Road to Zanzibar (released in 1941) - starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour

This is the second installment of the “Road “series which became a monster hit assuring the production of the subsequent movies. It stars the usual suspects, Bing Cosby, Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope.
Chuck Reardon and Hubert Fearless Frazier are con artist who work as side shows for a local success. One act like a human cannonball sets the whole circus on fire and they are on the run. Chuck comes out with real impossible ideas and son Fearless has had enough. He proposes to go home to the USA and starts packing. At a restaurant they are sent champagne by a wealthy eccentric miner who bail them out from the police. Soon they are invited by him to drink on his yacht. Fearless continues to pack and sulk when Chuck returns from the yacht with the news that the miner has sold his mines for a sum of five thousand. They rejoice their good fortune and their joy is short lived when they find out that the deed is worthless.
Fearless, an expert con man resells the deed for another gullible for seven and plans to flee. But Monsieur Lebec, the buyer insists they accompany him to the mines. Helpless the duo jump on to a boat and float to Africa. Here they meet Julia and Donna who live by their wits. Unknown to Chuck and fearless Julia asks them to save Donna from a save auction. They pay 150 local money to save Donna who plans to carry the con further to extract the full seven Thousand from them.



Donna romances both Chuck and Fearless even though Fearless suspects a rat. They come to blows for claiming Donna's hand and are informed by Julia about Donna's rich boyfriend. The angry cons run to the jungle to confront Donna who is swimming in the lake. Two leopards come and tear apart her clothes which makes Chuck and Fearless fear for her life and confess their love. This scene is one of the funniest in motion picture history. As Chuck and Fearless sing their eulogies and profess their feelings about the dead Donna with her hanging nearby, the audience are clutching stitches by the side. But love turns to anger as they realize that she is alive and well and both storm in to the jungle soon to get lost.
As they wander in the forest they are captured by the natives who think them as Gods and adorn them with jewels. But as Fearless loses a fight with an octopus the Natives plan to cook them. Soon after a series of comic capers, the duo escape to civilization and are joined by the con sisters. Donna who is in love with Chuck leaves her rich boyfriend and joins them. The foursome soon join in their brains to make money through what they are best at, conning people. A very good amazing comedy which will have you in splits if you ever get a chance to watch it.

Duck Soup movie starring Marx Brothers (1933)

The Marx Brothers were very famous for their films during the earlier part of the 20th century, and 'Duck Soup' was the last movie with Paramount where the Marx Brothers starred (there were a total of 5 such movies with Paramount). During the making of Duck Soup, contract disputes became paramount in the relationship, and both the Marx Brothers and Paramount decided to part ways after the making of the movie. In addition, this was the last movie where Zeppo had starred, and hence can be considered worth seeing just for that particular reason.
The movie did not do so well at the box office, almost being considered a failure, yet, as always happens, the movie was re-evaluated over a period of time, and was seen as a classic, a great comedy and designated for preservation in the National Film Registry (wikipedia) of the United States.



The Marx Brothers specialized in comedy, and this movie was no different, with several comic scenes that would have you enjoying the movie. One of the iconic scenes from this movie is the mirror scene - where Harpo Marx copies the action of Groucho Marx to the last detail to avoid detection and to make the character of Groucho Marx believe that he is seeing himself in a mirror. Although this was not the first time that this type of scene has been depicted, the sequence in 'Duck Soup' is probably the best known instance of this scene in a movie.
The movie is a comedy depicting activies on a national level, where a country, Freedonia, wants assistance from a wealthy lady Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont). She in turn insists that Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) be made the leader of the country. At the same time, since Freedonia is in such a bad state, the neighboring country Sylvania wants to take advantage and take over Freedonia. To that purpose, Sylvania's ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern) stirs up trouble, trying to create a revolution in Freedonia; he also woos Mrs. Teasdale, and sends in Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Pinky (Harpo Marx) to spy on Firefly.
Firefly spots Chicolini as a vendor on the street and appoints him Secretary of the War, and tries to insult Trentino so that Trentino can attack Firefly and thus be forced to leave the country. However, the plan reverses and Firefly instead slaps Trentino and this brings the 2 countries to the brink of war. There are further comic scenes, and eventually the 2 countries go to war, with lots of song and dance involved. In the final battle scenes, in order to provide another great comic effect, Firefly keeps on changing his costume almost in every scene, wearing uniforms belonging to different armies, and even the Boy Scout Scoutmaster uniform.

Classic spoof: Robin Hood, Men in Tights

Trust Mel Brooks to come up with a spoof like this. This movie was preceded by the so-serious Kevin Costner playing the role of Robin Hood in a serious movie, and then this movie by Mel Brooks came. An incredible movie, without any doubt. I had a great time watching the movie, then watching it again, and again. This is not a movie that you just watch, you will still keep on chuckling after watching it.
Mel Brooks has made fun of a number of Hollywood concepts, such as the Kevin Costner movie (Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves), The Godfather, a Patriot missile (movie was made 2 years after the first Gulf War), a rabbi in place of the friar, the maid of the princess who refuses to let the princess do anything with Robin till she is married, then a mocking of the whole concept of the chastity belt, possession of an entire castle to pay for taxes, the naming of toilets, and so on. The whole movie is a laugh riot.



The concept is similar to the normal Robin Hood movie. Robin is caught during the crusades in the Holy Land. He manages to escape, and swims all the way from Jerusalem to England (where he sees lettering on the shore, similar to the way Hollywood is written in big letters). In the meantime, in England, Prince John has taken over while his brother, King Richard is away fighting the crusades, and John is becoming a tyrant. Personally, he has suffered a big tragedy, with his parents died, his brothers died of the Plague, his dog was run over by a cart, his goldfish was eaten by the cat, the cat choked on the goldfish and that his family's castle has been taken by Prince John because of their failure to pay backtaxes. He has been left a necklace, with the promise of getting the greatest treasure in the land.
He meets his companions one by one, meeting Little John over a very small creek, and saves Little john when he is drowning in 6 inches of water. He meets another companion who can convert an oncoming arrow to sawdust with his knifes. He also meets the pretty Maid Mariam, who also falls for him. The Sheriff of Rottingham, also desires the Maid Mariam. To get rid of Robin, the Sheriff hires some Italian mobsters to kill Robin by organizing an archery tournament. In a scene out of the Godfather, the mobsters plan how to kill Robin, but their plans are leaked to Robin by Maid Mariam. In the archery tournament, Robin survives in the final, and eventually wins by firing a Patriot missile that beats his opponent's arrow. He is also revealed, and condemned to die by hanging.
In a compromise, Maid agrees to marry the Sheriff so that Robin is saved; in a last minute saving, his army of friends and villagers and saves the scene. Robin has a most interesting fight with the Sheriff. As they fight, including some shadow fighting when they are tired, eventually Robin wins. As he is about to get married, King Richard arrives back from the Holy Land, dethrones his wicked brother, announces as a punishment that all toilets will now be called Johns (after his brother's name), and then the Rabbi marries Robin and the Maid. Robin finally tries to use the key in Mariam's chastity belt, but it breaks.

Mel Brooks Collection