I would kill to have the films of the Marx Brothers on DVD. As far as I know, they have not been released yet, and I’ve never seen them anywhere. I’ve checked Best Buys, video stores, eBay, Amazon, and Half.com to no avail.
Do the Doper DVD buffs know anything about this? Could it be legal or contractual troubles holding these up? Can we expect them anytime soon? Am I just looking in the wrong places? I know these would sell in nice box sets, or even better, as individual films. I’d sure buy 'em.
I found some at Amazon by searching for ‘Groucho Marx,’ but I can’t help noticing that there’s some pretty significant holes in the collection of what’s available on DVD. Where’s ‘A Night at the Opera,’ for Pete’s sake?
Amazon also appears to be ‘out of stock’ of just about all of them, and they don’t look to have much in the way of features.
I’d buy them, too, though I think maybe a series of smaller boxed sets might on this occasion be more practical than one big one, unless they could make them really affordable.
The early films from Universal were available for a short time, but are no longer being produced, and have become collectors items as a result. There was a boxed set containing Duck Soup, Animal Crackers, and Horse Feathers, but it didn’t sell well enough for Image to produce a second run. The Cocoanuts can still be had for a reasonable price, but it’s hardly among their best.
A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races are later movies produced for Warner, and they’ve never released them on DVD.
Number Six-weren’t the 1st 5- Animal Crackers to Duck Soup from Paramount or Universal, they they wre let go? Thalberg of MGM did Opera ,& Races, restarting their careers, & died young. I forget which studio did Go West, At the Circus & Room Service, & their last couple.
Cocoanutes, Animal Crackers, Duck Soup and Horse Feathers were Paramount. Opera, Races, At the Circus, Go West, and the Big Store were MGM. Room Service was RKO. Then there’s a Night in Casablanca and Love Happy, about which the less said, the better.
A Night At the Opera is my favorite. I’d be content just to get that one on DVD. But individual releases or small, AFFORDABLE box sets are the way to go.