Review of Duck Soup (1933) by Xgary X — 26 Feb 2010

A wealthy widow blackmails the government of Freedonia into appointing wise cracking shyster Rufus T. Firefly as president and the country is almost immediately at war. Duck Soup is probably the ultimate example of the Marx brothers' brand of knockabout comedy.

It's still virtually plotless, but the ideas gel together much more fluently than most, there is a perfect balance between slapstick and one liners and they managed to keep Harpo and Chico away from musical instruments meaning it keeps its momentum right til the end.

Zeppo still sucks but thankfully he is hardly in it, the songs are kept to a minimum but have a large scale spectacle and funny lines and Louis Calhern as the bad guy gives it some thespian weight missing from most of the others.

Highlights include Harpo's running battle with a lemonade seller that's straight out of Laurel and Hardy, Groucho's usual exasperation with Chico and the worst-spies-ever scene when they all dress up as Groucho (including the original mirror sketch).

Hailed by many as the best Marx brothers film, and I can't find any major reason to argue.