Animal Crackers (1930) is the uproarious second feature film from the Marx Brothers, capturing their anarchic Broadway hit on screen. The thin plot, set at a lavish Long Island house party, revolves around the theft of a valuable painting, but serves merely as a clothesline for Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo’s iconic bits and musical routines.

Groucho stars as the gloriously pompous African explorer Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding, whose arrival prompts the signature song “Hooray for Captain Spaulding” and the classic “Hello, I Must Be Going.” Directed by Victor Heerman, the film is a landmark of pre-Code comedy, packed with surreal gags, social satire, and the brothers’ chaotic chemistry.