Movie Notes: Animal Crackers

Animal Crackers (1930)
Director: Victor Heerman

The Marx Brothers second film is a chaotic, cracklingly funny, bizarre and confusing chain of events full of shady characters, an empty plot, and shallow characters.  In other words, it's epitomical of their best work.

Not everything these guys do makes me laugh.  Some gags make me laugh long after the scene is over.  I imagine on different nights, different scenes would strike me as funny, some nights maybe none of them would strike me as funny.

Oh, one last thing, it's nice to see Zeppo have a comedic moment.  The dictation scene is quite funny.

Movie Notes: The Gold Rush

The Gold Rush (1925)
Director: Charles Chaplin

This is a sparklingly funny, charmingly sweet film, and an absolute classic.  It's silent, of course, and watching it requires an open-mindedness to a different film language than the one to which we're accustomed to.

Still, I can't imagine anyone being disappointed by such a simple movie.  I laughed harder watching this movie the first time I ever saw it than I've ever laughed watching any other movie since.  Libby and I watched it again last weekend, and though we didn't laugh as much, we still had a good time.

One thing about Chaplin is the breadth of humanity displayed on screen through every little detail and nuance of his performance.  It's funny the way the tramp walks, charming the way he expresses so plainly his deeply felt insecurities, and genius the way that he represents us all by portraying this likable loser.