These are sad days for the American comedy. Within the last few years Milton Berle became Mr. Television, Charlie Chaplin withdrew "Monsieur Verdoux" from circulation, W. C. Fields died and now the Marx brothers have been cast in a backstage musical.

Groucho as Sam Grunion, astigmatic private eye, narrates the story. Fabulously valuable hot diamonds are accidentally stolen by a kleptomaniac tramp (Harpo) on a foraging trip for a group of starving young actors. The seductive Madame Egelinka (Ilona Massey) and her two musclebound minions try to recover the jewels from Harpo throughout the rest of the picture while Chico, a piano-playing mind reader wanders aimlessly about complicating things.

The Marx brothers' sins are those of omission. They just aren't around enough. 25 minutes of the movie are completely wasted in "musical comedy" and backstage life. Harpo, who wrote the story, handles his biggest part superbly but Groucho appears for only five minutes.

The brothers, who usually form a perfectly unbalanced team, are now missing their unifying, most insane member.

Not only is "Love Happy" disappointing in its exceptional incoherence but also in presentation of Groucho's forte, the dialogue, which loses its kick when the mustachioed leer is missing. The special effects like Harpo's trick coat and the much heralded chase are up to standard but there is nothing side-splitting like the stateroom scene in "A Night at the Opera" or the mirror scene from "Duck Soup." "Love Happy," while not nearly up to Marxian standards is still pretty good comedy.