Just as zany as monkeys going over Niagra Falls in a barrel, this concoction of fast-moving sketches moves so fast, you'll think you're heading over the falls, too. The four brothers are stowaways on a luxury cruise ship heading to New York and for a good 3/4 of this movie, they are doing their best to avoid being caught, even though a good deal of that time is conversing in marvelous double-talk with the ship's crew after them. They infiltrate the captain's quarters, Groucho insults a wealthy socialite (an unbilled Cecil Cunningham) and infiltrates the captain's quarters, and Harpo searches for his missing frog then attacks a passenger in the doctor's office who claims to have a frog in his throat. A magnificent puppet show has Harpo standing in for one of the puppets as crew members stand right near the puppeteer's box, then he makes a hysterical escape much to the viewing kiddie's delight.
Like the later "Hellzapoppin'" and the Zucker Brothers movies of the 1980's, this requires repeat viewings to capture all of the gags or remind you of them, because they follow each other so fast, you will be dizzy trying to take it all in. There's the shell of a plot involving the kidnapping of a mobster's daughter once the ship docks in New York, and of course this leads to more zaniness with the presence of the brothers. There's a classy parody of the Maurice Chevalier craze with all four brothers (including the mute Harpo) trying to get off the ship while pretending to be Chevalier singing "A New Kind of Love". Sexy Thelma Todd, the almost forgotten comical star of a series of Hal Roach shorts, provides some "hot cha cha" as one of the ship's passengers who hides Groucho amongst her wardrobe which leads to some amusing dialog about Groucho being in the closet. This is one of those comedies you might consider buying (available with all of the brothers' Paramount films) because you might find yourself pulling it out on a regular basis.
Like the later "Hellzapoppin'" and the Zucker Brothers movies of the 1980's, this requires repeat viewings to capture all of the gags or remind you of them, because they follow each other so fast, you will be dizzy trying to take it all in. There's the shell of a plot involving the kidnapping of a mobster's daughter once the ship docks in New York, and of course this leads to more zaniness with the presence of the brothers. There's a classy parody of the Maurice Chevalier craze with all four brothers (including the mute Harpo) trying to get off the ship while pretending to be Chevalier singing "A New Kind of Love". Sexy Thelma Todd, the almost forgotten comical star of a series of Hal Roach shorts, provides some "hot cha cha" as one of the ship's passengers who hides Groucho amongst her wardrobe which leads to some amusing dialog about Groucho being in the closet. This is one of those comedies you might consider buying (available with all of the brothers' Paramount films) because you might find yourself pulling it out on a regular basis.