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Fresh and Exciting

Crappy film

A Masterpiece!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Oh, the golden age of Hollywood. A time for best classic films. Judy Garland, Esther Williams, Kathryn Grayson, June Allyson, Gene Kelly, and Fred Astair gave us the best musicals. Humphry Bogart, Vivien Leigh, Betty Davis, Clark Gable, Ingred Bergman, and Katherine Hepburn gave us the best dramas. W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and the Marx brothers gave us the best comedy. All of it from a bygone era, so special and wonderful. They just don't make em like they used to anymore. Any of it. "Duck soup" is another great Marx brothers comedy, just like "A night at the opera", " Animal crackers", and "A day at the races". I don't want to add too many spoilers here. This film gave us the famous mirror scene, the grand entrance opening, and many other scenes and funny lines from them all, especially Groucho. This was another Marx brothers film that made me laugh so much my sides hurt. So funny. So great. Like I said before, they don't make em like they used to anymore.

The last of the Marx Bros. movies to feature Zeppo and the last made at Paramount is also my favorite. The brothers would go on to make some more good movies but, in my view, their Paramount films are when they were at their best. The nonstop zaniness and unpredictability of them was unlike anything else in film comedy at the time. This is a hilarious satire with Groucho in arguably his most famous role, Rufus T. Firefly, the newly-appointed leader of the small country of Freedonia who leads his country into war with neighboring Sylvania. The brothers are all terrific with some of their most memorable gags in this one. Margaret Dumont is back after missing two consecutive movies. Her scenes with Groucho are some of the film's highlights. Louis Calhern makes for a fine villain and Raquel Torres is one of the sexiest women from any of the Marx films. Edgar Kennedy is a hoot as a vendor that has trouble with Chico and Harpo. It's directed by Leo McCarey, who went on to win Oscars and direct some classic films with Cary Grant and Bing Crosby. Duck Soup also has probably the highest quality production values of any of the Marx films at Paramount. The sets and costumes are very nice. It's easy to see why this is considered the Marx Brothers' masterpiece. Aside from being funny from start to finish with hilarious songs and many great gags, it has been highly influential over the years on everything from Bugs Bunny to Woody Allen. One of the greatest comedies ever made and certainly one I recommend everyone see at least once.

Lunacy from start to finish. The routines never cease and almost all are belly laughs, at least for us Marxists. There's something of a plot, which happily never gets in the way. It's something about Groucho's country of Freedonia and a rivalry with Calhern's Sylvania. Meanwhile zillionaire matron Dumont is the dubious prize. Naturally, the boys comically foil every plot to snatch her away. Trouble is words don't come close to capturing the non-stop lunacy of the 70-minutes. What's generally overlooked, however, is how well produced the feature is. The royal hall is huge, well decorated, and staffed with armies of costumed extras. Thankfully, Paramount cut few corners and it shows. And catch that mass scene of squirming bodies near the end that borders on a surreal even as the routines continue. Comic highlights include the famous mirror scene, getting hats on straight at the hotdog stand, and Groucho's many throwaway lines. I can just imagine what it was like trying to direct this madness from a director's chair. Whatever they paid McCarey, it wasn't enough.Anyway, the boys are in top form including the uncertain Zeppo before he wisely became a Hollywood talent agent. So, for younger folks, don't miss the well-crafted 1933 craziness. As the goofiness shows, surreal comedy didn't begin with the wacko likes of Bill Murray, Jim Carey, or even The Three Stooges!

DUCK SOUP is a riotously funny, anarchic comedy from the Marx Brothers which is a send-up of government and international politics. At 68 minutes, it could hardly be considered long, but if it was much longer I felt it would have worn out its welcome. The Marx Brothers' trademark humor has aged well, but I felt that some of the wordplay was hit or miss. This might be due to the rapidity with which Groucho spits out the lines, because not all of them were funny to me and quite possibly because some of them went over my head. What I felt was the best part of the movie were the physical comedy routines. As such, my favorite parts were a running gag in which Harpo torments a lemonade salesman, a scene involving a mirror and the final act where Groucho changes costumes in every scene. Since the movie is one of the earlier "talkies", the acting is somewhat stiff/stilted (in a cinematic context, but perfectly normal in a theatrical context). Margaret Dumont's Mrs. Teasdale is probably the best example of this, although her character was supposed to be that way. Overall, I thought the movie was very well done, but I got the feeling that the Marx Brothers have done better. This type of comedy mostly works for me, and I look forward to delving further into the Marx Brothers' filmography.