Room Service is the eighth full-length film starring the Marx Brothers, released in 1938 following A Day at the Races. It is notable in several aspects: it's the only film the Marxes made for RKO Pictures as well as their only movie not originally written for them, and it features no musical numbers or scenes for Chico or Harpo to show off their skills. The movie started as an adaptation of a successful Broadway comedy Farce, which was pitched to RKO by Zeppo Marx and adapted by longtime Marx Brothers' writer Morrie Ryskind.
The story centers around Gordon Miller (Groucho), a theatrical producer who's trying to find a backer for his troupe's play "Hail and Farewell". Miller and his crew have been staying for free at his brother-in-law's hotel (and running up a hefty bill in the process), but the ride is brought to an end when Gregory Wagner (Donald MacBride), the hotel's supervising director, arrives to balance the books, causing Miller to scramble to save the production before he can be evicted. He's aided by Harry Binelli (Chico), Faker Englund (Harpo), playwright Leo Davis (Frank Albertson), and actresses Christine Marlowe (Lucille Ball) and Hilda Manney (Ann Miller).
Despite the popularity of the Marxes and the success of the original theatrical play, Room Service ended up as a bomb for RKO, which paid a staggering $225,000 for the rights and ended up losing $330,000 on the film. Some attribute the film's failure to its deviation from the form of previous Marx movies — it's less frenetic and more contained, with a larger cast of supporting characters, and the Marxes are not playing characters following their typical archetypes.
Room Service features the following tropes:
- Bottle Episode: The film takes place almost entirely in the White Way Hotel. The bulk of the story occurs in Miller's hotel room, while the last quarter happens in a different suite of the same hotel.
- Brick Joke: Five days after Miller sends the debt collector on a wild goose chase for Leo, he returns right in the middle of Leo's (mock) funeral.
- Country Mouse: Leo Davis, the playwright from Oswego, is a downplayed version of this trope. When he first appears, he is awestruck and easily swayed by everyone else around him, and mentions that the White Way is the first hotel he's ever been in.
- Determinator: Wagner is driven to evict Miller and his troupe from White Way and resolve the hotel's finances, as he will receive a lucrative promotion for doing so. He is only (briefly) deterred when he learns that a reclusive millionaire plans to back the play and that the hotel will profit nicely as a result.
- Dressed in Layers: Played for laughs when Gribble first orders Miller to leave the hotel, but insists on keeping Miller's luggage as collateral. Miller, Binelli, and Faker end up putting on multiple layers of Miller's clothes so they can leave with Miller's wardrobe intact.
- Faking the Dead: Both Leo and Faker pretend to commit suicide to keep Wagner from interrupting the premiere of "Hail and Fairwell". Leo pretends to have poisoned himself, while Faker is found "stabbed" with a knife and a note blaming Wagner.
- Food as Bribe: Reversed — after being confined in their room for half a day, Miller and his gang suffer from extreme hunger. Miller gets Sasha the waiter to sneak in a cart full of food to their room with the promise of giving him a part in the play.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Leo and Hilda plan to get married after "Hail and Farewell" opens, which is about a week after they first met.
- The Ghost: Zachary Fiske is the reclusive financier who ends up backing the play. The other characters talk about him in revered tones, but he never actually appears.
- Large Ham: Donald MacBride plays the part of Gregory Wagner with bombastic relish. He seldom has a scene where he isn't roaring at the Marxes or being overly melodramatic at an imagined tragedy.
- Loophole Abuse: Wagner, believing that Leo has killed himself, is desperate to avoid the scandal of having someone die at the hotel. Miller proposes that they pretend Leo is a "drunk friend" so they can carry him out into the alley, and any subsequent "death" would not technically occur in the hotel.
- Love at First Sight: Leo Davis and Hilda fall in love almost immediately after their first encounter. They plan to get married less than a week later.
- Only One Name: Faker (Harpo Marx), Sasha (Alexander Asro), Hilda (Ann Miller), and Christine (Lucille Ball).
- Playing Sick: Done twice by Leo. The first time, he pretends to have the measles so the hotel room is quarantined and they aren't evicted by Wagner. Later, he pretends to be dying from poisoning himself to stop Wagner from calling the police and shut down the premiere of "Hail and Farewell".
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Dr. Glass and Joseph Gribble team up to give one to Wagner, pointing out that his obstinate determination to throw Miller out of the hotel is jeopardizing their opportunity to secure funding for the play.
- Running Gag: When he gets exasperated, Wagner yells "Jumping butterballs!" at everyone within earshot.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Frank Albertson, who co-stars as the playwright Leo, fills a role that would have previously gone to Zeppo Marx.
