funny scenes and gags for this movie to not be a complete waste. It's still the weakest of their movies, but even a film where they never appear together at the same time still has some of that old magic and is better than much of what passes for comedy today. Just don't let it be your first Marx Brothers movie.
Harpo, Chico and barely Groucho
2005-08-09 - Though this was not the last time the Marx Brothers would appear together (cameo appearances in THE STORY OF MANKIND and the 1959 television show THE GREAT JEWEL ROBBERY), it was their final collaboration on the big screen. LOVE HAPPY is essentially a Harpo film with Chico doing his best to keep pace. Groucho's brief segments could probably have been cut from the film without disturbing the story.
LOVE HAPPY combines two plots. The first is about group of struggling young actors laboring to assemble a stage show -- somewhat similar to the ROOM SERVICE's storyline. The subplot involves a band of jewel smugglers whose contraband diamonds mistakenly end up in the theater.
Harpo, whose character also goes by the name of Harpo in the story, is the troupe's scavenger. Chico also wanders into the theater in search of a job. Yes, Harpo plays the harp and Chico tickles the piano keys. In fact, the movie is based on a story created by Harpo Marx.
What about Groucho, you ask? Groucho Marx originally did not want much more than a cameo role in this movie. The producer felt that a Marx Brothers movie with Groucho would have better box office draw than a Harpo and Chico film. By the late 1940's, Groucho put his Marx Brothers days behind him. It did not really matter anyway. Wise-cracking Groucho the character was inseparable from Groucho the actor. Groucho kept his distance from film because he believed that radio and television broadcast was the future of entertainment. Despite his reluctance, Groucho was convinced to contribute a handful of scenes, including 45 seconds with Marilyn Monroe, and supply occasional narration to the film. Indeed, the three Marx Brothers do not appear together until the chase scene at the conclusion of the film.
Despite Groucho's demand for higher salary in order to appear in the film, he was paid approximately half of what he was used to receiving for a movie. Remember that at this period in Groucho's career, he was involved in the wildly successful radio -- and later television -- quiz show, "You Bet Your Life." Money was rolling into Groucho's bank account without having to endure lengthy film shoots. The success of his radio program only served to reinforce Groucho's postion that his motion picture days were over.
We also see a slightly changed Groucho in LOVE HAPPY. Gone are the grease painted eyebrows and exaggerated mustache of earlier years. Groucho's conservatively trimmed mustache was for real. Groucho's hair had also thinned considerably since A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA. Abandonment of grease painted eyebrows only served to make Groucho look older.
It is fitting that LOVE HAPPY was the finale for the Marx Brothers. In comparing LOVE HAPPY to earlier Marx Brothers films, Harpo and Chico are out of place. In the early films, particularly those completed at Paramount's Long Island studios, the zany Marx Brothers did not appear unusual in a setting where everyone was somewhat looney anyway. The Paramount Marx Brothers films were the Leslie Nielsen NAKED GUNs of their day. In their later films at RKO and then MGM, the Marx Brothers remained zany, but the world around them took on a more serious tone. By the time of A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA, the bad guys were actually villainous. The romantic subplot was believable. Life, liberty, and property hung in the balance. It became more difficult to accept that the three Marxes could be on the loose in society.
Accelerating the end of the Marx Brothers era, well before LOVE HAPPY, was that Margaret Dumount, Groucho's foil for years, retired. Additionally, handsome Zeppo Marx left the team at the conclusion of their Paramount films. In the early films, Zeppo almost always played the romantic lead. In subsequent films another actor, normally a crooner, played the part of the handsome boyfriend lead in a romantic subplot that was very removed from the Marx comedy. In watching the later films, I am tempted to skip the non-Marx musical numbers and dance routines. It is like watching two separate films cobbled together with only a thread of story continuity.
In LOVE HAPPY, Harpo and Chico are as out of place in this film as Buster Keaton is in the surfer movies of the 1960s. This was also very evident in one of Groucho's 1947 solo attempts. COPACABANA was essentially a Marx Brothers movie without the Marx Brothers. In COPACABANA, Groucho's antics were equally out of place in an otherwise normal world. Though it is great to see them together again in LOVE HAPPY, it is also sad if you compare this film their early motion pictures.
The rooftop ending of the LOVE HAPPY is novel, though it is not what was originally scripted. The film company ran out of money and solicited commercial sponsorship from companies. Thus explains the rooftop chase past lighted billboards.
The current DVD release is very high quality. Prior to buying a DVD copy of LOVE HAPPY, I had not seen the film in 30 years. It was good to see it again. Despite the criticisms I have leveled at the movie, I recommend you complete your Marx Brothers DVD collection with this picture. Unfortunately the DVD contains no special features. Also, for Marilyn Monroe fans, the cover of the DVD is slightly misleading. Groucho and Marilyn appear on the DVD cover. It is all about marketing as Monroe appears only briefly in the film and Groucho has much less camera time than Harpo or Chico.
Harpo's Only Starring Film
2004-12-22 - Released in 1950 after a troubled production history, "Love Happy" should be viewed as a showcase for the talents of Harpo Marx. On that level, it's an enjoyable but uneven film. Harpo's attempt at Chaplinesque pathos is fascinating - if not entirely successful. However, the rooftop chase is quite inventive and Groucho (in a brief role for box-office purposes) has a memorable encounter with Marilyn Monroe. "Love Happy" is not a classic, but it's more enjoyable (and less painful) to watch than "At the Circus" and "The Big Store." After years of second-generation dupes, the DVD features an excellent 35mm pre-release print that is six minutes longer than the 85-minute theatrical version. Groucho's narration now makes more sense and includes some Robert Benchley-inspired commentary. Along the way, there are occasional gags with Harpo and Chico that the Hays Office deemed inappropriate for the official release. Despite a few continuity errors, the pre-release print of "Love Happy" is superior to the finished product. Marxists rejoice!
