classicsoncall
Jumping Butterballs, it's another Marx Brothers free for all! If you go by other reviewers' comments of the film here on IMDb, this is one you're probably not supposed to like but I didn't think it was so bad. Granted, when I place the picture in my list of Marx Brothers films and rank them by voter preference here on IMDb, it comes up near the bottom just ahead of "The Big Store". So maybe it's a matter of mining the picture for those little nuggets of gold that don't necessarily jump right out and hit you in the face.For starters, there's Lucille Ball, who if I had been a betting man, would have lost on whether she ever appeared in a Marx Brothers flick. So that was surprise number one for this viewer. That hotel dinner scene where Miller (Groucho), Benelli (Chico) and Faker (Harpo) finally get to chow down with Leo Davis (Frank Albertson) is a pretty frantic affair, with good comedic timing as Chico gets his arm entangled in Harpo's staccato-like fork frenzy.And say, right here with the Motion Picture Production Code in full effect, it appeared to me the film makers managed to sneak a doozy past the movie censors when the bamboozled Doctor Glass (Charles Halton) frustratingly denounces his description by Groucho's character as the house detective when he proclaims "I'm not a dick, I'm a doctor!" Looking on the bright side, I thought the line might have been an inspiration for Dr. McCoy on one of those future 'Star Trek' TV episodes.Anyway, I think you can give this one a try even if you're not a die-hard Marx Brothers fan. My timing in catching the picture turned out to be an unusually well placed one. Having watched it yesterday, it was a rather unique and novel surprise to see my annual Thanksgiving Day turkey show up in a Marx Brothers flick.
gridoon2018
I think the best summation of "Room Service" in one sentence was done by Pauline Kael in her review: the play (that the script was based on) fits them (the Marx Bros.) like a straightjacket. In other words, instead of the plot serving as a mere stepping stone for the Marxes to unleash their surrealistic madness, they are in service of a plot that leaves them little room for improvisation. But the biggest problem with "Room Service" is the relative lack of truly memorable material: we have the frantic silent eating scene, the turkey hunt, Harpo's response to the doctor's "say ah", the occasional Groucho line ("He's the brains of the organization. And that should give you an idea of the organization"), and that's about it. The last 20 minutes are essentially one long joke (fake "dying") that eventually gets old. Harpo is the liveliest of the brothers here, and he comes off best; Ann Miller is incredibly sweet; Donald MacBride is so loud that you may have to turn down the volume during his scenes. "Room Service" is still worth seeing and even owning, like all Marx Brothers movies, but if you make a list of them it comes near the bottom. ** out of 4.
John T. Ryan
The blessing of civilization is structure. "A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place"; now there's a neat old proverb for you! We don't know who originally coined that phrase, but they really knew the importance of brevity. And one thing about these classic old sampler proverbial sayings is; that like most things under the Sun, they always have exceptions.Let's consider the cinema and its relation to the saying. Even more particularly, we'll zero in on the most anti-order film 'commodity' that we know. That would be the Marxes.The Marx Brothers act was one of rapid fire lunacy. They need to have room to operate; that is, the material that they use must be constructed to give the appearance of Ad Lib. It also must be loose enough to allow for the occasional real Ad Lib to fit in, when it does manage to come down the pike. This is all clearly evident in their 5 Paramount Pictures features. The art was perfected with their arrival on the lot over at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Mr. Irving Thalberg's desire to make even better Marx Brothers vehicles.The Thalberg prescription called for a road trip by the now 3 Marx Brothers in a sojourn into some live stage appearances. The object was not to make for a Las Vegas type Act in some exclusive engagement; but rather to take some proposed material and try it out before a live theatre audience. The most obvious example of this method would be the State Room Scene in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (MGM, 1935).Up to the point of ROOM SERVICE (RKO Radio Pictures, 1938), all of the Marx Brothers' movies had been films written just for them. Their Movies' genesis either one of two categories. Either they were filmed versions of their highly successful Broadway Farces, THE COCONUTS, ANIMAL CRACKERS or MONKEY BUSINESS (which contained much of the material from their 1923 Broadway Show, "I'll Say She Is!" The rest were all original screenplays written for the screen' They had expressed interest in doing a film using a play that was already written; so that when they had the offer to go on loan to RKO to do ROOM SERVICE, they jumped at it. ROOM SERVICE being a story of a conniving Producer, Gordon Miller (to be played by Groucho) and his conning his way into getting his Play produced. They had the time and the extra spending money would come in handy; particularly for eldest brother Chico, who gambled for a hobby.So, with some tiny little changes (like changing the name of the Director from Binion to Binelli, so that Chico could apply his pseudo-Italian to the part.) And as for Harpo, well there was no part for him to do. He was just sort of an 'ad-on person'; though to his credit, he managed to be Harpo long enough and to be the main player in the finale's show stopping gag.The cast was filled up with enough top talent though. Whatever the parts called for, they delivered. We had. Veteran Director William A. Seiter, who had done quite a few types of films and had done Comedies with Laurel & Hardy (SONS OF THE DESSERT, Hal Roach/MGM, 1933) and Wheeler & Wolsey (GIRL CRAZY, RKO Radio, 1932). Others in the comedy line that he had worked with were: the Ritz Brothers and Abbot & Costello. He had done just about all, and would continue working into the days of Television 1n the '50's and up to 1960.A lot of the action is like so many of those Stage Plays, with a lot of people running around, like Turkeys with their heads cut off. ("Turkeys" instead of "Chickens" 'cause it's only 2 days to Thanksgiving as this is being written.). There would be a lot of door slamming, hollering, laughing and loss of temper.Others filling out the cast were lovely young ladies Ann Miller & Lucielle Ball (double Woo, woo, woo, woo!!), Frank Albertson, Chris Dunstan, Donald McBride, Phillip Loeb, Phillip Wood, Alexander Asro and Charles Halton.Well, the Brothers had done what they had wanted to try. And we may be thankful for it; for without it, we'd be forever wondering just what it would have been. Imagination being what it is, who knows just what our minds would have cooked-up?* Lively and amusing, yes; but is it a real, dyed in the wool Marx Brothers movie? Sorry Charlie, I no think so!NOTE: * The folks at RKO went and re-made ROOM SERVICE in 1944, but this time as a musical. STEP LIVELY RKO Radio, 1944) starred Frank Sinatra, George Murphy, Gloria DeHaven, Adolph Menjou, Walter Slezak, Anne Jeffreys and Grant Mitchell. Oddly it also featured on of the Movie Comedy Teams of the day. It was Wally Brown & Alan Carney; who were known as "RKO's answer to Abbot & Costello".
