I have viewed several Marx Brothers films, some several times, including this one, but one thing that has puzzled me for years is the ending. Did all of the characters die at the end, or did they simply lose consciousness?
sharehah yeah... i think they all were knocked out by that spray. Then Harpo could finally be with that girl so he knocked himself out too.
I wish there were more movies... I just cant get sick of these guys.
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That would be the most horrific comedy ever made. All the characters are killed by Harpo, who kills himself because he can't be with the woman he loves. He inhales poison gas and falls into her still warm corpse.
Fade to black. "THE END"
Romeo and Juliet, er, I mean: The Professor and the Blonde.
shareMy take on it is that Harpo got ahold of the bottle chloroform that the butler used on him. He then put it in the Flit spray can to go after everyone. Incidentally, in this era many such drugs were still available over the counter without a prescription. The use of chloroform at parties, etc. was quite a thing.
shareThis new non ending was cobbled together to replace the play's original ending known as the Dubarry scene in which the whole cast attends a costume party. It's believed to have been removed to keep the movies running time down.
shareThat may explain why the name on the container of the sprayer was blacked out later.
I always thought it was a copyright thing: that the name on the cannister was a brand name that would have cost money to show.
However, in knowing how this movie was broadcast later on TV, perhaps the television distributor thought it would be better if the poison label was left off to avoid kids repeating the act with the real thing.
"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"
The spray was 'Flit', I think. It looks like the Flit gun in old ads -'Quick Henry, the Flit!'- and Chico mentions it (kind of) in his 'Where's the flesh' comedy routine.
The blackout could be for both reasons, copyright and safety. Or maybe they just didn't want to give free advertising. Any film researchers out there know the real story?
The use of chloroform at parties, etc. was quite a thing.
Aha! Chloroform, the original date-rape drug! But then, Harpo did it wrong...
Obviously they just lost consciousness due to the chloroform. Remember Chico and Harpo were the last 2 standing, and Chico says "We gotta get outta here before everybody wakes up" — just before Harpo gasses him too.
share