Review - The Mikado (1960)

 April 4, 2022
 
The Mikado – 1960, US
 

You never really get over your first love, especially if what are you most known for later in life is not it. In the case of Grouch Marx, he was known for his absurdity, wit, and whimsical musings onscreen, and yet, Marx started out a singer. He had a beautiful voice, and when desperate economic times came, he was pulled out of school and sent on the road as part of a traveling musical act. To say it did not go well would be an understatement, though this was no fault of his own; he just happened to have hitched his fortunes to two unscrupulous performers, both of whom ran off with his earnings, leaving him penniless and alone in cities he hardly knew.
 
Fame came later, first from his years with his brothers in Vaudeville and on Broadway, and later from his slapstick antics in a series of wacky films, also with his brothers. He would sing in many of these film, yet his numbers were known more for their puns and absurdity than musical complexity (think “I’m Against It” from Horse Feathers and Lydia the Tattooed Lady from 1939’s At the Circus). Did audiences look forward to his musical numbers the way later ones kept their eyes peeled for Hitchcock’s brief appearances? It’s hard to say. However, I can imagine audiences being amazed by the sheer number of witticisms flying by them at break-neck speed and being perhaps a bit frustrated when some of them didn’t have the decency to stay long enough to be properly understood. By the time he made The Mikado, which aired on television as part of the Bell Telephone Hour, he was 70 years old and wealthy. He could have been easing into retirement. And yet…
 
The following quote is attributed to Marx’s daughter, Melinda Marx Leung: “It was my father’s lifelong dream to play the role of Ko-Ko in The Mikado.” Thank goodness he got his wish then – or at least part of it. After all, when an opera clocks in at two hours and forty minutes and your production of it lasts just 52 minutes, it is really accurate to say that you have done the musical? It’s a bit like saying that you played Ahab in Moby Dick when all you really did was a two-person scene during a night of amateur theater. On the other hand, can you conceive of anyone in today’s Hollywood who would perform in an opera? Jennifer Hudson perhaps, but that’s where my list pretty much ends.
 
So, just what is The Mikado, and why would Marx have been so drawn to it? Well, for one, despite its name and setting, it is not an opera about Japan. In truth, nothing in it - neither the characters nor the setting – bares any resemblance to Japan. Instead, it is a satire on British society and institutions that just happens to use Japan as a stand-in for the British Empire. The characters’ names, far from being representative of the Japanese culture, are examples of English baby-talk. For example, the lead character is named Nanki-Poo, a fun riff on the word handkerchief. And Nanki-Poo’s love interest? She goes by the name of Yum Yum.
 
In the opening scene, we learn that the leader of Japan, the Mikado (Dennis King), has made flirting a capital crime, an act that is intended to mock British regulations far more than Japanese society, which I’m not sure either Gilbert or Sullivan knew much about. I believe it is this aspect of the opera that drew Marx to it, for he must have been deeply appreciative of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ability to use art to poke fun at authority and convention. After all, he and his brothers had practically made a career out of it.
 
But I digress. This is a review, after all, and as such, the central question I should be answering is this one: Is it any good? The short answer, thankfully, is yes, and much of its success is due to the fact that Gilbert and Sullivan saw The Mikado as a comedy, and comedy – especially when it involved poking fun at authority - was Groucho’s bread and butter. As Ko-Ko, he seems aware of the absurdity even when curveballs are lobbed his way. In the film’s opening moments, we learn that Ko-Ko, a former tailor, was convicted of flirting and thus sentenced to death. However, authorities, no fan of the Mikado’s edicts and reliance of capital punishment, decide to make the next man scheduled for execution the new High Executioner, reasoning quite logically that one cannot execute himself. (It’s dangerous, we later learn from Ko-Ko, and besides suicide is a capital offense.) One guess who the new executioner turns out to be.
 
For some unexplained reason, Ko-Ko is also scheduled to marry Yum-Yum (Barbara Meister), which comes as a shock to Nanki-Poo, who upon arrival, thinking that her guardian (oh, that’s Ko-Ko also) has already been executed, quickly announces his intentions to pursue her hand in marriage. Hearing of his feelings, as well as his later intention to commit suicide due to his dashed dreams, Nanki-Poo (Robert Rounseville) makes a deal with Ko-ko. Seeing as the Mikado has just threatened to eliminate the position of High Executioner if no execution takes place within a month (in the opera, he threatens to reduce the city of Titipu to the status of a village), Ko-Ko agrees to let Nanki-Poo marry Yum-Yum, provided that he agrees to be the one executed, after which Ko-Ko promises to do the honorable thing and marry the recently widowed Yum-Yum. (Yes, this is really the plot.) Suffice to say, nothing goes right with the plan. And did I mention that Nanki-Poo is really the son of the Mikado and is fleeing an arranged marriage? Believe it or not, this is all revealed in the first 19 minutes.
 
Ko-Ko is always close enough to break in with a witty comment or a life-saving idea. Characters break the fourth wall, and lines such as “You can see how being buried alive puts a damper on things” are said with deadpan seriousness, much like Leslie Nielson and company would later do to great effect in the Naked Gun movies. Only Ko-Ko seems aware of the ludicrousness of it all, and this may be why his songs differ so greatly from those of the other characters. I cannot say with any certainty that Marx improvised any of his lines, but if he didn’t, it’s amazing how well the role suited his brand of humor and established personality.
 
We no longer have anything resembling The Bell Telephone Hour, and that’s a shame, for television can be so much more than 30-seconds of mindless distraction. Today, we have shows like The Masked Singer, in which celebrities don costumes and dance and sing. These shows may be entertaining, but are they inspirational? Will audiences walk away from them wondering what else a writing team created, or decide to give a form of music that had previously not been on their radar a chance? Groucho knew and appreciated Gilbert and Sullivan, and he used his star power to bring them to a medium that they likely couldn’t have contemplated the existence of. In doing so, he brought them to a whole new audience, an accomplishment that continues today whenever a fan of the Marx Brothers decides to watch The Mikado because it stars Groucho. I know this because he’s the reason I watched it, and for that, I’ll be eternally grateful. (on DVD from VAI)
 
3 and a half stars
 
*The Mikado was originally broadcast in color, but sadly, no color copies exist today. There are also times, particularly during a few musical numbers, when the audio is not clear.