Review of Groucho Marx: You Bet Your Life/The Best Episodes

Introduction

Keep this quiet, but I`ve never seen a Marx Brothers movie, not even once, although I may have seen the occasional clip here or there. Groucho`s image is certainly iconic; the painted on moustache, the cigar and those expressive eyebrows, and his wisecracks have been endlessly quoted down the years. When the Groucho Marx: You Bet Your Life came up for review, I saw the chance to get acquainted with a comedy legend. You Bet Your Life was the game show that Groucho hosted for 14 years and is part of American television history, harking back to that elusive golden age of television. The game itself was short and sweet, answer a series of questions to win a large wad of money, but much of the time was spent with Groucho getting to know the contestants, and delighting the audience with his off the cuff wit and banter. The show would have the occasional special guest, and there would also be a hint of variety as contestants would be able to regale the audience with any special talent they may have. You Bet Your Life was also one of the first shows to be recorded, though that is more to avoid Groucho`s adlibs falling afoul of the censors than for any sense of posterity. Fortunately that also means that these programmes survive for our enjoyment.

The Best Episodes boxset comes on three discs, there`s around 9½ hours of material on these discs, comprising 18 episodes and some interesting extras. I only received disc one for review, so I can really only comment on the six episodes I saw. Names you might recognise are Johnny Weismuller and Candice Bergen, although there are stars from a bygone age too, names like Western star Hoot Gibson and songwriter Harry Ruby, people who delighted audiences half a century ago, but left me none the wiser. Groucho`s brother Harpo also makes a brief appearance.

Video

As you would expect from a programme around 50 years old, the shows are presented with a black and white 4:3 regular transfer. The image is adequate, reflecting the television origin, and while scratched and looking a little worn, they are markedly improved compared to the outtakes in the bonus material, implying that a good deal of restoration has taken place to get them looking this good.

Audio

Again the sound is unexceptional, a simple DD 2.0 mono track which on occasion suffers from sign of age, dropouts, distortions and the like. By and large everything comes through and the dialogue (the important thing) is clearly audible throughout. Unfortunately there are no subtitles.

Features

Disc 1 had some interesting extras. Chief among them was The Plot Thickens, a half hour pilot for a mystery game show made in 1963. A panel consisting of a professional detective and three would be gumshoes (including Groucho) are shown a ten-minute mystery movie. They then get to question the suspects and try to find whom the murderer is.

There is a You Bet Your Life Stag Reel, ten minutes of footage that didn`t make it past the Hays Code though is still quite tame by today`s standards.

There is a rare Marx Brothers commercial and outtakes for the fifth and sixth episode. You can watch these outtakes re-integrated into the shows courtesy of a white rabbit, or rather yellow duck feature.

According to the blurb, you`ll find further stag reels, a Phyllis Diller Commentary on the episode in which she appears, more outtakes, commercials, the debut of the duck, and another two pilot shows called Tell It To Groucho and What Do You Want?

Conclusion

I was expecting zany madcap comedy, but instead I was treated to a master showman at work. Groucho Marx as a host is soft-spoken, affable and charming, possessing a razor sharp wit and he is always on form here. More importantly he seems to put all the contestants at ease, brings out the best in them and gives them the space and the limelight to shine. They don`t make game show hosts like that any more and I was thoroughly entertained.

The trouble is that unless you`re a Groucho fan who pines for You Bet Your Life, then I don`t think you`ll get too much out of this release. While watching it once is certainly enjoyable, I don`t feel as if there`s much replay value. It is very much a piece of nostalgia, a frozen moment in time that will warm the hearts of those who remember the show from the first time around. It`s as much historical document as it is entertainment, and I found the rather naïve sponsorship, from the early days of television advertising to be extremely quaint. This was when adverts merely told you what a product would do, rather than try and make you feel better about yourself, or entertain, or subvert.

I feel that the target audience for this boxset mostly reside across the Atlantic, though it does make me wonder if similar releases will occur here once some enterprising company rifles the archives. Will we see archive DVDs of The Golden Shot, Jukebox Jury, Celebrity Squares or Blankety Blank?

You Bet Your Life is entertainment and nostalgia, but hardly essential, and lacks incentive for replays. I`m sure you know if this is up your alley, and from what I have seen, there aren`t any particular drawbacks to this release. Personally, I`m more determined than ever to see my first Marx Brothers movie now.