Groucho Marx

A portrait of the brilliant American writer Truman Capote (1924-84) and the New York high society of his time.

The whole world knows him. Burlesque comedy genius, popular actor, author, director, producer, composer, choreographer, Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) used his talent to serve an ideal of justice and freedom. But his best scenario was his own destiny, a story written into the political and artistic history of the 20th century.

Discover the enduring friendship between television personality Dick Cavett and his mentor iconic comedian Groucho Marx. Their relationship is chronicled through interviews with Cavett, archival footage and interviews with George Burns and others.

Feature documentary about humor and the Holocaust, examining whether it is ever acceptable to use humor in connection with a tragedy of that scale, and the implications for other seemingly off-limits topics in a society that prizes free speech.

For over half a century, 60 Minutes' fearsome newsman Mike Wallace went head-to-head with the world's most influential figures. Relying exclusively on archival footage, the film interrogates the interrogator, tracking Wallace's storied career and troubled personal life while unpacking how broadcast journalism evolved to today’s precarious tipping point.

Italy, Europe and America during the 'Dolce Vita' years narrated with unseen and rare footage from NBC Archives in New York.

Alex Trebek hosts a documentary about television game shows featuring interviews with a number of game show hosts and producers.

A documentary about the Marx Brothers containing interviews with Leonard Maltin, Dick Cavett and others.

The early days of The Beatles are captured in this fascinating film. Featuring behind the scenes clips, it traces the Fab Four's start as Liverpool lads playing the local clubs to 'making it' in Germany. Early press conferences and interviews reveal their charisma and knack for messing around - yeah, yeah, yeah!

A tribute to the lives and careers of the Marx Brothers utilizing rare archival footage and personal interviews.

The One, the Only... Groucho is a documentary that celebrates the life and legacy of Groucho Marx, the legendary comedian, actor, gameshow host and master of quick wit.

Join all your favorites—Spanky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa, Darla, Butch, Froggy and more—in a jam-packed special covering more than twenty years and 200 episodes of Hal Roach's inimitable brand of childhood magic. This fascinating video offers insight into the Gang's personal lives, as rare footage follows each member's career through the joys and misfortunes that went along with being one of America's most beloved kids. See how the series began in 1922 and changed after the first all-talking release in 1929, why Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney never made the Gang, a fifteenth anniversary reunion, and clips from their only feature.

Though several actors portray Elvis Presley at different stages of his life, this documentary is comprised mostly of actual performance footage and interviews with Elvis, his fans and those close to him. This biographical docu-drama features rare footage of Elvis and dramatically recreated scenes from Elvis' life.

A 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.

Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were battling the Depression as well as eventually getting ready for another World War.

Famous Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies

Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.

A collection of bloopers and outtakes from an enormous selection of Hollywood classic productions spanning from the 1930s through the 1980s.

Steve Allen hosts this collection of clips of some of the greatest comedy teams in movie and television history, including Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Burns and Allen, The Three Stooges, The East-Side Kids, Abbott and Costello, and Martin and Lewis.

Gene 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.

Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.

A celebration of Hollywood in the 1930s, featuring a compilation of clips from features and newsreels of the era.

Over fifty of the greatest living comedians are called to a party at Bob Hope's house, where each of them is systematically killed (and their bodies thrown in Hope's pool!). Hope and the rapidly shrinking cast try to discover who is the mysterious killer known only as "Joys."

A 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.

Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloopers, satirical short films and promotional and government films of the 1950s and 1960s are intercut together to tell a single story of various creatures and societal ills attacking American cities.

The Legend of Marilyn Monroe is a 1966 American documentary film chronicling the life and career of actress Marilyn Monroe. Directed by Terry Sanders, and narrated by John Huston.

Ex-gangster Tony Banks is called out of retirement by mob kingpin God to carry out a hit on fellow mobster "Blue Chips" Packard. When Banks demurs, God kidnaps his daughter Darlene on his luxury yacht.

Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.

Two families react differently to their teenage children getting married

Melvin Byrd, who dreams of being a scientist, is a Cape Kennedy "miniscule molecular particle surveillance monitor" - in short, a janitor. His job is to keep a major rocket project completely dust-free, and this he does with his own hilariously fantastic inventions - including a literal attack on dirt by a "knight on a white horse". In his work, he meets Judy, a chimp involved in a top-secret project, which leads Melvin into the one room strictly off-limits to him. Not until he has entered the project room does Melvin learn that any man entering it will be negatively ionized - making him fly like a bird.

An innocent bank teller, suspected of embezzlement, is aided by an eccentric, wisecracking waiter.

To save his career, an ad man wants a sex symbol to endorse a lipstick but in exchange, she wants him to pretend to be her lover.

The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil.

Short promotional film for a Saturday Evening Post sales convention.

After two sailors are conned into buying a lame race-horse, they go ashore to sort out the problem, but when they realize that the horse is one of a pair of identical twins, their plan for revenge becomes more complicated.

A golf-crazy songwriter tries to avoid the long, solitary hours of concentration needed to produce a hit musical. His producer and his secretary conspire to get him back on track.

A con man heading west to search for gold teams up with a pair of scheming brothers along the way. The trio soon find themselves in the middle of a feud between two rival families and two underhanded land developers.

The Marx Brothers help young Broadway hopefuls when they get mixed up with gangsters due to a tin of sardines containing Romanoff diamonds.

A detective is hired to protect the life of a singer, who has recently inherited a department store, from the store's crooked manager.

The Marx Brothers are employed at a hotel in postwar Casablanca, where a ring of Nazis is trying to recover a cache of stolen treasure.

A talent agent sells his girlfriend to a nightclub – as two separate acts. The deception and constant costume changes are too much for his girl, and the men who have fallen for the different performers.

This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind the scenes to look at how the sound portion of a talking picture is created.

An MGM short promoting the studio's impact on fashion through film through their chief of costume design, Adrian; in rural America, a mother and daughter are shopping and observe a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie.

Doctor 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.

Jeff 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.

Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.

The 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.

Comedian Lloyd Hamilton escorts a group of beauty contest winners to various Hollywood night spots.

Broke Gordon Miller tries to land a backer for his new play while he has to deal with with the hotel manager trying to evict him and his cast.

The 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.

Essentially an advertisement for Murder at the Vanities (1934). Features Chico Marx, W.C. Fields, Duke Ellington and many others.

Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley U, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin U.

The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short feature, roughly 48 minutes long, from Paramount Pictures made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. It was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular theatrical release and includes a brief history of Paramount, interviews with various actors, and clips from upcoming projects (some of which never came to fruition). The title comes from a biography of Paramount founder Adolph Zukor, The House That Shadows Built (1928), by William Henry Irwin.

Four stowaways get mixed up with gangsters while running riot on an ocean liner.

Casino operator Johnny Lamb hires down-on-her-luck socialite Lucille Sutton as his casino hostess, in order to help her and to improve casino income. But Lamb's pals fear he may follow Lucille onto the straight-and-narrow path, which would not be good for business. So they hire Gert Malloy and Dictionary McKinney, a pair of con-artists, to manipulate Johnny back off the path of righteousness.

A series of vignettes with a loose plot. Featured are Frank Morgan, Groucho Marx, Frank McHugh, Robert Benchley and The Brian Sisters. Not bad, more interesting for the historical significance than for entertainment.

An MGM short showing how materials are shipped by boat 'From the Ends of the Earth' to Hollywood. Featuring footage from the MGM films being made at the time. Such as The Women, Thunder Afloat, Siren of the Tropics, Ninotchka, Northwest Passage, and At the Circus.

In the office of Mr. Lee, a talent agent, Zeppo bursts through the door, proclaiming to be a great musical actor. He gives a terrible impression of Maurice Chevallier. Chico arrives, also proclaiming to be a great musical talent, and gives an even worse impression of the same musical act. This is followed by Groucho and finally Harpo, all adding to the growing confusion in the office.

During the Florida land boom, the Marx Brothers run a hotel, auction off some land and thwart a jewel robbery.

Harpo played the hero, a detective named Watson who "made his entrance in a high hat, sliding down a coal chute into the basement". Groucho played an "old movie" villain, who "sported a long moustache and was clad in black", while Chico was probably his "chuckling [Italian] henchman". Zeppo portrayed a playboy who was the owner of a nightclub in which most of the action took place, including "a cabaret, [which allowed] the inclusion of a dance number". The final shot showed Groucho "in ball and chain, trudging slowly off into the gloaming". Harpo, in a rare moment of romantic glory, gets the girl in the end. This film is lost.