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Humor Risk
Directed by	Dick Smith
Produced by	The Marx Brothers, Al Posen, Max Lippman, Jo Swerling, for "Caravel Comedies".
Written by	Jo Swerling
Starring	Chico Marx Groucho Marx Harpo Marx Zeppo Marx Jobyna Ralston
Cinematography	A.H. Vallet
Release date(s)	1921
Running time	2 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent film English intertitles
IMDb profile

Humor Risk (1921) was the first (but never released) Marx Brothers film, and is listed by the Internet Movie Database as lost. It may have been destroyed by Groucho, who is said to have burnt the negative after a particularly bad premiere screening. It is also said that the print was accidentally thrown away when left in the screening box overnight.

All four Marx Brothers are known to have been in this short film. It was the last film directed by Dick Smith (1886-1937), and the first film written by Jo Swerling, who later co-wrote films such as It's a Wonderful Life, Gone with the Wind, and others.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 References 3 See also 4 External links

Information about the film's premise is sparse. Its title was "apparently a spoof of the then-popular drama Humoresque, one of the biggest film hits of 1920." In addition, "the brothers were working separately rather than as a team" and did not incorporate their trademark comic personalities that they would later become famous for. Harpo played the hero, a detective named Watson who "made his entrance in a high hat, sliding down a coal chute into the basement." Groucho played an "old movie" villain, who "sported a long moustache and was clad in black." Chico was probably his "chuckling [Italian] henchman." Zeppo portrayed a playboy who was the owner of a nightclub in which most of the action, including "a cabaret, [which allowed] the inclusion of a dance number," took place. The final shot "showed Groucho, in ball and chain, trudging slowly off into the gloaming." Harpo, in a rare moment of romantic glory, evidently gets the girl in the end.^[1]

Humor Risk is sometimes confused with another Marx Brothers film project from 1926 which also never reached the screen. The Marx Brothers finally broke into motion pictures with 1929's The Cocoanuts.

• List of United States comedy films

• Marxology entry for Humor Risk
• Humor Risk at the Internet Movie Database

The Marx Brothers
Chico Marx | Harpo Marx | Groucho Marx | Gummo Marx | Zeppo Marx
Films with Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo
Humor Risk (1921) • The Cocoanuts (1929) • Animal Crackers (1930) • The House That Shadows Built (1931) • Monkey Business (1931) • Horse Feathers (1932) • Duck Soup (1933)
Films with Chico, Harpo, and Groucho
A Night at the Opera (1935) • A Day at the Races (1937) • Room Service (1938) • At the Circus (1939) • Go West (1940) • The Big Store (1941) • A Night in Casablanca (1946) • Love Happy (1949) The Story of Mankind (1957)