The Marx Brothers Collection

Dyed-in-the-wool Marxists will note that this box set collecting seven of Groucho, Harpo, and Chico’s late-period movies is hardly definitive—their most anarchically funny work, Duck Soup and Animal Crackers, is missing. But we do have the two true classics they made with their most simpatico producer, Irving Thalberg, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. The other five here are lesser-known for a reason—with a new studio calling the shots, the brothers were forced into restrictive, plot-oriented material that straitjacketed and tamed them. Carping aside, every Marx Brothers film has its moments—and even the lesser ones are better than many other comedians’ best, thanks to Groucho’s stiletto insults like At the Circus’ “I bet your father spent the first year of your life throwing rocks at the stork.” It’s funny because it’s true. The set also includes A Night in Casablanca, the source of one of the best real-life Groucho quips: After the Warner Brothers studio threatened to sue if the Marx Brothers didn’t change their title (which Warner claimed was too similar to their Humphrey Bogart thriller), Groucho threatened to countersue: “You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were.”