Humor Risk
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| Humor Risk | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Dick Smith |
| Produced by | The Marx Brothers, Al Posen, Max Lippman, Jo Swerling, for "Caravel Comedies". |
| Written by | Jo Swerling |
| Starring | Chico Marx Groucho Marx Harpo Marx Zeppo Marx Jobyna Ralston |
| Cinematography | A. H. Vallet |
| Release date(s) | 1921 |
| Running time | 2 reels |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | Silent film English intertitles |
| IMDb profile | |
Humor Risk (1921) was the first Marx Brothers film, although it was never released, and is listed by the Internet Movie Database as lost. The print may have been accidentally thrown away when left in the screening box overnight, [1] or Groucho may have intentionally burnt the negative after a particularly bad premiere screening. (Groucho later attempted to destroy their 1929 film, The Cocoanuts, but the studio stopped him; The Cocoanuts would turn out to be a smash hit.)
The four Marx Brothers are known to have been in this short film. It was the last film directed by Dick Smith (1886-1937), and the first film written by Jo Swerling, who later co-wrote films such as It's a Wonderful Life, Gone with the Wind, and others.
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[edit] Synopsis
Information about the film's premise is sparse. Its title was a spoof of the then-popular 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers (Hardcover), Simon Louvish. Thomas Dunne Books; 1st U.S. edition (2000).
- ^ Humor Risk. Marxology. Retrieved on 2007-04-02.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Marxology entry for Humor Risk
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