Review of Duck Soup (1933) by Tara V — 09 Nov 2015

Danny Peary's review of this in his book, Cult Movies, bops around from point to point a bit like the Marx Bros. humour. A bit about why this movie flopped with 1930s audiences who couldn't swallow the idea that the government, which they were counting on to pull them up, was absurd vs.

1960s audiences who had a taste for that; a bit about how this director used them best, partly by cutting out their trademark musical interludes (boo!); a good run-down of (3 of) the Bros. dynamics - Groucho is amazed by but only tolerates Harpo to keep Chico around, because they both are out to have fun at the expense of all the stuffed shirts, and Chico takes care of Harpo because he's the only one who believes Chico's Italian.

Then he wraps up by acknowledging that Zeppo, um, was there.