MovieChat Forums > A Day at the Races (1937) Discussion > Has anyone else noticed this?

Has anyone else noticed this?

posted 19 years ago by Baravelli_the_ice_lady
30 replies | jump to latest

Watching A Day at the Races for the bajillionth time, I noticed something I never really saw before: about thirty minutes into the film, there's a sequence just before Harpo's examination, where Chico and Harpo sneak into the Standish Sanitarium through an open window, and Chico tries to convince Harpo that getting examined by a doctor will be a good thing. At the end of this scene, sure enough, Harpo is convinced, and Chico kind of drags him through a door and out of the scene. But here is what I noticed: as Harpo is going through the door, he looks off and waves. My question is, who the heck is he waving at? He and Chico are supposed to be the only people in that room. Was he waving at a member of the crew or something? If so, why? (Particularly during a scene!) That's just too weird and I absolutely can't figure it out.

"And now, I'm going back in the closet...where men are empty overcoats..."

[–] rabid-anarchist 19 years ago

I noticed this when I was typing it up, I couldn't figure out if I should write it in or not. I've no idea who he was waving too - I figured either it was a 'Harpo' characteristic (like he was waving to a statue or something) or that Harpo's wife had just walked in and he waved to her without realising the cameras were still rolling. But I suppose we'll never know.

[–] gunforanarm 19 years ago

I've watched the movie a few times, and I noticed this as well. I figured that Harpo was just waving to the camera (or the audience watching the movie). It seems like an odd thing to do, but it's really not considering that Groucho often asides to the camera (audience) during scenes.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] adjorgkilu 18 years ago

I just watched this movie again last night and I noticed this thing as well. Very strange. You could say he was waving to the audience, but if you watch it more carefully you'll see that he was waving SIDEWAYS, not as if he was looking at "us".

[–] Beau_Buffet (324) 2 years ago

He's not waving to the camera :

https://i.imgur.com/0HUaajZ.jpg

This is, indeed, quite bizarre.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] simpfann 18 years ago

I never noticed that, but I did notice that some people have a little too much time on their hands...

[–] Nilgiris 13 years ago

And U 2 "simpfann"!
What r u doing here answering that?
;-)

[–] fais_moi_mal_johnny 18 years ago

Well, it could be the consequence of a deleted scene. I believe we don't see the rest of the room, so maybe there's someone else whose scene has been cut...

[–] jslyney 18 years ago

I think you are right. I read a book recently where it described the number of scenes that were cut out of some of the Marx Bros films. Some of the earlier films have some of these unusual instances and I am fairly sure a number of scenes were cut out of this movie. I'm sure it is just a continuity mistake.

[–] freebecool 18 years ago

Doesn't Groucho look directly at the camera to comment to the audience in every film? And when Chico plays piano, he smiles right at us! There are lots of "nudge, nudge, wink, wink moments, so why shouldn't Harpo have his. Seems to me they were "breaking the 4th wall" way before avant garde actors were doing it.

Something else I'm wondering about though. When they break into "Everybody's Got Rhythm," Harpo picks up a pitch fork and twirls it around like a baton. There's a tiny kid directly in the path of the thing as he swirls it around! Did anyone get damaged making this film? There seem to be many close calls with physical stunts, including the guys (really them?) jumping on the horse in the sanitorium. It would be amazing, almost a miracle if there wasn't some real damage on the set. But the show goes on, lucky for us.

[–] shockme_7 17 years ago

I saw the pitchfork bit and thought "Hey, that kid almost got sliced up!" and those jockeys riding the horses during the scene where they trip in the mudhole must have had some serious back pain the next day. If you watch A Night At the Opera, there is a scene where Harpo is swinging around on a rope about 50 feet off the ground. In his bio it says it was really him up there, and he didn't have a saftey harness or anything.

:D~

"All I got in this world are my balls and my word and I don't break 'em for no one!"

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] pnealjones 14 years ago

The most damaging cut to this film was probably the deletion of Groucho's big song number, "I'm Dr. Hackenbush." (Fortunately available as a sound recording.)

- Preston Neal Jones

[–] gunforanarm 14 years ago

I don't understand why that was cut. Such a good song!

[–] Eightythreeyearoldguy 13 years ago

Such sacrilege, the idea of cutting anything out of a Marx Brothers film. LOL

I'm the kind of guy, when I move - watch my smoke. But I'm gonna need some good clothes though.

[–] gunforanarm 13 years ago

The worst cutting in a Marx Brothers movie - in my opinion - is the butchering of the scene from Horse Feathers where the brothers are hassling the college widow in her room. There's so much dialog clipped and it's very jarring when it happens. Damn Hayes Office.

[–] Eightythreeyearoldguy 13 years ago

"Damn Hayes Office."

I'm with you there. I certainly know of no movie made better because of its existence, but can name many made worse.

I'm the kind of guy, when I move - watch my smoke. But I'm gonna need some good clothes though.

[–] gunforanarm 13 years ago

The only good thing about it was when it was used as a joke. There's a Three Stooges short where a woman puts something (I forget what it was exactly) in her bra so Shemp can't get it. Shemp looks at the camera and says "I can't think of a way to get it without upsetting the Hayes Office."

[–] MissBender24 12 years ago

....and in a day at the circus, Groucho needs to get a wallet from Eve Arden's top.. Looks at the camera and says "There must be some way to get that money without getting into trouble with the Hayes Office!"
I always considered that wave of Harpo's to be something like saying goodbye to his sanity and health as he was to be examined by Hackenbush.... but then Harpo does a lot of nutty things I don't get....!

[–] gunforanarm 12 years ago

Haha. I think to try to find the logic in most of Harpo's actions would be a self-defeating activity.

www.podcastofthetough.com

[–] MissBender24 12 years ago

In one of the books I had of the Marx Bros,I read this... in that scene, or the one where he is examining Mrs. Upjohn, if you listen near the end, you can hear laughing...it is quite audible - which is apparently the crew unable to contain themselves.. it really was one the funniest scenes..
I'm remembering Groucho taking off his watch before disinfecting his arms and hands in the washbowl, putting it aside, then changing his mind, grabbing it and throwing it into the washbowl, exclaiming "I'd rather have it rusty than missing!" Oh Doctor!!!

[–] gunforanarm 12 years ago

That thing about off-camera laughter sounds familiar - I think I read that somewhere too.

Groucho putting his watch in the water is something I always forget is coming and it always makes me laugh.

www.podcastofthetough.com

[–] JackBluegrass 11 years ago

be_agle7,

..in that scene, or the one where he is examining Mrs. Upjohn, if you listen near the end, you can hear laughing..

No, it's at the end of the scene in which Dr. Hackenbush "examines" Harpo. Harpo finally punishes Dr. H for all the torment by injecting something into Dr. H's leg. Groucho then walks in a circle with his foot at a crazy angle. Harpo and Chico then follow Groucho out the door, all walking in that same crazy way.

During that exit, you can definitely hear laughter - more like giggling - on the sound track, obviously from a crew member who forgot to keep his(her) mouth shut. Surprising that goof wasn't removed from the print.

Stupid!?! I never called you stupid! To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people!

[–] johnnydinkis 8 years ago

There is a similar moment in Horse Feathers. At the end of the classroom scene when Groucho gets hit in the face with a book, says "you got me" and fakes dying, you can hear laughing. The way he gets hit with the book -- mid-sentence and HARD -- looks like it had to be an accident they just left in the movie because he made it funny.

[–] mwoollett 10 years ago

Groucho does the same thing in "At the Circus". I haven't seen the 3 Stooges short you talk of but maybe you have confused your movie scenes? I could be wrong....!!

[–] montgomerydou55 9 years ago

No, Shemp said "...without getting in trouble with the censor!"

[–] montgomerydou55 9 years ago

It was a ring he had lost. He wrecked the piano searching for it. She found it, said, "That will pay for the damage to my piano!" and stuck it down her dress top.

[–] montgomerydou55 9 years ago

P. S. And he said "censor," not "Hays Office."