Um Maluco entre Brotos

Benny Linn (Groucho Marx) and dim-witted Tim Dunnovan (William Bendix) are navy sailor buddies. Tim gets conned into buying a lame race horse and Benny is ordered to fix it. The horse has a twin and wacky scheme ensues. Only it gets more and more complicated.

Groucho Marx and William Bendix seem to be a good comedic pairing. They do need better writing and more banter to elevate the comedy. It feels like a missed opportunity. The premise is stupid but I'm willing to go with it for a silly comedy. The problem is that the silliness promises a lot but rarely delivers. It has a couple of fun moments but it's not enough.

"A Girl in Every Port" is one of the few solo efforts of Groucho Marx after 20 years of working almost exclusively with his brothers. It is probably one of the weakest films he was ever associated with. Occasionally his wit and his gift for free-association dialogue shines through, but there are also a couple of moments where his timing seems to have slowed down. The film also suffers from a needlessly convoluted plot (though, to its credit, the script acknowledges this flaw and even uses it as a target for some jokes), and the direction is generally flat. Still, the film is perfectly watchable and occasionally even entertaining. Let's face it, even Groucho at 80% speed is better than most comedians (of all eras) at 100%. And then there is also Marie Wilson. Unlike most comedies of its time where women usually have straight roles, she plays a good-hearted but extremely ditzy girl, with legs that go on for miles and breasts that nearly burst through her outfits. The scene where her bare shoulders keep getting exposed is actually kind of sensual. And Teddy Hart is pretty funny as the gangster "High Life". ** out of 4.

After years of knowing about this movie, I just now finally watched this online. It stars Groucho Marx without either of his brothers with William Bendix, Marie Wilson, and Don DeFore, the latter two I previously saw in My Friend Irma when DeFore was potentially romantically paired with the other leading lady, Diana Lynn. The movie's about a couple of sailors dealing with a horse. I think that's all I'll say about the plot which can be quite confusing but is still quite funny considering some of the lines and the delivery of especially Groucho. By the way, this was only the second of producer Irwin Allen's movies starring that Marx brother, the previous one being Double Dynamite. He'd cast Groucho one more time in The Story of Mankind which also featured his siblings Harpo and Chico, all in separate segments.

The racehorse in A GIRL IN EVERY PORT isn't the only thing that's lame. The plot, scripting, pacing and every other facet of this film follow suit. Even the title is misleading, as the ship never sails anywhere, and the only girl involved to any great extent is a stunningly moronic Marie Wilson. This film proves that labored, unfunny "comedies" were being produced long before the current spate of mindless garbage began spewing from our television and movie screens. The characters in this film all appear to have IQ's somewhere in the single digit range. It is indeed sad to see so many talented actors tangled up in this unfortunate yawner. Avoid this film at every opportunity.

For fans of both Groucho Marx and William Bendix, A Girl In Every Port will give some good moments for fans of both. But as a comedy team the two have no real chemistry between them.

I'm sure that Howard Hughes running RKO at the time must have thought these two were very funny so why not get a film property for both. For those who asked how Bendix and Marx could have been in this film you don't need to be a genius to figure it out. Howard Hughes could write checks and make offers impossible to refuse.

The guys are a pair of aged sailors in Uncle Sam's navy and Bendix is left a racehorse, one that's consistently running out of the money. But he's got a twin that's stakes race quality and so the plot begins.

Marie Wilson is at her airhead best and both guys are panting hot and heavy. But she prefers Don DeFore who loves the sport of kings. And in the end he prefers her to cold society fish Dee Hartford.

Also trying to exploit the twin horses are shady trainer Gene Lockhart, shady jockey George E. Stone, and gangster Teddy Hart. They all get their little bits, a chance to strut their stuff.

Like in A Day At The Races which if memory serves Groucho Marx was also in, there's the climatic big race. I'm still trying to wonder where they got a jockey outfit for Bendix. More important how could his horse win with that kind of weight being carried? Secretariat couldn't have handled it.

A Girl In Every Port is a passably amusing comedy, fans of the leads should like it.