I received a copy of The Unknown Marx Brothers from SwapaDVD about a month ago and was pleasantly surprised to find it to be a very informative and entertaining documentary/biography. Hosted by Leslie Nielsen, it centered mostly on Groucho, Harpo and Chico (Zeppo is mentioned here and there) and their personal lives with a lot of rare footage that must have come directly from the family. I appreciated the opportunity to catch a glimpse of these men when they were not necessarily “in character” and was delighted to have been given the opportunity to own the disk.
I’m not sure exactly how I ended up with it as I’m positive that I had not placed it on my wish list. Perhaps I ran across it on the “DVDs Posted Today” screen. As The Marx Brothers entertained America long before my time, I’m really rather surprised that I even ordered it in the first place. Aside from hearing their names used over the years and seeing a screen shot or two of Groucho’s “You Bet Your Life” I knew absolutely nothing about them. I can only say that the title struck me as unusual and it’s not the kind of thing that I run across everyday, so why not give it a shot? I certainly wouldn’t have ever ordered it from Netflix, nor would I have ever purchased it (it seems to be out of print). I can tell you that since viewing it a few weeks ago I have placed similar items on my wish list and have made it a point to search for what I’ll call “out of the way” titles that I might not have considered before. One of the best features of SwapaDVD is that the expenses involved with experimenting like this are so low that it would be difficult to ever really feel like I’d wasted my time, money or effort. Too bad more things in life aren’t that way!
