Love Happy (1949)

Directed by David Miller. Starring Harpo, Chico, Groucho, Ilona Massey, Vera-Ellen, Paul Valentine, Melville Cooper, Marion Hutton, Leon Belasco.

Tiresome final film outing for the Marx Brothers as a team—and barely at that, since Groucho’s appearances are limited to a few shoehorned narration/framing sequences until the very end. Threadbare “let’s put on a show” plot gets waylaid by the screwball pursuit of a valuable Macguffin, but it runs on the fumes the whole way. Only Harpo manages to squeeze out a few chortles, but not nearly enough to make it worth the effort; you know it’s not working when you start looking forward to the musical breaks! (Yes, even the cheerful one about abusing obnoxious children.) Raymond Burr and Eric Blore have small roles, and be on the lookout for Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest screen appearances (Groucho has time to admire her for a few seconds, and she’s out the door for good).

38/100