Love Happy (1949)

 Love Happy (1949)

A late Marx Bros vehicle that almost wasn't.
Groucho's involvement, (limited to a joke and pun-filled narration, separate scenes, and a late in-the-movie appearance with Harpo only,) seems like an afterthought.

A plot that alternatively deals with diamond smuggling and a troubled musical production hardly plays up to the Marx Brothers' characters' strengths. Harpo gets plenty of attention from the script, (which makes sense as the film was intended originally as his first solo vehicle), and Chico gives it his all, but for the most part, the film also presents their two characters separately with few scenes interacting with each other which is unfortunate as despite some genuinely classic bits with Groucho, Chico's character worked best when teamed up with Harpo.

As in some other of their features, we might feel the desire to skip the musical numbers which would be a shame as Vera-Ellen is not only very sexy but gets a standout dance number which is certainly much better than some of the dreary musical numbers of some of their earlier features. The music and dances are fine for what they are, and they probably had the exact intended effect on the audience of the time, but today we are more than likely here just for the Marx Bros. Who else would remember this feature?

Harpo, almost completely out of character from his earlier persona is victimized both by criminals and the law, and unlike the woman chasing maniac of before, is now struck dumb by the good beauty or hypnotized by the evil one.
What happened to scripts where the troublesome three took charge of their situation rather than being its victims?
Even the gag where Harpo takes out impossible objects from his pockets is replaced with one where he stands passively while others empty his pockets of their increasingly surreal contents.

Harpo is still a kleptomaniac and is in charge of procuring lunch for a theatrical troupe in financial trouble, which is how he becomes involved in a diamond smuggling operation that unwisely chooses to hide the loot in a sardine can which Harpo then steals.
It's only until the film's concluding chase scene that satisfying levels of energy and creativity begin to appear on the screen. There's nothing wrong with an earlier gag where he knocks down theater seats, domino-style, but it's also not particularly funny.

There is a fantastic, mind-reading element that is alternatively fake (at close range with one subject,) and authentic (with Harpo, long-distance, over the phone), but there is still a surprising amount of surrealism involving Harpo, most notably in the rooftop chase as he interacts with animated billboards, but also with his magical coat pockets.

These performers were at their best when deflating buffoonish authority and we see little to nothing of that here. Rather than the movie taking us into the early Marx Bros. surreal universe, it's taken aged versions of them out of it and brought them into post-war, morale-boosting, reality-grounded musical where their old personae no longer quite fit.

Groucho himself called it a "terrible picture" which it is, but that doesn't mean that there isn't still some worthwhile entertainment for the desperate fan or an undiscriminating audience member. I'm not sure that having only Harpo in it would have been much of an improvement (as per the feature's original concept), but it would probably have made it less awkward.

With Ilona Massey, Paul Valentine, Marion Hutton, Raymond Burr, Bruce Gordo, Eric Blore, and a cameo by a then-unknown Marilyn Monroe.

You have been warned.