Review of Duck Soup (1933) by Jennifer M — 29 Aug 2009

Groucho is Rufus Firefly he has been appointed leader of a small country named Freedonia, Zeppo is his assistant, the Chico and Harpo are spies for the opposing nation Sylvanian hired to help take firefly down and steal his plans. This is the closest thing to a plot line for what would go on to be the funniest anti-imperialism film ever made.

I don't think anyone would question the Marx bros. abilities as comedians however while almost all of their films have charm to one extent or another, we unfortunately can not call many of their films great cinema 'Duck Soup' is an exception. The Marx brothers went through a gratuitous battle with the studios to get Leo McCarey as director and I'd say it was well worth it even if the film was a box office disappointment. It was arguably thanks to McCarey that the film avoids all the clich�©s that would plague their other films(mostly ones at MGM) there are no piano or harp numbers, no love interests, no corny interludes without the brothers and the musical numbers are not half assed(see 'A Day at The Races' for evidence of otherwise).

With avoiding the cliches, the bros. had pretty much free reign, particularly Harpo who would often take a back0seat to the others but here is responsible for many of the best moments, specifically the mirror scene and this of course can be partially credited to McCarey who had his roots in silent comedy but was also known to improvise in fact the elaborate musical number that takes place in the war room wasn't even in the script. However we can't discount Groucho either, he's always witty but here he seems to be on new level with some of his most memorable lines ("You know, you haven't stopped talking since I came here? You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle.") and for all his jokes still comes of as less ridiculous than the dictators and war mongers portrayed in the film, that's probably why Benito Mussolini had the film banned. The very scenes of course bring all four brothers together such as the final battle sequence which is among the funniest on film(homage to Chaplin's 'Shoulder arms'?) has more gags in a little over 10 mins than many modern comedies.

That being said it's clearly the Marx Brother's finest hour, and a significant point in McCarey's career working with performers who already had a reputation as great comedians but with his help would create great cinema, making great evidence of the relationship between an auteur and his performers. It's among the funniest films ever made and as for comedies about war; I think I'd take this over Dr. Strangelove.