Review of Duck Soup (1933) by John M — 15 Feb 2008

Rapid-fire staccato. So when the country of Freedonia gets a new leader (Groucho Marx), he immediately sets his eye on declaring war on a neighboring country over the hand of a wealthy older woman. This is my first exposure to the Marx brothers, and while I can't speak for their other works, you can totally see how this film was a huge influence on everything Mel Brooks has ever done.

There are countless puns shot off in a very compressed amount of time. Not all of the jokes land, but it is so lightening fast paced, it is on to the next one before you can even think about acknowledging something that didn't work.

Seriously, it is so relentless in its throw-every-joke-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks style that if you blink, you are likely to miss multiple deadpan one-liners. Even though a few jokes fall flat, what you walk away remembering is the material that works, like the ongoing feud between Harpo Marx and a lemonade vendor, and the mirror gag.

I'm glad I took the time to watch this, and you should to, if only to see how influential this movie really is.