518 - A Day at the Races, United States, 1937. Dir. Sam Wood.

Saturday, June 2, 2018

518 - A Day at the Races, United States, 1937.  Dir. Sam Wood.

Groucho Marx plays Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush.

Margaret Dumont plays Mrs. Emily Upjohn.

Maureen O'Sullivan plays Judy Standish.

Douglas Dumbrille plays J.D. Morgan.

Allan Jones plays Gil Stewart.

Mrs. Upjohn is staying at the Standish Sanitarium, and she insists that Dr. Hackenbush be her personal doctor.

Mrs. Standish gives Mrs. Upjohn what she wants, because Mrs. Upjohn is rich, and a donation by her would keep the sanitarium from being bought out by banker J.D. Morgan.

He wants to convert it to a gambling hall.

Gil Stewart is dating Judy Standish, and he wants to save the sanitarium as well.  He is a nightclub singer, and he has been putting away his money to invest it in a racehorse.  Named Hi-Hat.

He buys the horse from none other than Mr. Morgan himself.

If Hi-Hat wins, his earnings can pay for Judy's sanitarium and it can be saved.

The only problem is that now that he has spent all his savings to buy the horse, he has no money left with which to feed him.

Chico Marx plays Tony, a sanitarium employee.

Harpo Marx plays Stufy, Hi-Hat's jockey.

Tony knows what to do.  He raises money by selling tips to Dr. Hakenbush.  In code.  And by selling him books to decipher it.

Everything comes to a head at the horse race.  The action sequence.  Cut to the chase.

Which horse will win?

Will the sanitarium be saved?

Will Hackenbush be exposed as a quack?

Let us sing a few songs along the way.

Are you ready, ladies and gentlemen?

And they're off!