Go West (1940)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director: Edward Buzzell

Starring: Marx Brothers, John Carroll, Diana Lewis

The Marx Brothers go western in this latest motion picture starring the hilarious trio of comedic talent of stage and screen. The film places our three hilarious stars in the usual story structure of aiding a romantic couple through events of foiling some bad guy(s) while providing several sequences of humor or skills of musical prowess with the moments of the actual plot sprinkled lightly within. Comedy loving audiences do not mind though as the Marx brothers chew the scenery in this picture which places our favorite brothers within a western.

Go West is a musical/comedy set in the western American frontier where the Marx Brothers attempt to impede an evil railroad industrialist and which helps to unite two lovebirds. Opening with swindling brothers joseph and Rusty (Chico and Harpo) managing to deceive opportunist confidence man S. Quentin Quale (Groucho) of his money, the three head west with dream filled stories of being able to literally pick gold off the ground and making a quick fortune. Once there these myths become abundantly false.

Our love story consists of Terry Turner (John Carroll) and his dearest Eve Wilson (Diana Lewis), whose parents are longtime rivals, but Terry attempts to amend by making Eve’s father’s gold-less property valuable by contracting the railroad company to construct through his land, greatly increasing its value. However it is our three heroes who are holding the deed to the property for Eve’s father as collateral as a favor while he attempts at a new start in life. The remainder of the picture consists of the trio on various occasions losing the deed and attempting to recover it and return it to the rightful owner in order to keep the evil railroad baron from acquiring the property, thus not to amend the family rivalry and further impeding the hopeful marriage. As you can figure, after many antics and a dramatic chase upon a steaming train, the deed and the couple are saved, much to the delight of the Marx Brothers.

Entitled by the famous phrase of “Go west, young man,” this picture by the Marx Brothers is simply another film in the comedic team’s line of popular movies. In the setting of the old west complete with shoot-outs, brawling, and an evil baron, this was the next vehicle for the trio to splash their comedy upon. Filled with musical numbers and the ever expected Chico/piano and Harpo/harp scenes this feature shares the familiar formula that had worked so many times for the Brothers.

Comedy director Edward Buzzell returns to work on his second Marx Brothers picture after At the Circus, manifesting his ease in producing comedies for MGM.  His film style is simple in allowing the performers to really run the show and permit the performances to dictate the flow of the picture from beginning to end.

In the earlier years of the Marx Brothers on screen the youngest brother Zeppo was commonly the romantic lead in a picture dominated by the comedy of Groucho, Chico, and Harpo. After he had quit as a performer the Brothers had ran through many other small time actors to fill the void of the role that is perhaps most forgotten in the picture, that being the male character in which all the plot revolves around. Here in Go West that role is played by John Carrol. Carroll, who happened to be married to an MGM casting director, had seen some work in westerns, including once as Zorro in Republic Pictures’ serial about the masked hero. Of course, Carroll appearance here is rather clean and straight laced, making him a rather forgettable player in the film.

As for the female love interest, that would be filled by Diana Lewis. A 21 year-old actress, her résumé was not very long, but she would fill the role just fine as the meek beauty of the picture. Her career would not be very vast as she would marry famous star William Powell in 1940 and retire from acting herself shortly thereafter.

There is not much more to say about this feature as it can be seen as a run-of-the-mill Marx Brothers picture. Not to say it is bad, rather it is very entertaining, but it does not add much to what we have already seen from the Marx Brothers. The story is weak, but so have been their past films. The Brothers are just as creative as always, including musically as seen here, although it is more evident in Go West that they are merely mimicking their playing as Harpo is not even playing a real harp. Groucho does lack Margaret Dumont, sometimes referred to as the fourth Marx Brother, to bounce his one liners off of, which one may not realize until after the film.

The greatest moments in the picture that stand out are that of the grand finale of the action on the moving train. MGM was not too keen on spending much money on yet another Marx Brothers comedy and here they needed a full sized moving steam engine, almost bringing an end to the picture before it was finished. However the Marx Brothers would get their way and the train sequences with the Brothers being chases throughout a running train (somewhat in the style of Buster Keaton in The General). These would be the moments that stand out in the film that otherwise in a usual Marx Brothers picture.

Go West lacks the great punch that some of the Brothers earlier works had, but do not let that take away from the enjoyment that the picture does give. It is entertaining and very funny, a full Marx Brothers’ film. The boys were still just as popular as ever. But would the future come too soon for the threesome?