As kind of a last hurrah before the horrors of returning to work after an extended break, I went to Deseret Industries yesterday to donate a pile of VHS tapes. And speaking of defunct media, I came home with three DVDs of various Marx Brothers movies.
Up to this point, I've only seen bits and pieces of their films, so I thought finding these at the thrift store was as good an introduction as any to watching a film in total. So I started with "A Night in Casablanca," kind of a spoof of the film "Casablanca," but not really.
Like many films of the era the plot is secondary, with bits of the brothers' vaudeville and comic bits sneaking into the story at random moments. It felt really cartoony at some points, but good cartoony, with little tricks you might see in Bugs Bunny or Scooby Doo. (There's an entire scene of them sneaking around the bad guy's hotel room, hiding in various closets and trunks and cases as he packs, turning him into a nervous wreck as they continually unpack his packing so they can hide in various spots behind his clothing.)
Speaking of Bugs Bunny, one of his cartoons was included as bonus material. It didn't have anything to do with the film, but it was fun to watch.
The extras also included a short called "So You Think You're A Nervous Wreck," a satire of those ubiquitous self-help reels common in the era. The central character, Joe McDoakes, is played by George O'Hanlon, who later went on to lend his voice to George Jetson.
The episode in question is here:
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