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54 reviews for:
Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dali, the Marx Brothers, and the Strangest Movie Never Made
Tim Heidecker, Josh Frank
3.32 AVERAGE
54 reviews for:
Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dali, the Marx Brothers, and the Strangest Movie Never Made
Tim Heidecker, Josh Frank
3.32 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
The very creation of this “graphic novel” is an act of madness. The concept of surrealist painter Salvador Dali writing a screenplay for a proposed madcap Marx Brothers movie in the 1930’s is mind blowing enough. Then comes the modern hubris to create a graphic novel from fragments of that screenplay—the audacity itself being a kind of nod to both Dali and the Marx Brothers. I have been a huge Marx Brothers fan pretty much since birth and a reasonably sized fan of Dali so I was both sides of anxious approaching this book (equal parts eager and concerned). I was eager to see these greats at play but concerned about how they could pull if off without insulting either or both.
Of course this “screenplay” met serious resistance from studios. Despite the author liking to tease otherwise, even if the producer shepherding the Marx Brothers career hadn’t suddenly died—there is no way this movie was being greenlit in 30’s Hollywood. There are two critical flaws in getting it accepted and they translate to the book as well. The first is context. While it seems a natural fit to put the madcap Marx Brothers in a surreal setting, the result is they just become part of the wallpaper. The work of the Marx Brothers, as well as Dali’s surrealist paintings, succeed partly because they are set against banal backgrounds. The Marx Brothers need the stuffed shirts and haughty dowagers, straight folks to bounce off of. Dali too is better served in a gallery—spotlighted insanity—than if his works were put up in the middle of a circus. The second flaw is saturation. While there is plenty of Dali to be had, the Marx Brothers are underutilized. Groucho & Chico are relegated to goofy sidekick rolls (like the talking animals or objects in a Disney musical) and Harpo doesn’t really appear until the last few pages. I assumed Harpo would be front and center because it was his meeting with Dali that inspired the who enterprise. I was confused and saddened by his absence.
That being said, I did mostly enjoy this. Like the Disney characters, Groucho & Chico did add needed spark. Their gags were a mixture of new stuff, referential stuff and stuff simply lifted from their movies. (There is a dictionary gag in this book lifted straight from the “Tootsi Frootsi Ice Cream“ bit in DAY AT THE RACES.) I will admit to a modest thrill seeing them in action, some of the bits deftly delivered—the artist capturing multiple Groucho eye rolls was a particular highlight. The art in general often bordered on the spectacular—a difficult task considering the singularity of Dali’s work. Artist Manuela Pertega, a native of Spain like Dali, caught the spirit of Dali while making a case for her own vision—particularly with her presentation of the Woman Surreal. As this book moves along, the plot calls for and Pertega delivers a growing visual insanity conveying the schism between reality and sur-reality.
I would like to recommend everyone read it in the hopes that they get curious enough to check out a Marx Brothers movie (DUCK SOUP, NIGHT AT THE OPERA, DAY AT THE RACES all classics) or look into the works of Salvador Dali but I acknowledge it likely has a select audience. One can always dream.
Interesting, but a far as the script goes, it's no surprise noone wanted to make the film, and I didn't like the artwork either...
A Salvador Dali script based on his admiration for the Marx Brothers would have probably made for one of the most important and unique movies of the mid-twentieth century. Almost certainly it would have been either a classic, or a classic bomb popular with cinemaphiles.
As a graphic novel released in 2019, it's not particularly interesting. The commentary on classism has been done, and done better in the intervening seventy years. The vaudevillian humor is understandably dated and more groan-inducing than funny, even though it's an accurate representation of that era's humor. And the page layouts, while interesting and non-traditional, are hardly groundbreaking at this point in graphic novel history.
This might be a favorite for fans of Dali and/or The Marx Brothers, and people who enjoy works of fiction steep in history might enjoy it, but it didn't really hold my interest.
As a graphic novel released in 2019, it's not particularly interesting. The commentary on classism has been done, and done better in the intervening seventy years. The vaudevillian humor is understandably dated and more groan-inducing than funny, even though it's an accurate representation of that era's humor. And the page layouts, while interesting and non-traditional, are hardly groundbreaking at this point in graphic novel history.
This might be a favorite for fans of Dali and/or The Marx Brothers, and people who enjoy works of fiction steep in history might enjoy it, but it didn't really hold my interest.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Awful. I'm giving it two stars because the introductory material is interesting, and the art is nice.
I have mixed feelings about this book. The backstory is very interesting, and it is certainly a bold experiement, but ultimately I don't think it delivers on the potential. Half surrealist fantasy and half Marx Brothers farce, the two halves don't quite fit together as well as they would seem to at first glance. The joy of the Marx Brothers is that they are agents of chaos in a world of order. In this story, chaos is the norm, so the Marx Brothers don't stand out like they normally do in their classic movies.
However, while I don't think the story works completely, I did enjoy it, and as an interesting footnote to history, fans of either Dali or the Marx Brothers should definitely check it out. The writing is good, and captures the spirit of the Marx's as well as anyone probably could. The art is also stunning, and perfectly fits the story and tone.
While it may not click completely, it is certainly a great effort, and definitely a worthy addition to any comic collection.
However, while I don't think the story works completely, I did enjoy it, and as an interesting footnote to history, fans of either Dali or the Marx Brothers should definitely check it out. The writing is good, and captures the spirit of the Marx's as well as anyone probably could. The art is also stunning, and perfectly fits the story and tone.
While it may not click completely, it is certainly a great effort, and definitely a worthy addition to any comic collection.
I love the intention behind this book: to use the graphic novel format to bring to life an unproduced movie concept by Salvador Dali and Harpo Marx, Giraffes on Horseback Salad. Frank and his collaborators go the extra mile, building from a 14-page treatment prepared for MGM, as well as Dali's translated journals and concept sketches, and imbuing additional meaning from Dali's own life. They even convene a writer's room to "break" the script and compose songs as if Cole Porter had written them. Manuela Pertega brings the story to life with her art that combines more modern surrealist/comic book sensibilities with more of a black-and-white storyboard style.
As expected, the concept for the movie is very weird, but it also gets repetitive in the telling, with the point made quite on the nose in several places. This seems faithful to what Dali and Harpo Marx had intended, but is also just a bit challenging to get through, and you can understand why the studio didn't think the movie would work. Still, it's very cool to see what could've been and I appreciate the effort the team went to to make this happen.
As expected, the concept for the movie is very weird, but it also gets repetitive in the telling, with the point made quite on the nose in several places. This seems faithful to what Dali and Harpo Marx had intended, but is also just a bit challenging to get through, and you can understand why the studio didn't think the movie would work. Still, it's very cool to see what could've been and I appreciate the effort the team went to to make this happen.
This book is purely for curiosity. There is a good reason the film was never made. It isn't that great. The art by Pertega is fantastic and does a very good job of getting the feeling of Dali's work, without being a mimic of it. Although, overall the story is not great, a highpoint is any time Groucho and Chico are "on screen". Frank and Heidecker capture the patter very well. Also the story of how Harpo and Dali interacted and the work to piece together the script is worth the read.
Easy to see why this wasn't made, even based on the treatment that's included at the back of the book, but there's some undeniable brilliance to the lunacy on display throughout. Although I will say there was one joke (about a pager) that took me out of the whole thing entirely.
What I had hoped would be more of a pointed attempt to replicate what this *might have been like at the time* sacrificed that air of historical verisimilitude in favor of a pretty lame bit. So much of the rest of this manages to walk a very fine line, but that one bit just made the whole thing collapse like a house of cards for me.
Anyway, this is definitely worth seeking out for any Marx Brothers fan (which is a list that should include most people), and I'm glad it exists at all. Frank provides valuable historical background for the whole endeavor early on.
What I had hoped would be more of a pointed attempt to replicate what this *might have been like at the time* sacrificed that air of historical verisimilitude in favor of a pretty lame bit. So much of the rest of this manages to walk a very fine line, but that one bit just made the whole thing collapse like a house of cards for me.
Anyway, this is definitely worth seeking out for any Marx Brothers fan (which is a list that should include most people), and I'm glad it exists at all. Frank provides valuable historical background for the whole endeavor early on.
"Giraffes on Horseback Salad" takes the cake as the weirdest thing I've ever read. Dali's film would have been a sight to behold, and the artist did an amazing job with the surrealist imagery here. I had never heard that Dali had written a film with the Marx Brothers in mind. I think it would be a cult classic if it had been made. It was interesting to see what the author's research uncovered and a comic version of the film. Definitely read this is you're looking for something unique and weird.