
Margaret Dumont
Actor · 1882 – 1965 · Brooklyn, New York, USA
Margaret Dumont would probably consider it a tragedy that she is best-known for her performances as the ultimate straight woman in seven of the Marx Brothers' films (including most of their best). By all accounts she never understood their jokes (offscreen and on), which is of course a major reason why she's so funny. Apart from a small role in a 1917 Dickens adaptation, she spent her early career on the stage, ending up with the Marxes in the late 1920s in the stage versions of The Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1930), and was given a Paramount contract at the same time they were. She played similar roles alongside other great comedians, including W.C. Fields, Laurel & Hardy and Jack Benny and also played straight dramatic parts (her chief love), but few of them made much impact - it is as Groucho Marx's foil that she ranks among the immortals, and she died shortly after being reunited with him on "The Hollywood Palace" (1964).
Movies24
Movie7.1ComedyRomanceA four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich and died prematurely because of their drive to be rich.
What a Way to Go!
1964 · 109 votes
Movie7.4ComedyMusicThe Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.
A Night at the Opera
1935 · 573 votes
Movie7.3ComedyWarRufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.
Duck Soup
1933 · 880 votes
Movie5.9MusicComedyAfter breaking up with her fiancé, a gym teacher returns to work at a women's college, but a legal loophole allows him to enroll as one of her students.
Bathing Beauty
1944 · 33 votes
Movie6.4ComedyMusicJeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10,000. Before Jeff can pay, Carter's accomplices steal the money so he can take over the circus. Antonio Pirelli and Punchy, who work at the circus, together with lawyer Loophole try to find the thief and get the money back.
At the Circus
1939 · 99 votes
Movie7.0ComedyDramaMame Dennis, a progressive and independent woman of the 1920s, is left to care for her nephew Patrick after his wealthy father dies. Conflict ensues when the executor of the father's estate objects to the aunt's lifestyle and tries to force her to send Patrick to prep school.
Auntie Mame
1958 · 129 votes
Movie7.1ComedyMusicDoctor Hugo Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy try and save Judy's sanitarium by winning a big race with a finicky horse owned by Judy's boyfriend Gil. There are a few problems. Hackenbush, who was recently put in charge of the sanitarium, isn't really a doctor, he's a veterinarian.
A Day at the Races
1937 · 240 votes
Movie6.5ComedyMusicDuring the Florida land boom, the Marx Brothers run a hotel, auction off some land and thwart a jewel robbery.
The Cocoanuts
1929 · 130 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryMusicGene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976 · 44 votes
Movie6.3ComedyMusicA detective is hired to protect the life of a singer, who has recently inherited a department store, from the store's crooked manager.
The Big Store
1941 · 77 votes
Movie6.3DocumentaryHistoryPeriod music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975 · 9 votes
Movie7.2DocumentaryHistoryA documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to the sale of its back lot and props. By extension this provides a general history of Hollywood's Golden Age and the legendary studio system.
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972 · 4 votes
Movie6.4DramaComedyTen screenwriters collaborated on this series of tales concerning the effect a tailcoat cursed by its tailor has on those who wear it. The video release features a W.C. Fields segment not included in the original theatrical release.
Tales of Manhattan
1942 · 39 votes
Movie6.9ComedyMusicThe well-known explorer and hunter Captain Spaulding has just returned from Africa, and is being welcomed home with a lavish party at the estate of influential society matron Mrs. Rittenhouse when a valuable painting goes missing. The intrepid Captain Spaulding attempts to solve the crime with the help of his silly secretary Horatio Jamison, while sparring with the anarchic Signor Emanuel Ravelli and his nutty sidekick The Professor.
Animal Crackers
1930 · 270 votes
Movie6.2ComedyRomanceA singer finds another heir (Gene Raymond) to marry, to avoid the one (Joe Penner) her mother found.
The Life of the Party
1937 · 5 votes
Movie7.1ComedySnooty heiress decides to track down her dead sister's kids, who are living a Bohemian life with their uncle in Greenwich Village. Once she finds them, she discovers that the Bohemian life is fun and free of the constraints her country-club life places on her. But she decides to take the uncle to court anyway to free him from the kids so he can paint.
Wise Girl
1937 · 7 votes
Movie4.9ComedyWarA decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.
Rendezvous
1935 · 12 votes
Movie5.3ComedyLou Costello plays a country bumpkin vacuum-cleaner salesman, working for the company run by the crooked Bud Abbott. To try to keep him under his thumb, Abbott convinces Costello that he's a crackerjack salesman. This comedy is somewhat like "The Time of Their Lives," in that Abbott and Costello don't have much screen time together and there are very few vaudeville bits woven into the plot.
Little Giant
1946 · 23 votes
Movie7.7ComedyWith the end of Prohibition a former bootlegger and his wife attempt to go straight. Remake of the 1938 film "A Slight Case of Murder".
Stop, You're Killing Me
1952 · 3 votes
Movie5.9ComedyFantasyA trumpet player in a radio orchestra falls asleep during a commercial and dreams he's Athanael, an angel deputized to blow the Last Trumpet at exactly midnight on Earth, thus marking the end of the world.
The Horn Blows at Midnight
1945 · 22 votes
Movie8.0ComedyA man's inability to control his flirting gets him into trouble after he uses his charms on a mobster's wife.
The Girl Habit
1931 · 1 votes
Movie5.7ComedyRomanceHypochondriac Danny Weems gets drafted and accidentally smuggles his girlfriend aboard his Pacific-bound troopship.
Up in Arms
1944 · 11 votes
Movie10.0AdventureMusicMade-for-TV musical inspired by the real-life travels of a celebrated 1800s female newspaper columnist.
Around the World with Nellie Bly
1960 · 1 votes
Movie9.0DocumentaryComedyA fascinating look at the most beloved comedy team in motion picture history. Exclusive interviews with those closest to the brothers supplement this collection of highlights from their film, theater, and television appearances and offer a compelling look at their lives both on and off-screen.
The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell
1982 · 1 votes
Series4
TV6.5ComedyFamilyRevolves around typical family problems, such as firing a clumsy housekeeper, throwing a retirement bash for a colleague, and finding quality time away from the children.
The Donna Reed Show
1958 · 19 votes
TV6.4RealityThe Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was "See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet", which continued to be used in Chevrolet advertising for several more years after the cancellation of the show.
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
1956 · 5 votes
TV6.9ComedyThe Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950 · 13 votes
TV6.5DramaAction & AdventureRacket Squad is an American TV crime drama series starring Reed Hadley as Captain John Braddock, a fictional detective working for the San Francisco, California Police Department. The show aired in syndication for a season before being picked up by CBS for three seasons. The series was filmed at Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California, and was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, hence there was a pack of the sponsor's brand on Braddock's desk at the beginning and end of the episode, as well as occasional scenes of him or other characters "lighting up".
Racket Squad
1951 · 4 votes