Love Happy
Love Happy
NR | 12 October 1949 (USA)
Love Happy Trailers

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

Reviews
Linkshoch Wonderful Movie
Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters
Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,
Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Seattle10 Even Groucho himself did not like this picture, and I cannot understand why everyone says it is bad. It is a fine movie, and as everyone states here, it is to showcase Harpo, and he is excellent in Love Happy. Great pantomime and excellent special effects. To see Vera-Ellen, and Marlyn, and a cast of other known greats, is a real treat. The eventual conclusion of the missing diamonds, was a real surprise, yet quite nice. A great way to end their film career together. I liked this one more than several from their golden age.
dimplet I disagree with the put downs of this film by some viewers, for a very simple reason: I enjoyed watching it and found it funny. Sure, the plot is a little weak, but who watches Marx Brothers films for the plot? Actually, the plot is stronger than in many of their movies. Groucho's role is certainly weak, but this may be Harpo's finest film, which showcases his beautiful comic style. Chico does fine, too. And they both deliver some wonderful musical performances. The scene near the end on the rooftop amid the Times Square advertising signs is delightful. There seems to be an obvious element of "product placement," though I don't know whether the filmmakers got paid for this, but that all adds to the peculiar humor of the scene. It's been a very long time since I first saw the classic Marx Brothers films, at least as an adult who could appreciate them. Back then they were funny. But I can't say they crack me up these days, as the gags have gotten old. So it was wonderful to find this Marx Brothers film I hadn't seen, and to laugh at them again. This is a funny film. Period.It is a bit sad knowing this was their last film, also knowing the great young comedy writers who were about to get started in live television, including Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. If only their talent could have been turned to writing more scripts for the Marx Brothers. Instead, they wrote for Sid Caesar's television shows, which in some ways were the heirs to the Marx Brothers humor. I think I will watch Love Happy again, soon. I want to watch Harpo's performance more closely. It seems to me he was the last of the silent film comedians, in the tradition of Chaplin and Buster Keaton, whose humor was all in their body language. And this was his last great work.
bkoganbing For their final film, the Marx Brothers are featured in Love Happy which while it has some flashes of brilliance, does not come any kind of close to what they were doing in the Thirties. As a sign of the times. Groucho disdains the false mustache and wig and grows his own upper lip coverage, making him look more like the Groucho Marx I first knew, as the host of You Bet Your Life.In fact Groucho is thrown into this film almost as an after thought. Until the end, he does not interact at all with Chico and Harpo. He narrates and plays detective Sam Grunion who is on the trail of a valuable diamond necklace that spider woman like villainess Ilona Massey has smuggled into the country in a specially marked can of sardines worth a Maltese Cross.But the plans go up the spout as Harpo in his capacity as shoplifter, takes all kinds of food from the delicatessen that the sardines were delivered to. The food is for the cast members of a show that is struggling. Dancing ingénue Vera-Ellen gets the valuable sardines though she doesn't know it and the necklace goes on quite an adventure.Harpo gets the best moments for the brothers in Love Happy. His pantomime skills are at their very best here. I do love that telephone call to Chico when Ilona Massey and henchmen kidnap him and later on when he plays charades with Chico trying to give him a message of danger. Unfortunately it's not enough to carry the film by itself.Marion Hutton is the singer in the cast and she's Betty's younger sister and former vocalist with Glenn Miller. She had a fine voice, but her style was too similar to her sister and she never really established any individuality after leaving the Miller Orchestra. Compared to their work for Paramount and MGM in the previous decade, Love Happy just doesn't hit the mark.
leonvander i'm a big marx bros fan and love most of their films, especially the early paramounts and a day at the races and most of the others so thats pretty much all of them i guess. Room service is the weakest of their output as far as i can tell..If I was mainly a Groucho fan, which most of the reviewers of Marx Brothers films seem to be, I'd be giving this movie between 1 & 3 stars. His part is minimal, not very funny and is mainly famous for the scene with Marilyn Monroe in one of her first speaking roles (which lasts a few seconds)...I've just read a review for this film calling it unfunny. Maybe they were watching a different movie? I am completely fed up with reading the nonsense that's been written about this film by people who probably haven't even watched it...I'm a Harpo fan.........I really think he's a true screen genius, the greatest one of his kind. When he's on screen for me its pure magic.This film has a special place in my heart.. The screenplay is based on a Harpo story and he is the main star (originally the film was to be a solo vehicle for him). Chico's and Groucho's appearance was an afterthought..Chico performs well and the scenes when he's with Harpo are great and are the equal to any other marx movie. Harpo doesn't disappoint with so many great hilarious scenes that were mainly devised and performed by himself (he did most of his own stunts)...quite amazing considering he was in his early 60's at the time....The story revolves around a theatre production called 'love happy' and a missing diamond necklace in a sardine tin. The other cast members perform well and the songs are not too cheesy. Chico does a great piano duet with a violinist and harpo plays the harp as beautifully as ever..If I was hoping to see and hear Groucho in his element, i'd be very disappointed with Love Happy. But, on every other level its a classic. So please, give it a chance - its worth it............