Horse Feathers (1932) User Reviews (112)

Whatever it is, he's against it!

[theowinthrop · 9/10 · 19 March 2006]

HORSE FEATHERS, the fourth of the five Paramount Marx Brother Movies, is one of their best - tackling the world of higher education in America. Groucho is the latest of the Presidents of Huxley College, which is doing very badly (apparently) not because of poor scholastic standards but due to not having a successful football team. His son (Zeppo!) steers him toward solving this issue, but with typical Groucho ineptness he thinks the two semi-professional football players he is looking for are Harpo and Chico. He proceeds to regret his own mistake, until the climactic football game.

The music numbers of this film are well remembered, particularly Groucho's introduction ("I'M AGAINST IT!") and "Everyone Says I love you". The latter was sung to the anti-heroine of the story, Thelma Todd in her second and last film with the brothers. Thelma plays the "college widow", a popular fictional figure in early 20th Century American humor - a euphemism for an ever-ready widow of a college professor who was there to have sex with students or the staff. George Ade, the humorist who wrote FABLES IN SLANG, wrote a play called "THE COLLEGE WIDOW" in the teens of the 20th Century. Thelma is certainly effective as the vamp trying to help David Landau (President of Darwin College) get the football signals of Huxley College. Her scenes with Groucho and Chico are quite funny. Chico is playing the piano and she sings. She says she has a falsetto voice. Chico says that's all right, his aunt has a false set of teeth. And Groucho, when taking Thelma for a boat trip throws her a lifesaver (literally), while returning with a duck who interrupted his singing.

The final football game is the second best spoof of college football on film (the one in Harold Lloyd's THE FRESHMAN is a better one). In the end we see the boys demolish football huddles, football signals, even hot dogs (poor Nat Pendleton).

A delightful antique, it is well worth watching. This is one film I'm not against.

The Marx Brothers in their prime

[km_dickson · 7/10 · 9 September 2005]

One of the better Marx Brothers movies. This one came right in the middle of their prime, between Monkey Business and Duck Soup (probably their two best films). While Horse Feathers isn't quite as funny as either of those, it still has plenty of laughs. The Marx Brothers were still young, but they knew what they were doing now. Again they take advantage of the film medium to do things they never could have done on stage, like the wild football finale. The involvement of the supporting cast is also kept to a minimum, which is always a good thing in Marx Bros. films. They do go back to relying on too many musical numbers. Groucho's opening song "Whatever it is, I'm Against it" seems awkwardly out of place, but it's interesting to see all four brothers do their own version of "Everyone Says I Love you." It's not their very best work, but it's not far from it either.

The Brothers At Their Zaniest

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 8 February 2006]

To anyone who has never seen a Marx Brothers film, it's hard to describe. "Horse Feathers" just may be the wackiest, corniest, dumbest, funniest and just plain craziest movie you've ever seen. It could be any one of those adjectives. In my opinion, it's all of them. It's my favorite film of these guys.

Perhaps no film has so many of the above-listed descriptions, in spades, as this one does. It just leaves you shaking your head. Some of the lines in here are some of the best I've ever heard and some of the scenes and jokes are the dumbest I've ever seen. One thing for sure: they come at you at a machine-gun pace. You barely have time to digest what you just saw and heard and there's another joke coming at you. You can barely keep up with it all. The football scenes at the end of the film are the most outrageous I have ever seen. They, like much of the movie, have to be seen to be believed. Yes, the latter is a little too ridiculous but, hey, that''s the Marx Brothers.

The only breaks from the non-stop jokes comes when one of the brothers decides to sing a song or play the piano or harp. Those tunes are so-so. The long harp solo by Harpo is too long. I read once where the brothers were opposed to having that in this movie...and they were proved right; it didn't fit. Other than that, this is 67 minutes of pure insanity.

Chaos Comes to College

[dougdoepke · 6 January 2015]

Plot (or should I say plan of attack)— Entering a college campus, the gang gets to deconstruct the whole idea of higher education.

The gags fly faster than speeding bullets. There's no real let-up, not even for hasty romantic interludes with Zeppo and Todd. It's like the boys have a hundred pages of material to squeeze into 70-minutes. Harpo's got more to do than usual, even a harp solo, while Groucho is at his caustic best with a zillion one-liners. I did miss his usual foil, Margaret Dumont, who should have been lurking somewhere in the faculty lounge. Instead, as a college president, he gets to insult anything collegiate, including America's unofficial national religion-- football. And check out that big game that looks more like Ben Hur than a sports contest. But what I really liked was Thelma Todd in the slinkiest gowns this side of Jean Harlow. And what a fine comedienne she was; too bad her life ended as several probing pages in Hollywood Babylon. All in all, this is the chaos brothers at their liveliest, and may cause highschoolers to rethink the whole idea of higher education.

Marx Brothers at their best

[PhilN · 10/10 · 21 April 1999]

The Marx Brothers do it again in Horse Feathers. Next to the classic Duck Soup, this is probably their best film. Their anarchist style of comedy is unleashed on Huxley College, a troubled university with a losing football team that hasn't won a game since the 1880's. The film opens with Groucho becoming president of the college, starting off with the musical sequence "Whatever it is, I'm against it." Chico and Harpo are a iceman and a dog catcher, respectivly, and Zeppo is Grouch's son, who is enrolled in the university. The story, if it can be called that, leads up to a football game with Huxley's rival, Darwin University. This has to be seen to be believed.

classic

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 20 May 2005]

Oh come on! You know the Marx brothers! Groucho, with his cigar, says something that sounds serious, but then makes it into a joke; Chico, with his Italian accent, mangles certain phrases, among other things; Harpo doesn't speak but (literally) has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve; Zeppo actually is serious...to an extent. In this case, Quincy Wagstaff (Groucho) becomes dean of Huxley College and hopes to defeat rival college Darwin in a football game. He hires two goof-balls, Baravelli (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo), while the other college gets the real players.

The truth is that you don't even have to understand the plot to have a good time. The movie is all about the Marx brothers' anarchic humor, particularly when Harpo causes a traffic jam and then plays a trick on a cop. The football game at the end is not like any game that you've ever seen. You're sure to love the whole movie. And just remember: swordfish.

Mercilessly and outrageous Marx Brothers comedy that still works very well , thanks to the funny sketches

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 30 June 2021]

Fun and hilariously amusing comedy in which the Marx Brothers attempting to win a Rugby major championship for getting fame and fortune to save the University . Relentlessly comical and outrageous comedy with musical interludes that still works very well . The first to follow ¨Monkey Business¨, one of their biggest success and use a variation on its formula . Amusing and entertaining Marx Brothers picture , it has a lot of funny material and unfortunately intrusive songs . Groucho's wisecracks and the incomparable Chico and Harpo carry the movie . Profesor Wagstaff (Groucho Marx) has just been installed as the new but corrupt president of Huxley College , and he has to beef up its football team to win the championship game which has been rigged by local gamblers in the opposition´s favor , as he knows just how to do it . His rightness attitude toward education is not reserved for his son Frank (Zeppo) , who is seeing the college widow , Connie Bailey. Frank influences Wagstaff to recruit two football players who hang out in a speakeasy, in order to beat rival school Darwin . Unfortunately, Wagstaff mistakenly hires the crooks and hilarious Baravelli (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo). Finding out that Darwin has beaten him to the "real" players, Wagstaff enlists Baravelli and Pinky attempt to kidnap them. They go collegiate-and change "rah-rah" into "ha-ha-ha!"Mirth's Four Horsemen run wild thru a college of love-thirsty co-eds. Lunacy becomes a pleasure as these nuts go collegiate! They turn dear old Darwin into a monkey asylum-twist rah! Rah! Into ha! Ha! -and have a swell time while the school burns to the ground!

Amusing and fun Marx movie with a series of incidents which lead to an anarchic football end . Features some of the brothers´s classic routines and the songs : ¨Whatever it is , I´m against it¨ , ¨Everyone says I love you¨. Classic Marx film with many funny sequences , this is the most sustained bit of insanity , full of crazy gags , antics and amusement , being now deemed a satiric masterpiece and one of the biggest hits . Though not as mercilessly hilarious and outrageous as other films , it results to be , nonetheless , an agreeable movie . The Marx Brothers were still at the peak of their fame in this Paramount Pictures musical/comedy. Although it suffers from excessive musical comedy plotting , but it gives the zany threesome plenty of comic elaboration . It works very well , which , unfortunately and sadly , did not prove to be the case with most of the Marx Brothers pictures that went on . Enough gags for give several movies , but our favorite is still as Harpo gets to win the match . Despite the abundant songs , the movie maintains itself very well . Excellent Harpo Marx , as usual , he even did many of his own stunts , he later said it was a silly thing for a 47-year-old .This is the second Marx Brothers film made with brother Zeppo Marx, it started a new trend of The Marx Brothers movies featuring a Zeppo-like supporting character who carries the love story and sings the song . If previous Marx films were M. G. M. Lavishly financed by Max Siegel and Irving Thalberg , from now on, their movies produced by Paramount Pictures and Herman J. Mankiewicz . The motion picture was well directed by Norman Z MacLeod . He was a perfectionist filming very charming scenes . Don't miss it , one of the funniest picture ever made by Marx Brothers.

Other important films starred by Marx Brothers -many of them Broadway farce plays transfered by scenarists into vehicle for the Brothers- , they are the following ones : ¨Animal crackers¨, ¨Duck soap¨ that was a flop when first released but today considered a masterpiece , ¨Horse Feathers¨, ¨At the circus¨, ¨A night at the Opera¨,¨Day at the races¨ , ¨Room service¨ , ¨Go West¨, ¨Love Happy¨ and ¨Night in Casablanca¨, though in 1946 the Marx formula was weak and wearing thin. Any film with Groucho , Chico , Harpo and Zeppo is well worth seeing .

If horses could fly, then Groucho would be at the reins...

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 9 April 2014]

Here, Groucho does take the reins, but it is as the new dean of Huxley College where he assures the faculty, board and students that "Whatever it is, I'm against it!". What he's not against is improving their football team, and that's what this is all about, getting two non- scholastic football players enrolled and winning the big game against their rival. Groucho's brother, Zeppo, plays his own son here, involved with the college widow (Thelma Todd) who tries to romance Groucho in getting the game plan while on a romantic boat ride. Groucho truly plays the hero here as Todd falls overboard which leads to a hysterical advertisement gag when she cries for the life saver.

Of course, Chico and Harpo are in the mix, whether interrupting a science class that Groucho takes over (literally tossing the professor out on his ear), and Harpo proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt, you can burn a candle at both ends. Then, when Chico and Harpo, attempting to kidnap the two football players from the rival team, end up kidnapped themselves, it becomes a race against time to get to the stadium where one of the zaniest football games ever on screen is played.

Gags come fast and furious in this light-hearted romp with a few songs thrown in. Then, there's the famous speakeasy scene where the password is the subject of a classic comedy scene between Chico and Groucho. Norman Z. McLeod, returning after directing the boys in "Monkey Business", provides a light atmosphere that skewers the whole college political scene. When you've got the Marxx Brothers running around a University and one of them running it, education is certain to take a back seat, and hilarity right up front.

Valuable Record of the Marx Brothers' Vaudeville Routines

[l_rawjalaurence · 7/10 · 21 January 2014]

Don't watch HORSE FEATHERS expecting anything like a coherent plot, developed characterization or sophisticated filming technique. Shot on a shoestring by Paramount, with more than its fair share of stock footage, it has the feel of a quickie; a more up-market version of the Hal Roach two-reelers that were released at the same time with Laurel and Hardy. On the other hand HORSE FEATHERS does preserve for posterity some of the Marx Brothers' finest routines. Groucho has never been better as a crazy professor charged with the responsibility of rescuing a poor school; his dialog fairly crackles with one-liners, and he is a past master at handling mock-love scenes. Harpo has his fair share of visual set-pieces, notably when he leads a police officer a merry dance in and around his dog-catcher's van. He also has the chance for one of his harp solos. Chico enjoys himself most during a speakeasy scene, when he and the other two brothers have great fun with the so-called 'secret' password. He gets to play the piano in another specialty number. The ending is a bit weak, with a crazy football game stretching the audiences' credibility to the limit, but all in all the film is great fun; the humor stands up well eight decades later.

my favorite Marx Brothers movie

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 6 February 2006]

While this film ISN'T as famous as DUCK SOUP or A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, it's my personal favorite. I think it's probably because unlike these other two pictures, there isn't all the singing and dancing in HORSE FEATHERS plus it has at least as much energy as any other film they made. Plus, unlike THE COCOANUTS and ANIMAL CRACKERS, there is a real honest-to-goodness plot!!! So, it's not just one gag after another after another.

Groucho is wonderful as the incompetent and perpetually horny Professor Wagstaff at Huxley College. Plus, as idiots mistaken for professional ringers, Chico and Harpo are at their best. Oh, and I guess Zeppo is in the movie, but as in all their early Zeppo films, he is pretty much a non-entity. You can really see why he never caught on as one of the Marx Brothers (nor did his other brother, Karl, who was by far the LEAST funny Marx Brother).

About the only negative about the film is the climactic football game. Even for a Marx Brothers film, this does get a little too stupid! But, the rest of the movie is so good, you really don't mind.

UPDATE: I just saw this film on the big screen and upon viewing it again, I am reducing the score to 8. Yes, it is good for the Marx Brothers but the plot, such as it is, is barely a plot at all, the film's ending is bizarre and senseless and a few of the jokes a bit less funny after re-watching. Still good and still worth seeing if you just turn off your brain and enjoy all the nonsense.

Birds Of A Feather Horse Around Together

[strong-122-478885 · 6/10 · 20 November 2013]

Well, folks, I'd confidently say that Horse Feathers' fast-talking, good-natured silliness worked to its comical advantage for about half the time.

With a real keen sense of sly relish, there were certainly some priceless one-liners deftly delivered here. As well, the innuendo, the insults, the wordplay and all of the crazy slapstick shenanigans were all brought off quite cleverly in dizzy, rapid-fire succession.

But, with that all said, I found that the overall charm and humor of the Marx Brothers to be somewhat dated and, yes, even forced at times. (Well, hey, what could I expect from a film that is now more than 80 years old?)

But, despite all of Horse Feathers' noticeable flaws and inconsistencies, if one simply viewed this comedy from a purely nostalgic perspective, rather that from a strictly critical point of view, then one would be more likely to enjoy its jolly absurdity in the long run.

I mean, c'mon, now. Horse Feathers really isn't half as bad as some people claim it to be. All that I can say about it is - You can give me the Marx Brothers over the likes of Abbott & Costello or Jerry Lewis or even frickin' Will Ferrell any day at all.

Horse Feathers' simple-minded story (set during Prohibition) has Groucho Marx, as Quincy Adams Wagstaff, who is unanimously elected as the new president of Huxley University. (Why he was elected, who knows?)

Wagstaff mistakenly hires bumblers Baravelli (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) dirt-cheap to help his school win the big, all-important football game that's coming up against their hated rivals from Darwin University.

And, with that in mind, you can bet that everything that can go wrong, indeed, does go wrong when you've got the Marx Brothers taking charge.

Filmed in b&w, this picture has a brief running time of only 68 minutes.

"I married your mother because I wanted children. Imagine my disappointment when you arrived."

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 20 August 2015]

Hilarious Marx Bros. film with Groucho as the new president of Huxley College and Zeppo as his son, who convinces his dad to recruit professional football players to help the college's losing team. Groucho sets out to do just that but instead of getting two pros, he recruits speakeasy 'icemen' Chico and Harpo. Chaos naturally ensues at the college leading up to the big football game, which has to be seen to be believed.

All of the brothers are in top form here, with the main three getting lots of funny bits and Zeppo getting possibly his best role from any of their films. Thelma Todd appears in her second Marx Bros. movie, playing the girlfriend of villain David Landau who sets out to seduce Zeppo and winds up seducing the rest of the brothers, too. Sadly there's no Margaret Dumont this time. This is probably the best Marx movie that didn't feature Dumont. Nat Pendleton plays one of the football players on the opposing team. Look out for Walter Brennan as a commentator on the big game. Some funny tunes and several great gags, including "The password is swordfish," the crazy football game, Groucho teaching a class, and all those funny things Harpo pulls out of that coat of his. It's one of the Marx Brothers' best. Definitely recommended.

Horse Feathers (1932) ***

[JoeKarlosi · 7/10 · 3 December 2004]

It doesn't quite measure up to the heights of DUCK SOUP (their best early film), but along with ANIMAL CRACKERS, I do find HORSE FEATHERS to be among the three best of the Marx Brothers' first five misadventures. As the unconventional head of Huxley College, Groucho still remains the consummate hilarious wiseguy, this time even insulting his disappointing "son" Zeppo (who was probably put to his best use for HORSE FEATHERS). And don't forget -- the password is "Swordfish"... The only one missing again is Margaret Dumont, who is in many ways as crucial an ingredient to the madcap formula as are Groucho, Harpo and Chico (and certainly more essential than Zeppo). *** out of ****

some funny stuff

[onepotato2 · 5/10 · 1 July 2007]

There is some wonderful, goofy stuff here, but I read a few reviews where people claimed this was their favorite Marx movie. So I was expecting more. My vote goes to Animal Crackers, Duck Soup or A Night at the Opera. The latter contains Harpo's funniest stuff. Destroying an opera and it's sets.

A memorable extended sequence here involves Groucho on a romantic canoe ride. He croons a tune (nice), tosses his guitar in the drink (a hoot), and mocks his love interest who has adopted a grating baby-doll voice; "If widdle bay-bee girl doesn't stop tawking like that, daddy will kick her teeth down her thwote." (shocking and hysterical) Harpo's trade-hat which features the services he can be hired for changes to "Kidnapper" at one point. Too funny.

This one has the positively flimsiest plot of all the Marx bros movies. But it also has Chico's nicest piano solo. The football game at the end is pretty silly and very corny.

Humor, Youth, and Everyone SAYING They Love You

[tedg · 12 September 2009]

I was challenged by a reader, because I wrote that a movie was funny. His belief was that the movie wasn't funny, that it couldn't be because the comedians were too old, and I wouldn't know in any case because I was also too old. So I turned to the good old Marx Brothers.

Fortunately, some other unhappy soul had deleted my comment for this movie, so I can write a replacement.

I think this is funny. It shouldn't really matter to me whether anyone else does, except insofar as they support the market forces that guarantee I can access it. But as it happens, lots of other people also think it funny and I wonder why.

"Horse Feathers," if you do not know, was the frontier term for split boards about two feet long that were nailed on barns in an overlapping fashion like shingles. These were primitive, but had the advantage of keeping your major investment, your horse, warm. They are themselves ad hoc, somewhat random with some order, and an effective container. Such a barn was wholly man-made, but clearly the mind finds it handy to make the joke that if the barn looked like a chicken, then its name should follow.

Lexicographers know that language often naturally grows from these jokes. The older the term gets, the deeper the joke: "horsefeathers" probably originated in the 1870-80's homesteading era, and gained popularity as farm boys from those areas were mixed into the WW I army, the term used as a substitute for one whose use would have been punished for insubordination. It subsequently entered the print world when used in Wilson's second presidential campaign.

A youngster with no knowledge of its origin would simply hear "nonsense." but a wizened farmer would recall the image of a building that looks ridiculous, like a chicken. He would have recalled chuckling when thinking what part of the chicken he would enter and exit each day when doing his chores. It would contribute to giving his life enough richness to keep going.

I believe that the best humor is humor like this. It combines small twists of language with implied bigger twists of incited images. And it gets warmer and deeper (and funnier) the more you live with it.

The first (language and image), is what the Marx brothers invented in cinema. These guys had honed a stage act based on clever language — timing, twists, perspectives implied by stereotypes. Its all in the words. But they were able to bring it to us in a frantic, ad hoc visual manner, so that we could have a blizzard of images like the feathered barn, the images themselves feathered together in a sort of story.

Eye and mind played with, and played through practice. These masters were not kids. Groucho by the time this was made was 43. He got funnier every year after that in working with these sorts of ad libbed word images. His "secret word" bit in "You Bet your Life," was even a part of this.

These, I think, are basic to the both the notion of what makes cinema work (folded images and narrative) and what makes humor attractive (naming enriched by ambiguous image). If you want to know yourself, you navigate through your cupboard of these that you have collected. You go to school. You play the game. You can only do this and truly laugh if you are old enough (or young and aggressive enough in collecting) to have something to rumble around in.

Marx brothers: old school funny. At least to me.

This is one of their Paramount projects before being reinvented again by MGM. More random; more eggs.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

One of the Marx Brothers' best!

[llltdesq · 10/10 · 10 May 2001]

What the Marx Brothers do to higher education in this film is roaringly funny, from the opening song "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It" to the end, possibly the most bizarre American Football "game" not played in the XFL! Groucho was at or near his best and it's probably the best (and most significant) role Zeppo ever had. Most highly recommended.

Put it on the board.....yes!

[StevePulaski · 8/10 · 20 May 2012]

Horse Feathers is one of the five delightful comedies the Marx Brothers released under Paramount's name before their departure to MGM when their films took a more cleaned-up, serious approach. They began to have story lines, cohesion, and, gasp, coherency so as not to play out like a highlight reel from a comedy movie.

From what I hear, this is by far the brothers' most anarchic movie, undisciplined and preposterous on all accounts. Going directly to this with the excellent taste of Duck Soup in my mouth, I was hoping Horse Feathers would fall along the lines of smart and witty humor. It turns out that this film manages to aim far lower below the belt, meaning the jokes are less polished, the screenplay more wacky, and the atmosphere less contained. This is an entirely different recipe compared to Duck Soup.

Groucho Marx is Quincy Adams Wagstaff, who takes over as President of Huxley College. While Wagstaff is already woefully unqualified as a leader, his son Frank (Zeppo) encourages him to buy two football players at a local speakeasy so that Huxley can have a winning team. After a series of hapless screw-ups, Wagstaff winds up mistaking Baravelli (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo), two buffoons who can barely accomplish much of anything, for two football players and from there on out the hilarity takes the wheel.

There is a subplot involving Wagstaff trying to win the hand of Thelma Todd, who portrays a "college widow." A "college widow" is a woman who is long graduated but sticks around at the school to try and find her husband. How she became a widow is a mystery to me, but that fact has little significance to Wagstaff or anyone else in the picture.

Probably the most famous scene that lies in Horse Feathers comes right around the middle of the picture where the film becomes unpolished, glitchy, and messy. Obviously, some serious editing took place in these few minutes. Scenes are missing, clips are jumbled with some springing ahead, dialog is spliced between sentences, and inconsistencies run amok. Apparently, the film was allegedly censored with lines and scenes removed, and there is no existing print where they are not cut out. Seeing these scenes removed provides a nice sense of simplicity that we don't experience very often. Every film now is so polished, crisp, and neatly done, with every frame having gone through careful, tedious examination that so delicately manipulated it, that seeing something back from the thirties in its choppy and obscure form is strangely satisfying.

The other famous scene involves an anarchic, lawless football game within the last ten minutes of the film. It's doomsday for anyone expecting seriousness and things of any reasonable presentation. The film has thrown caution to the wind and has decided to go AWOL. Horse Feathers is a fun film, and the brothers are all up to par (especially Harpo who, again, delivers some of the funniest physical comedy around) especially during the catchy musical numbers that pop up often, though, after a while, you begin to wish some seriousness had taken effect.

Starring: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, and Thelma Todd. Directed by: Norman Z. McLeod.

Pure undiluted Marx Brothers mayhem

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 24 January 2010]

"Horse Feathers" is the shortest Marx Brothers film, and you can see why: with a super-thin "plot", and minimal time given to the supporting characters, the brothers have nearly the entire movie to themselves. Even the musical numbers, which usually slow down their movies, are integrated into the comedy here: Groucho's "I'm Against It" is probably the quintessential Marx song, and all four variations of the trademark "Everyone Says I Love You" have a comic flair to them. I agree with those who say that although Zeppo Marx might not have been as comically gifted as his brothers, he was a far more entertaining "straight man" than all the replacements they used in their later films. In my opinion, "Horse Feathers" is second only to "Duck Soup" for pure Marx madness with little outside interference. If you agree, tie on the bed, throw the rope out the window. *** out of 4.

hilarious Marx Brothers comedy

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 24 October 2015]

It's college time for the Marx Brothers in "Horsefeathers," a 1932 film from Paramount.

Groucho plays Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley College. Frank, his son, is seeing the college widow (Thelma Todd). Frank encourages his dad to recruit two football players who are often seen in a nearby speakeasy. It's the only way to beat the rival school, Darwin.

Wagstaff hires the wrong guys -- Harpo and Chico, Pinky and Baravelli, while Darwin recruits the real ones. Wagstaff orders the actual players kidnapped by the fakes.

The film satirizes many aspects of college life, and there are some good off-campus scenes as well, most memorably the 'swordfish' scene in the speakeasy. The film is filled with the usual Marx Brothers confusion, with the swordfish password scene being the most typical, and the finale, a crazy football game that has Harpo sitting on the ball at one point.

Groucho delivers one of his best songs here, "Whatever it Is, I'm Against It," and also the hit song, "Everybody Says I Love You," is from this film.

The one-liners are fast and furious. "Where will the students sleep?" "Where they usually sleep - in class." "What are you doing with that cigar in your mouth?" "Why? Do you know another way to smoke it?" The brothers used several bits from one of their vaudeville shows for the movie.

Thelma Todd, the actress who died at the age of 29 under mysterious circumstances, is gorgeous, with huge, sparkling eyes, a radiant smile, and a real flair for comedy. She plays well with the brothers and appeared in another film of theirs as well, the earlier "Monkey Business."

Wonderful comedy - I'll always love A Night at the Opera the best, but as usual, the Marx Brothers really shine and are good for what ails you.

The Musicals return ..

[hayst1 · 6/10 · 8 May 2013]

Oh why did such things as long musical numbers and plot have to come back to the Marx Brothers. Unfortunately I can remember most of the storyline in this film which means there can only be a few funny moments in it. This is a wonderful movie though for current or graduated college students to laugh at. I think all us have had those bearded professors looking down on us in some sort of class room. We all secretly wish that Groucho could have taken control and would tear down the university so we could sleep in the classrooms. Instead of giving the much needed freedom that the Marx brothers deserve they were instead limited by a ridiculous plot about a football game. They had more than enough material to just have Harpo as a fellow professor or student mean while Chico could be the music student or band director. My first reaction is to blame Zeppo for having his stupid love affair killing the fun but I know that isn't fair for me to do. Instead all I can say is it seems they tried to force to much to quickly.

Ticklish "Feathers"....

[Mister-6 · 10/10 · 12 August 2002]

All right, class; what have we learned about college, thanks to the Marx Brothers classic "Horse Feathers"? We've learned:

1) College professors (Groucho) can sing whenever they want to.

2) Speakeasy workers (Chico) can be football heroes.

3) Silent guys (Harpo) are darned good harp players.

4) A professor's son (Zeppo) can be just about the same age as his dad.

5) A woman (Todd) can be in love with four men at the same time.

6) The password is "swordfish".

Besides that, you can learn some hilarious jokes and running gags (especially concerning ice), how to thoroughly disrupt a college class, earn a jackpot from a pay phone, play football with almost no adheration to the rules and how to take the low road to higher education, laughing all the way.

Kids, forget college. Just watch "Horse Feathers": that's all you need to learn in life. Look what it did for me!

Ten stars and a "college seal" for the movie that makes the best combined use of The Marx Brothers, college, football and one-liners than any other movie ever made! Guaranteed!

SWORDFISH!

Worth seeing but FAR from their best

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 7 September 2005]

The Marx Brothers invade a college. Groucho is the head and Chico and Harpo are accidentally hired as football players (!!!). Zeppo has a romantic subplot by dating the "college widow" (whatever that means) played by Thelma Todd. She's actually romancing him to get the football signals they'll use in their games against Darwin University.

The plot is secondary in this one. This is considered the most surrealist Marx Brothers comedy ever made. I don't disagree and that's it's problem. The film careens all over the place and it was almost impossible to get a grip on the characters and situations. There's the bedroom sequence with Todd and three of the brothers--it has been obviously censored and looks very jumpy and confused. Also there are pointless musical interludes with Chico (on the piano) and Harpo (on the harp). And there's a REAL sappy love song called "Everybody Says I Love You". The climatic football game isn't even remotely funny.

Still it DOES have its moments. It's not a total bomb but it's not as consistently funny as "Duck Soup" or "A Night at the Opera". Worth seeing for a few moments and Thelma Todd before her tragic murder a few years later. (OFFICIALLY it's a suicide but since then it' come to light that she was murdered).

"Have they started sawing the woman in half yet?"

[Prichards12345 · 9/10 · 18 December 2014]

So says Groucho on crashing a lecture. Horse Feathers is so quintessentially Marxian, so full of classic routines, from Groucho's brilliant song "Whatever it is, I'm against it" to "the password's Swordfish", and so on, that I risk a hernia each time I see it. The sketches featured are some of the finest ever put on screen.

Is it worth even recounting the plot? Let's just say the Marxes take over a college and subject it to total mayhem, all while wooing Thelma Todd, the college widow. Groucho putdowns abound - "I thought my razor was dull until I heard his speech." 4 great comedians - yes Zeppo too, at the top of their game. The football game at the end is one of Harpo's finest hours. What a unique performer he was. The Marx Brothers have stood the test of time with enduring comedy classics such as this.

And no, I don't know what a college widow is either...

The laughs continue...

[bobsgrock · 7/10 · 30 July 2008]

The Marx Brothers teamed up for the fourth time for a movie in 1932 for Horse Feathers, an outrageous and zany comedy that pokes fun at universities and the institution of higher learning. Groucho plays the new professor of Huxley University while Zeppo plays his son and Chico and Harpo stick together to try and undermine the plans for the big game against Darwin University.

To be frank, this is simply typical Marx Brothers comedy with a plethora of one-liners from Groucho and numerous sight-gags from Chico and Harpo. For whatever reason, Zeppo continues to play the straight man, which seems to make him less of an actor than the other three brothers. Overall, this one is just OK, not a classic like Duck Soup or Animal Crackers. It will be mostly pleasing to fans and those of sophisticated comedy taste.

Not really all that funny

[smatysia · 5/10 · 6 February 2006]

Not really all that funny. Maybe I am too modern too enjoy a comedy of this vintage. (But I'm not really all THAT young! I wish!) I hadn't seen any Marx Brothers stuff for decades, and I remember liking it better than this. I'll have to check out some of their other films. Most of the musical numbers seemed extraneous, even though I know it was fairly customary for them, especially Harpo and Chico. And when did Groucho grow his mustache, and stop just putting shoe polish on his face? There was a good reflection on the times, what with the speakeasy scene, and the utter un-remark-ability of it. Overall, I'd say this is best left to fans.