Adamson chronicles the life and movies of the famous comedians of the 1930s, the Marx Brothers. Horse Feathers (1932) is a satire on not only the college education, but the typical college movies of the time as well. The Marx brothers recognized that the formality and ivy-tower isolation of a higher education was an alien experience for most moviegoers. Though today is very different from the worlds of the ‘30s, college professors still teach as if there is something you “should know for certain.” Fantasies and dreams are considered an “extraneous side to human nature.” However, the films of the Marx brothers reveled in the unreality of life. The ending of Horse Feather is a perfect example: three of the brothers marry the same widow. The movie has a “surrealism” to it that helps make a mockery of higher learning. However, Adamson claims that the film has “nothing to do with the reality of college,” but instead is a “mock of the world we know.” The comedy comes from its vastly absurd plot and characters.
    This book is important because it gives information on the major influence of Animal House, Horse Feathers. Adamson and many of the other sources believe that the mockery of the college institution originated with this Marx brothers film. However, an important distinction between the two films needs to be made. Horse Feathers is so absurd that its attack on higher education can get lost in the surrealism of the musical numbers, crazy characters, and insane plot twists. Though the film is certainly an inspiration, Animal House is more effective in its attack on the college myth because it is based in reality. Though some aspects are obviously stretched for the sake of comedy, moviegoers can see themselves in the characters and can buy into the plot. Because of this, Animal House, not Horse Feathers, was able to become the turning point in the history of college comedies, becoming the basis of this genre ever since.

    Umphlett credits the 1932 Marx Brothers film Horse Feathers as the main influence of Animal House. The Marx Brothers movie still remains one of the best films where both the institution of college and college-genre films face "equal shares of ridicule." (52) While many college-oriented films in the 70s used nostalgia (by placing the movie in a previous decade) to bring the audience a sense of sentimental feeling, Animal House had inspired movies that take pleasure in "singling out and deflating" everything that makes college life a unique time for a student. (166) The inspiration for the movie is based on the quintessentially American conflict of authority and self-expression, manifesting itself here in the feud between the educational leaders and the "renegade element" of the student population. (168) The characters do this by participating in an "anarchist devotion" to revolutionizing the other students through sexual pleasure. (166)      
    Umphlett's book contributes to thesis for two reasons. It introduces the idea that Horse Feathers was an influence for Animal House (a fact made true in many interviews with writer Harold Ramis and director john Landis). There is however, another source solely devoted to that movie. The other key contribution is the way which Umphlett defines Animal House's breaking of the myth of higher education as a practice in anarchy. While previous films celebrated the togetherness of the leaders of the education system and the students, Animal House defines itself by the conflict between the two. What's more important is that Umphlett defines this as an "American" conflict, giving it more strength and meaning than otherwise. This conflict between establishment and anarchy (along with Rich's sex) has become a basic staple of most college-themed movies since Animal House.