Thursday, June 08, 2006

New Marx Bros film Discovered




Scene from a newly discovered Marx Bros film: "Moon Puppies."
Groucho plays Ira Froomschnikker, mining magnate. Hearing that the moon is made of green cheese, he smuggles himself aboard a mad scientist's rocket to check it out, and be the first to stake earth claims on the green cheese market.
The Moon is peopled by the usual suspects, with Chico as Commander Parcheesi, the head of the Lunar Guard. Here he can be seen in a rare display of competence, capturing Froomschnikker.
Harpo, taking his mute comical antics to their ultimate conclusion, plays the robot, Russ-T (far right). His trademark bicycle horn was apparently honked offstage as part of the robot's language. In a truly innovative piece of slapstick, Russ-T begins to play "It's Only A Paper Moon" on a harp, but gets the strings entangled around his claw-like hands and cannot finish. He's ultimately led offstage by Parcheesi, who returns to play the piano--shooting the keys and all.
The queen of the moon, Lunaria, is played, of course, by Margaret Dumont. As is typical, she falls head over heels in love with con-man Froomschnikker, and gives him the rights to become Ambassador of Cheese Mining for the Earth, if he agrees to marry her! Groucho, naturally, tries to find a loophole that involves faking his death and a funeral scene reminiscent of a similar scene in "A Funny Thing Happened On My Way To The Forum."
Ultimately, Froomschnikker gives in, only to discover that, while the moon is made of cheese and the mines are plentiful--it's limburger, which nobody wants!
How soon "Moon Puppies" will be released on DVD is unclear.

Would've had this up yesterday, but, Blogger.com was down for repairs.

Listening to: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Read by Douglas Adams

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