Want to know the best Marx Brothers movies? How about the worst Marx Brothers movies? Curious about Marx Brothers box office grosses or which Marx Brothers movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Marx Brothers movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
The Marx Brothers were a family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. 5 of the Marx Brothers’ 13 feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) as among the top 100 comedy films. Their movies Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera are both in the AFI’s top 12 comedy movies. One of our goals here at Ultimate Movie Rankings is do a career movie page on every member of the American Film Institute’s Top 50 Greatest Screen Legends list. Marx Brothers are ranked as the 20th greatest screen legends on that list. This page ranks 14 movies in which at least 3 Marx brothers appeared in as well as 4 Groucho Marx movies.The movies are ranked from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Following the movie ranking table is a “Know your Marx brother” section as well as links to the our AFI Screen Legend movie pages.
The Marx Brothers in 1938’s Room Service.
Marx Brothers Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Marx Brothers Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
Sort Marx Brothers movies by which Marx Brother starred in the movie
Sort Marx Brothers movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
Sort Marx Brothers by yearly domestic box office rank
Sort Marx Brothers movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Marx Brothers movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Marx Brothers movie won.
Sort Marx Brothers movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Marx Brothers Table
Seven Marx Brothers movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 41.11% of their movies listed. A Day At The Races (1937) was their biggest box office ht when looking at adjusted domestic box office gross.
An average Marx Brothers movie grosses $94.70 million in adjusted box office gross.
Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 13 of Marx Brothers’ movies are rated as good movies…or 72.22% of their movies. A Night At The Opera (1935) is their highest rated movie while The Story of Mankind (1957) was their lowest rated movie.
One Marx Brothers movie (A Day At The Races) received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 5.55% of their movies.
Zero Marx Brothers movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 0.00% of their movies.
An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 60.00. 13 Marx Brothers movies scored higher than that average….or 72.22% of their movies. A Day At The Races (1937) got the the highest UMR Score while The Story of Mankind (1957) got the lowest UMR Score.
Zeppo, Groucho, Harp and Chico Marx in 1932’s Horse Feathers
Know Your Marx Brother
Chico Marx 1887-1961
Chico Marx was born Leonard Marx. Originally his nickname was Chick-O but due to a typing error he became Chico. Chico was actually the 2nd Marx brother to be born. His older brother (Manfred) died in infancy. His persona in the act was that of a charming, dim-witted albeit crafty con artist. After their mother passed away, Chico became the manager of the brothers. He played an important role in the management and development of the act. He was married two times and had one child. Chico loved to gamble. His favorite gambling pursuits were card games as well as horse racing, dog racing, and various sports betting. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. When an interviewer in the late 1930s asked him how much money he had lost from gambling, he answered, “Find out how much money Harpo’s got. That’s how much I’ve lost.”
Harpo Marx 1888-1964
Harpo Marx was born Arthur Marx. He was a mime artist and musician, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. His comic style was influenced by clown and pantomime traditions. He wore a curly reddish blonde wig, and never spoke during performances (he blew a horn or whistled to communicate). He frequently used props such as a horn cane, made up of a lead pipe, tape, and a bulbhorn, and he played the harp in most of his films. So why did Harpo never speak? Early in his vaudeville days he got a bad review. The review said his pantomime was excellent…but when he talked he ruined the performance. So he decided to stop speaking….and the Marx Brothers quickly realized that his not speaking worked very well in their act. He was married one time and had 4 children.
Groucho Marx 1890-1977Groucho Marx was born Julius Henry Marx. He was known as a master of quick wit. His rapid-fire, often impromptu delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers and imitators. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life. The Marx Brothers’ movies did not get much Oscar® love (their movies combined for only ONE nomination) ….but they did give Groucho an Honorary Oscar® in 1974. His Oscar® reads…. “In recognition of his brilliant creativity and for the unequaled achievements of the Marx Brothers in the art of motion picture comedy”. He was married three times and had three children.Zeppo Marx 1901-1979
Zeppo Marx was born Herbert Marx. He was the youngest of The Marx Brothers, Zeppo was put into the role of the straight man after his brother Gummo (the other brother) left the act. Zeppo also acted as an understudy to all three of his brothers. After playing small parts in the first five Marx Brothers movies, Zeppo felt his talent wasn’t being used to its full extent and left the act to join Gummo as an agent. Somewhat of a mechanical whiz, Zeppo invented a wristwatch that would monitor the pulse rate of cardiac patients, and his company, Marman Products, produced clamping devices which were used in the first atomic bomb raids over Japan in 1945. Zeppo was married twice and had one child. Gummo Marx (1892-1977) was the 4th brother. He left the Marx Brothers just when they were reaching popularity because he felt he lacked the performing skills of his brothers. He became a well respected agent.
Marx Brothers Financials Directly From MGM/RKO Ledgers 1935-1941
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
Column 1 is the name of the movie
Column 2 is the name of the studio
Column 3 is the domestic rental total
Column 4 is the international rental total
Column 5 is the total of domestic and international rentals
Column 6 is the profit or loss in dollars of the movie
AFI’s Top 25 Screen Legend Actors….with links to our movie pages on the Screen Legend
1. Humphrey Bogart 58 Movies Ranked….from Casablanca (1942) to Swing Your Lady (1938)
2. Cary Grant 58 Movies Ranked… from North by Northwest (1959) to Born To Be Bad (1934)
3. James Stewart 73 Movies Ranked Mr. Smith Goes to Washington(1939) to Big Sleep(1978)
4. Marlon Brando 37 Movies Ranked….from The Godfather (1972) to Christopher Columbus (1992)
5. Fred Astaire 39 Movies Ranked The Towering Inferno (1974) to The Amazing Dobermans (1976)
6. Henry Fonda 81 Movies Ranked… On Golden Pond (1981) to City on Fire (1979)
7. Clark Gable 63 Movies Ranked….from Gone With The Wind (1939) to Parnell (1937)
8. James Cagney 61 Movies Ranked….from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) to Boy Meets Girl (1938)
9. Spencer Tracy 53 Movies Ranked….from Boy’s Town (1938) to Up the River (1930)
10. Charles Chaplin 12 Movies Ranked….from The Kid (1921) to A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)
11. Gary Cooper 67 Movies Ranked….from Sergeant York (1941) to Fighting Caravans (1931)
12. Gregory Peck 53 Movies Ranked To Kill a Mockingbird(1962) to Amazing Grace & Chuck(1987)
13. John Wayne 83 Movies Ranked….from True Grit (1969) to Brannigan (1975)
14. Laurence Olivier 48 Movies Ranked….from Rebecca (1940) to Inchon (1982)
15. Gene Kelly 40 Movies Ranked….from Anchors Aweigh (1945) to Viva Knievel! (1977)
16. Orson Welles 75 Movies Ranked….from Citizen Kane (1941) to Treasure Island (1972)
17. Kirk Douglas 71 Movies Ranked….from Spartacus (1960) to Diamonds (1999)
18. James Dean 3 Movies Ranked….from East of Eden (1955) to Giant (1956)
19. Burt Lancaster 67 Movies Ranked From Here to Eternity (1953) to Executive Action (1973)
20. Marx Brothers 18 Movies Ranked….from Horse Feathers (1932) to The Story of Mankind (1957)
21. Buster Keaton 28 Movies Ranked….from The Cameraman (1928) to The Intruder (1936)
22. Sidney Poitier 46 Movies Ranked….from In the Heat of the Night (1967) to Fast Forward (1985)
23. Robert Mitchum 83 Movies Ranked….from The Longest Day (1962) to Matilda (1978)
24. Edward G. Robinson 67 Movies Ranked 10 Commandments(1956) to BiggestBundleofAll(1968)
25. William Holden 66 Movies Ranked….from The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) to Ashanti (1979)
For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
(Visited 1 times)
53 thoughts on “Marx Brothers Movies”
I saw a film today from 1925 on TCM called Too Many Kisses starring Richard Dix, Frances Howard (who?) and William Powell. Billed 9th in the cast was Harpo Marx! He looked like the way we know him. He even has a couple of lines of dialogue. Of course it’s 1925 and films are still silent so Harpo’s line are shown on the title cards they used back then. As for Frances Howard, she married Samuel Goldwyn and the living was easy.
Duck Soup may have been a disappointment at the box-office, but it was surely no “bomb”. Check the listing arranged by “Boxoffice Rank by year” and you will see that it was the Brothers’ 7th most successful movie and ranked 33rd for the depression year of 1933. It was, in fact more successful than a majority of their other films.
Hey Ken. I agree that “bomb” might be too harsh….I guess disappointing would be a better word. It grossed less than their previous movies will costing more. Thanks for stopping by.
You have Copacabana as starring Groucho, Chico and Harpo. But I am sure the only Marx Brother starring in it is Groucho, the other main star being Carmen Miranda.
And you mention Gummo, but don’t mention his real name, from memory it is Milton.
All in all a good review with lots of info. It was a suprise to me that Duck Soup was such a flop when first released, but now is considered by many to be their best film.
Hey Phillip…..you are 100% correct. Just updated that….and it is now fixed. Thanks for the heads up on that error. Duck Soup is considered their masterpiece…but at the time it was box office bomb…..that sent them to another studio. It’s greatness was able to overcome that initial setback…and it is now considered one of the greatest comedies ever made. Thanks for the kind words on our Marx Brothers page….it is greatly appreciated.
No, the “short” often referred to is THE HOUSE THAT SHADOWS BUILT (1931), a publicity feature Paramount made for a convention, with a scene that is supposed to be a scene from MONKEY BUSINESS, their upcoming film, but that scene does not appear in MONKEY BUSINESS so is a rarity that has been copied by itself, leading to the presumption that it is a short, but it never was — All numbers given by the studios are suspect, as their books are notorious for being rigged — If the numbers for the Marxes’ films you give were correct, the bulk of them would never have been made! The MGM numbers do not accord with the studio numbers put together in a book now residing in the Academy library — Both sets of numbers cannot be correct.
Hey Joe….thanks for the information on The House That Shadows Built. As for the numbers…it would be interesting to see their sources…so the numbers could be compared….as for the numbers I have….I saw them with my very own eyes on a research trip to California. Are they right? Who knows. Did studios manipulate the costs to make a movie seem less profitable?…Of course…..and they still do it today. That being said…the second table that lists the costs and profits are what we have…..it is an extra bonus….we basically never worry about that information….instead concentrate on the adjusted grosses….which we feel pretty confident on. So until I see better sources….we are going to stick with these numbers…..but this site is willing to make changes if better sources pop up….and we hope they do. Thanks for the return visit and comment.
I saw a film today from 1925 on TCM called Too Many Kisses starring Richard Dix, Frances Howard (who?) and William Powell. Billed 9th in the cast was Harpo Marx! He looked like the way we know him. He even has a couple of lines of dialogue. Of course it’s 1925 and films are still silent so Harpo’s line are shown on the title cards they used back then. As for Frances Howard, she married Samuel Goldwyn and the living was easy.
Happy Birthday to Groucho Marx….he was born on October 2nd 1890. Gone but certainly not forgotten.
Duck Soup may have been a disappointment at the box-office, but it was surely no “bomb”. Check the listing arranged by “Boxoffice Rank by year” and you will see that it was the Brothers’ 7th most successful movie and ranked 33rd for the depression year of 1933. It was, in fact more successful than a majority of their other films.
Hey Ken. I agree that “bomb” might be too harsh….I guess disappointing would be a better word. It grossed less than their previous movies will costing more. Thanks for stopping by.
You have Copacabana as starring Groucho, Chico and Harpo. But I am sure the only Marx Brother starring in it is Groucho, the other main star being Carmen Miranda.
And you mention Gummo, but don’t mention his real name, from memory it is Milton.
All in all a good review with lots of info. It was a suprise to me that Duck Soup was such a flop when first released, but now is considered by many to be their best film.
Hey Phillip…..you are 100% correct. Just updated that….and it is now fixed. Thanks for the heads up on that error. Duck Soup is considered their masterpiece…but at the time it was box office bomb…..that sent them to another studio. It’s greatness was able to overcome that initial setback…and it is now considered one of the greatest comedies ever made. Thanks for the kind words on our Marx Brothers page….it is greatly appreciated.
No, the “short” often referred to is THE HOUSE THAT SHADOWS BUILT (1931), a publicity feature Paramount made for a convention, with a scene that is supposed to be a scene from MONKEY BUSINESS, their upcoming film, but that scene does not appear in MONKEY BUSINESS so is a rarity that has been copied by itself, leading to the presumption that it is a short, but it never was — All numbers given by the studios are suspect, as their books are notorious for being rigged — If the numbers for the Marxes’ films you give were correct, the bulk of them would never have been made! The MGM numbers do not accord with the studio numbers put together in a book now residing in the Academy library — Both sets of numbers cannot be correct.
Hey Joe….thanks for the information on The House That Shadows Built. As for the numbers…it would be interesting to see their sources…so the numbers could be compared….as for the numbers I have….I saw them with my very own eyes on a research trip to California. Are they right? Who knows. Did studios manipulate the costs to make a movie seem less profitable?…Of course…..and they still do it today. That being said…the second table that lists the costs and profits are what we have…..it is an extra bonus….we basically never worry about that information….instead concentrate on the adjusted grosses….which we feel pretty confident on. So until I see better sources….we are going to stick with these numbers…..but this site is willing to make changes if better sources pop up….and we hope they do. Thanks for the return visit and comment.