Humor Risk

Humor Risk 1921 was the first Marx Brothers film. The short film was never released and is now considered a lost film. The print may have been accidentally thrown away when left in the screening box overnight. Another version of the story says Groucho, unhappy with the films quality, intentionally burned the negative after a particularly bad premiere screening.

Information about the plot of the film is sparse. Filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey, its title was a spoof of the thenpopular Fannie Hurst 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 for which they later become famous.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, while Chico was probably his chuckling Italian henchman. Zeppo portrayed a playboy who was the owner of a nightclub in which most of the action took place, including a cabaret, which allowed the inclusion of a dance number. The final shot showed Groucho in ball and chain, trudging slowly off into the gloaming. Harpo, in a rare moment of romantic glory, gets the girl in the end. ........

Source: Wikipedia