EDWARD BUZZELL
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB.5.
USA, 1940. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Screenplay by Irving Brecher. Cinematography by Leonard Smith. Produced by Jack Cummings. Music by George Bassman, George Stoll. Production Design by Cedric Gibbons. Costume Design by Gile Steele, Dolly Tree. Film Editing by Blanche Sewell.
The wind had long gone out of the creative sails of the Marx Brothers movies by this point, but like A Night In Casablanca, this is one of their later films that still managed to be pretty funny even if it wasn’t as brilliant as A Day At The Races or A Night At The Opera. Groucho plays a swindler who is heading west to make a fortune but has all his money (about ten dollars) stolen by a couple of wacky brothers (Harpo and Chico). They in turn lend the money to an old miner with the deed to a barren piece of land, which he gives them as collateral. The brothers find out that the railroad is looking to buy the land and the old man’s grandson is hoping to make his family wealthy with the sale, but a group of bandits are also looking to screw up the deal and steal the deed for themselves. A climactic chase involving a high speed train ride is a riot, as are all of the silly situations in which the boys find themselves, in a not particularly memorable but lightly enjoyable comedy that should keep you busy for its brief eighty minute running time. Loosely inspired by the Buster Keaton comedy of the same name.
