Humor Risk


Humor Risk
Directed by Dick Smith
Produced by The Marx Brothers
Al Posen
Max Lippman
Jo Swerling
Written by Jo Swerling
Starring Chico Marx
Groucho Marx
Harpo Marx
Zeppo Marx
Jobyna Ralston
Cinematography A. H. Vallet
Distributed by Caravel Comedies
Release date(s) 1921
Running time 2 reels
Country  United States
Language Silent film
English intertitles

Humor Risk (1921) was the first Marx Brothers film, although it was never released, and is listed by the Internet Movie Database as a lost film. The print may have been accidentally thrown away when left in the screening box overnight, [1] or Groucho, unhappy with the film's quality, may have intentionally burnt the negative after a particularly bad premiere screening. (Groucho was reportedly unhappy with their 1929 film, The Cocoanuts, however The Cocoanuts turned out to be a smash hit.)

The four Marx Brothers are known to have been in this short film. It was directed by comedy film director Dick Smith (1886-1937), and was the first film written by Jo Swerling, who later co-wrote films such as It's a Wonderful Life, Gone with the Wind, and many others. Jobyna Ralston was the female lead, however, some sources[citation needed] say that Mildred Davis -- star and later wife of Harold Lloyd -- was also in the film.

Contents

Synopsis

Information about the plot of the film -- made in Fort Lee, New Jersey -- is sparse. Its title was a spoof of the then-popular Fannie Hurst drama Humoresque, one of the biggest film hits of 1920. In addition, the brothers were working separately rather than as a team and did not incorporate their trademark comic personalities that they would later become famous for.

Harpo played the hero, a detective named Watson who "made his entrance in a high hat, sliding down a coal chute into the basement". Groucho played an "old movie" villain, who "sported a long moustache and was clad in black", while Chico was probably his "chuckling [Italian] henchman". Zeppo portrayed a playboy who was the owner of a nightclub in which most of the action took place, including "a cabaret, [which allowed] the inclusion of a dance number". The final shot showed Groucho "in ball and chain, trudging slowly off into the gloaming". Harpo, in a rare moment of romantic glory, gets the girl in the end.[2]

Humor Risk has been also known as "Humorisk", as can be seen in both biographies and autobiographies of the Marx Brothers. The Marx Brothers finally broke into motion pictures with 1929's The Cocoanuts.

References

  1. ^ Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers (Hardcover), Simon Louvish. Thomas Dunne Books; 1st U.S. edition (2000).
  2. ^ "Humor Risk". Marxology. http://marxology.marx-brothers.org/humorisk.htm. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 

See also

External links

v • d • e
The Marx Brothers
Chico Marx · Harpo Marx · Groucho Marx · Gummo Marx · Zeppo Marx
Minnie Marx · Sam Marx · Al Shean · Sadye Marks
Barbara Marx · Susan Fleming · Eden Hartford · Erin Fleming
Arthur Marx · Melinda Marx · Miriam Marx · Brett Marx · Gregg Marx
Films with Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo
Humor Risk (1921)  • The Cocoanuts (1929)  • Animal Crackers (1930)  • The House That Shadows Built (1931)  • Monkey Business (1931)  • Horse Feathers (1932)  • Duck Soup (1933)
Films with Chico, Harpo, and Groucho
A Night at the Opera (1935)  • A Day at the Races (1937)  • Room Service (1938)  • At the Circus (1939)  • Go West (1940)  • The Big Store (1941)  • A Night in Casablanca (1946)  • Love Happy (1949)  • The Story of Mankind (1957)
Musicals with Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo
I'll Say She Is (1924)  • The Cocoanuts (1925)  • Animal Crackers (1928)
Other
Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel (1932) (radio)  • You Bet Your Life (TV)  • The Incredible Jewel Robbery (1959) (TV)  • Deputy Seraph (1959) (TV)






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