A Day at the Races

A Marx Brothers film. A sanatorium is about to go under. Its young owner is in debt and a businessman is waiting to take the place over. The hope of rescue is a wealthy patient. She trusts only one doctor and will consider staying if he comes to the sanatorium. The doctor is called. But Hackenbush is not a physician at all; he treats animals, and he tells nobody. From there the film becomes a series of deceptions: fake examinations, inspections dodged, disguises, and two more people trying to keep the place from being lost. There is also a horse. A racehorse, and if it wins the debt is cleared. The best-known passages are the talking scenes. A tipster selling Hackenbush book after book, and the crowded examination scene, are among the most quoted examples of verbal double-act comedy. What the narrative is interested in is not story but interruption: the plot is only a ground for three brothers to get in the way. It is built as a large studio musical; there are long song and dance sections, and those are the most tiring part of it today. Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx are in the cast, with Margaret Dumont. Sam Wood directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes classic verbal comedy and the Marx Brothers. Who it is not for: anyone measuring by today's standards; the racial representation habits of the period are plainly visible in one musical sequence.