Touches You

good back-story, and good acting

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

One other reviewer expressed the same sense about this film that I had. It seemed awfully stagy. And, I think with much more talkative roles, especially for Groucho. Now, I don't mind that except that I am used to the clever, witty comments and retorts, and then their moving on and mixing in with antics. This film does have antics, but nothing on the long-laugh producing craziness of "A Night at the Opera," and "A Day at the Races." I think what made their earliest films the best, was that they had screenplays in which each of the brothers was off doing his thing – the scenes would move from one to another; and then at times they would come together for real hilarity. In "Room Service," Groucho seems stuck in one spot as though he were caught in their room, and Chico and Harpo come and go with a moose head, a live turkey, etc. But, "Room Service" is a Marx Brothers comedy, and one worth seeing. I think Frank Albertson does a banner job as Leo Davis. Cliff Dunstan, who had a very short career in the movies, did a very good job as Joseph Gribble, the hotel manager and brother-in-law of Groucho's Gordon Miller. Donald MacBride gives one of the best performances in this film as the flustered hotel inspector-director, Gregory Wagner. It was nice to see Lucille Ball in this early role that had a little meat to it. Ball had been uncredited in 25 films and was in 4 shorts from 1933 to 1935 when she got her first credited role in "I Dream Too Much" She would be in another 20 films with bit parts, this one included, before she would get a lead role. From there it was all up hill for the crazy blonde, who was a very talented actress as well as a comedienne.

Theatrical producer Gordon Miller (Groucho Marx) is $1200 behind on the rent. His brother in-law hotel manager has been covering for him but the landlord is coming and sure to find out. Gordon, Harry Binelli (Chico Marx) and Faker Englund (Harpo) are about to leave when actress Christine Marlowe (Lucille Ball) tells them that a financial backer named Jenkins is coming in. The guys have to stay at the hotel to wait for Jenkins. The play's writer Leo Davis (Frank Albertson) comes looking for an advance and the guys convince him to stay in their room. Davis falls for the guys' assistant Hilda Manney (Ann Miller). The hotel troubleshooter Gregory Wagner discovers the debt and tries to kick the guys out. Jenkins tells the guys that his employer is willing to put up $15k if a role is given to a certain young lady. Gordon comes up with the idea for Davis to fake the measles to keep Wagner from kicking them out.This is not specifically written for the Marx brothers and it shows. It lacks a certain power to their rapid fire jokes. Some of the jokes are still funny. Staying in that one room for that long does get monotonous. This has a twenty something Lucille Ball in a minor role. She isn't given anything big to do. The guys don't do much music in this one. It's not a big lost for me. I always like Harpo and he brings the best jokes of the lot. There is one long running joke with "Hail!" that I don't really get.

I watched two movies pretty much in parallel, Room Service and Stuck On You. While Room Service is certainly lacking much of the Marx' brothers usual tempo and gags, I was surprised to find that this was the one of the two that gave the most laughs by far, while the other mostly bored me. I had expected the opposite.Almost the whole movie takes place in a hotel room, which is certainly due to being a stage play, and that comes for a cost. There is more talking and less action than other Marx movies. The first half or so drags considerably, but the brothers do manage to use their characters in good ways. In particular, Harpo does a good job on bringing in some visual gags.Mr Wagner (Donald MacBride) is rather tiresome, but from the moment the backer is clear to him, he gets a well deserved break from being the sourpuss of the movie. And that's right where I start liking the movie. It takes quicker turns, scenes are getting increasingly hilarious (Harpo's death scene is great), and ends pretty much as expected but just right.I certainly wouldn't advice anyone new to Marx to start here, but once you are fond of the Marx brothers and like their characters, this is a nice bonus, which is better than I thought it would be.

Room Service marked for the first and last time in their careers the Marx Brothers would work with material not written specifically for them. Based on the successful stage play the brothers make you quickly forget it is anything but a Marx romp.Gordon Miller (Groucho) desperately attempts to stave off eviction from his hotel room until he can get a backer for his play. Enlisting Harpo and Chico and a series of arch ruses the boys put up a spirited and inane struggle to hold the room and get the play financed.Room Service is the usual Marx Brothers versus the establishment and polite society vehicle they excelled at in their first half dozen films. By the time they did Day at the Races it was evident they were slowing down and Room Service expands on it. Veteran Marx collaborator Maury Ryskind tailors some of the play to the brothers strengths but they only serve as reminders of when they were sharper and in better productions. Room Service is far from the worst and further from their best work. It has flashes of their famed anarchic style but remains incapable of sustaining the zany outrageous pace found in the earlier films and as some close ups glaringly revealed, they were not getting any younger.