Die Marx Brothers - Zimmerdienst

I consider this the last Marx Brothers film worth seeing, though it is inferior to all their previous films. While you'll get a few laughs in their efforts following ROOM SERVICE, they are definitely a step below their earlier efforts.

The film was an adaptation of a stage production and it's obvious because most all the action takes place in one hotel room. As a result, there's a definite feeling of claustrophobia in the picture and it also prevents the film from rising to a higher level of entertainment.

About the only real WONDERFUL moment in the film is the very end, where one of the characters appears to come back to life--it's well worth seeing.

The Marx Brothers did a film in the late 1930s that brought them back to their roots. Its one of the few films from the late period of the Marx Brothers that I really enjoyed. The reason I love this film compared to others is it isn't a showcase for one person to show off their singing. Groucho Marx is witty as usual in the role of Gordon Miller. Another reason I love this movie is that it returns to the type of gags the Marx Brothers were good at during the Paramount years. Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy plays a straight character in this film. Room Service(1938) is an under rated comedy that isn't as popular as some other movies by the Marx Brothers. Harper Marx does some funny things as Faker Englund. The Swing Low, Sweet Chariot number in the end is my favorite moment of Room Service(1938).

The movie manages a few chuckles, but is not prime material for Marx Bros. fans. One reason is that there's too much conventional logic in what the boys do, unlike their usual wacky comedic logic. Thus, there's little of the usual anarchic assault on well-ordered society that provides larger point to their madcap style.

Here the boys are trying to beat the hotel out of a big bill in order to get their stage play produced, and what they do makes perfectly good sense, though done in zany style. I get the feeling that, unlike other Marx movies, any number of good comedic actors could have replaced them to decent effect. Also, journeyman director Seiter fails to bring the zaniness to the kind of madcap boil that marks their best features. For example, the comedy mix tends to keep the boys apart instead of effectively combining them.

Nonetheless, the movie has its moments and some good gag lines, along with lively humorous support— MacBride as the dyspeptic hotel manager, Wood as the string bean agent, and Albertson as the boyish playwrite. Unfortunately, Lucille Ball's expert comedic talent goes untapped, but thankfully not her good looks.

Looks like the boys miss their home at MGM where their best movies were made. But even second-rate Marx Bros. at RKO still manages some good laughs.

One of Lucy's early, credited roles. She had been in hollyood for five years, but mostly in uncredited or deleted roles. It's a fun, typical Marx Brothers film... lots of antics, an act trying to stay in a hotel, with the hotel manager always after them for not paying the bills. The awesome, clever Marx brothers had been making about one film a year, and this time they brought in Ann Miller (who appears to be only 15, if you do the math!), Lucy, and Frank Albertson. And of course Donald MacBride, as the gullible hotel manager. They must pretend there's a major illness, so the hotel can't possibly evict them, but maybe they will anyway. The usual silliness and shenanigans. It's pretty good. a required viewing for Marx Brothers fans. and of couse, an early Lucy film. Its Fun! not their best, but its good old fashioned comedy from the vaudefille days. and who can pass up watching the Marx Brothers run around in circles, playing with clever word phrases ? It IS on dvd, but it shows on Turner Classics now and then.

Though not one of the Marx Brothers' better known films, "Room Service" is well worth seeing nonetheless. Originally a stage play, it has the distinction of being the only Marx Brothers' film that wasn't originally written by or for the Brothers. However, the film adaptation is seamlessly tailored for the Marxes' stock characters: Groucho, the glib con-man; Chico, the deceptively simple Italian caricature; and Harpo, their anarchic collaborator. The film is very well written, with lots of hilarious gags and pratfalls. Especially memorable is the scene in which the brothers put on multiple layers of clothes as they prepare to decamp their hotel room without paying the bill. Even funnier is the scene in which the brothers, not having eaten for days, frenetically polish off a meal they had arranged to be diverted to their room. Watch Harpo as he madly harpoons peas with his fork and devours them one by one, like a ravenous automaton! In an earlier scene, the boys chase a flying turkey around the hotel room, hoping to make a meal of it. Alas, it flies out the window, whereupon Groucho says, "Never mind, we didn't have any cranberry sauce anyway!"

Unfortunately, the film lacks the usual piano and harp numbers by Chico and Harpo. Regrettable too is the absence of Margaret Dumont, Groucho's legendary "straight woman." Even so, the film is great fun--pure escapism!