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Duck Soup [1933]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

For those who love the Marx Brothers (Animal Crackers, A Night at the Opera), that this movie is side-slappingly funny is a given. For those new to the Marx Brothers, this is the perfect introduction to Groucho, Chico, and Harpo (and even Zeppo), three of the funniest men to ever grace the screen. Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) is the dictator of the small nation Freedonia. The country is a disaster, in financial disrepair, and the wealthy Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) is its benefactor and the object of Firefly's shrewd affection. When the leader of the neighboring Sylvania decides he's in love with Mrs. Teasdale, Firefly declares war. The movie, from 1933, is tremendously satirical, a play on politics and war. (As Firefly says to a hapless young solider, "You're a brave man. Go and break through the lines. And remember, while you're out there risking your life and limb through shot and shell, we'll be in be in here thinking what a sucker you are.") Full of witty lines, great sight gags, and even some snazzy song numbers ("Freedonia's Going to War" is the hilarious declaration of battle), this is surely one of the best--if not the best--the Marx Brothers have to offer. --Jenny Brown


Can a racist remark be humorous?
Review date: 2008-05-12 Rating: 6 out of 10

That was a fateful year, 1933. The world was on the edge of a great fall, of a deep dive, of a high jump into the abyss and the Marx Brothers could not resist and make fun of that fateful war coming, of that hateful man who had just been elected, the man with the little mustache, and our dear Groucho, the man with the big mustache played the other and won of course because the situation is totally reversed and the man with the big mustache is the leader of Freedonia, and he puts the old revolutionary uniforms out of the closets where they had been kept since the American Revolution to fight against the Italian-named ambassador of Sylvania, is it Transylvania or is it Pennsylvania, a Sylvania anyway, people who live in the woods like animals, aren't they? The time of prohibition is finished. Other more important things are at stake, freedom and healthy finances, or is it healthy embezzling? All that is kind of small and limited. In other words they are, these Marx Brothers, like burying themselves, getting out of touch. "You want to be a public nuisance?" They can't resist the offer. "How much does the job pay?" And that triggers one of those famous puns that will live forever and ever through eternity. "I have got a good mind to join the club and beat you over the head with it." You must say that is great humor, even if slightly twisted, if not frankly warped, crooked and distorted. And they don't even hesitate to edge onto the racial front and invent one of these slightly racist jokes that will survive the next atom apocalypse I guess. "The Headstrongs married the Armstrongs and that's why darkies were born." That's deep, profound, inspired, admirable, isn't it. And since we are on that line, the line of compassion, sympathy and empathy, meditate on this one. "The workers of Freedonia are demanding shorter hours." Isn't that social? But the answer of the newly appointed Roman tyrant is astounding. "We'll start by cutting their lunch hour to twenty minutes." Who said that the Marx Brothers were not social-minded? Where are the liars? To produce such humor in 1933 is quite prophetic, prophetic of a catastrophe coming up the road. When the creative intelligentsia of a country is able to bring together in one of their comedies both racist remarks and anti-labor slogans you can be sure this country is doomed to die a difficult death and definitely labor hard and painfully to give birth and deliver the next phase of its history. The next phase will require fifty millions of dead people, victims and bodies to find some regeneration. A lot worse than all the human sacrifices of the Aztecs or the Mayas. The western world, when they do things in the bloody line, they know how to inundate the earth and the soil and the fields with good warm human blood and fertilize the crops with hot human ashes. Ashes to ashes, dirt to dirt, mess to mess, trash to trash. You can always make it a joke. But that kind of regeneration and rejuvenation through and via blood, blood, and blood again, war, war and war again is unworthy of a human mind, particularly of four human minds, those of the Marx Siblings who are more underlings than siblings in that line of inspiration. That's not the best film of these comedians and clowns and the subtlety of the discourse is definitely too fine for me to understand it, I guess, not to say appreciate it. They might have been better inspired to wait for Charles Chaplin to come with his Dictator and let this other comedian use real humane humor to debunk the tyrant. But that was many light years ahead of their antics. That was the last time the four siblings were together on the same screen. Zeppo Marx was to get out of the band or gang after this duck soup that killed the ducks for sure but produced no delicatessen soup.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


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Reviews


Simply the best
Review date: 2008-02-23 Rating: 10 out of 10

We often hear how the Goons are the fathers of modern comedy. If this is true the Marx brothers are the Godfathers!!!
At 75 years old, this film still cuts the mustard, and is unlikely to be surpassed. In an era without special effects or computer graphics, the mirror scene is amazing. Wacky? Zany? Madcap? All of these and more.
Simply the best!!!!!!!!

Vaudeville at its best
Review date: 2007-07-02 Rating: 10 out of 10

You must watch Duck Soup for some of the most classic comedy scenes set to film such as ;

1) The mirror sequence. The finest comic sequence ever committed to film. Sure, it's old-hat vaudeville, but it's professional, beautifully timed and spirals into wonderful absurdity.

2) The one-liners, puns and other jokes. Pick of the crop are the peanut stall interchange, the telephone sequence, the riddles ('what has four pairs of pants, lives in Philadelphia, and it never rains but it pours?') and the final battle (especially the stock footage of monkeys and elephants running to save the army under siege - the kind of thing the Zucker Bros pinched for their comedies). Oh, yes, and the motorcycle routines.

3) The satire on politics and warmongering. The Brothers simply deflate the pomposity of the whole deal.

4) The fact that Zeppo is actually given something to do.

Anybody who thinks the Farrelly and Wayans brothers are the last word in comedy should be strapped to a chair and shown Marx Bros films over and over again, until they concede.

My favourite film, and I'm sure I'm not the only one!
Review date: 2006-10-23 Rating: 10 out of 10

The film "Duck soup," is a classic example of the humour of the Marx Brothers, taking a satirical and anarchic look at war and world power. This was their last film made for Paramount Pictures, and the last film to feature the fourth brother, Zeppo.
When Groucho Marx's character, Rufus T. Firefly, is appointed leader of fictional country Freedonia, he immediately becomes the subject of plot when Trentino, leader of neighbouring fictional country Sylvania, hires two spies, played by Chico and Harpo Marx, to bring disgrace to Firefly. However, nothing goes according to plan when Chico is appointed secretary of war, Harpo becomes Firefly's chauffeur, and the two countries declare war on each other simply because of Firefly's constant insults to Trentino.
The wacky and far-fetched storyline is just what you would expect from a Marx Brothers film. There's Groucho doing what he always did best; his fast-talking wisecracks, his abilty to insult everyone and anyone, and to eventually get away with it. The title "Duck soup" means something that is easy to do, perhaps implying how Firefly governs the country with a happy-go-lucky manner, and how everything he does in his favour could be purely down to luck.
In my personal opinion, Chico and Harpo perform their best double act in this film, and you only have to look at such scenes as the one with the lemonade seller as proof. The film is full of gags, puns, routines, and of course, improvisation. These all contribute to attack democracy, war itself, leadership, and legal systems.
As for the Marxes characters themselves, sure they're selfish, sure they're destructive, but somehow, that's what makes them lovable and somewhat admirable; their anarchic nature in this film, often poking fun at those higher in authority, is something that many people I'm sure would love to do.
"Duck soup" is my favourite film of all time, and it never ceases to put me in a good mood. If you want to see a film that is intelligent as well as hilarious, or if you simply want to find out what is so good about the Marx Brothers, I suggest you see this film.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Margaret Dumont
Zeppo Marx
Harpo Marx
Chico Marx
Groucho Marx

Creators:
Groucho Marx (Primary Contributor)
Chico Marx (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
EAN: 5050582060737
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, PAL,
Release date: 2006-10-02
Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region code: 2
Running time: 66 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1933
Language: English (Original Language)

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