Editing Marx Brothers (section)

===Paramount===
The Marx Brothers' stage shows became popular just as motion pictures were evolving to "[[History of cinema|talkies]]". They signed a contract with [[Paramount Pictures]] and embarked on their film career at Paramount's studios in New York City's [[Astoria, Queens|Astoria]] section. Their first two released films were adaptations of the Broadway shows ''[[The Cocoanuts]]'' (1929) and ''[[Animal Crackers (1930 film)|Animal Crackers]]'' (1930). Both were written by [[George S. Kaufman]] and [[Morrie Ryskind]].

Production then shifted to Hollywood, beginning with a short film that was included in Paramount's twentieth anniversary documentary, ''[[The House That Shadows Built]]'' (1931), in which they adapted a scene from ''I'll Say She Is''. Their third feature-length film, ''[[Monkey Business (1931 film)|Monkey Business]]'' (1931), was their first movie not based on a stage production.
[[File:Time Magazine Cover Marx Brothers.jpg|thumb|The Marx Brothers on the cover of ''[[Time Magazine|Time]]'' (volume 20 issue 7, August 15, 1932)]]

''[[Horse Feathers]]'' (1932), in which the brothers satirized the American college system and [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], was their most popular film yet, and won them the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19320815,00.html|title=TIME Magazine Cover: Groucho, Harpo, Chico & Zeppo Marx – Aug. 15, 1932|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=September 21, 2018|archive-date=September 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930212409/http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19320815,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It included a running gag from their stage work, in which Harpo produces a ludicrous array of props from inside his coat, including a wooden mallet, a fish, a coiled rope, a tie, a poster of a woman in her underwear, a cup of hot coffee, a sword and (just after Groucho warns him that he "can't burn the candle at both ends") a candle burning at both ends.

During this period Chico and Groucho starred in a radio comedy series, ''[[Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel]]''. Though the series was short lived, much of the material developed for it was used in subsequent films. 

Their last Paramount film, ''[[Duck Soup (1933 film)|Duck Soup]]'' (1933), directed by Academy Award winner [[Leo McCarey]], is the highest rated of the five Marx Brothers films on the [[American Film Institute]]'s "100 years ... 100 Movies" list. It did not do as well financially as ''Horse Feathers'', but was the sixth-highest grosser of 1933. The film sparked a dispute between the Marxes and the village of [[Fredonia, New York]]. "Freedonia" was the name of a fictional country in the script, and the city fathers wrote to Paramount and asked the studio to remove all references to Freedonia because "it is hurting our town's image". Groucho fired back a sarcastic retort asking them to change the name of their town, because "it's hurting our picture".<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Groucho letters : letters from and to Groucho Marx.|last=Marx|first=Groucho|date=2007|publisher=Simon & Schuster Papberbacks|isbn=9781416536031|edition= 1st Simon & Schuster trade paperback |location=New York|oclc=148843246}}</ref>