The Marx Brothers: Duck Soup [DVD]

The film "Duck soup," is a classic example of the humour of the Marx Brothers, taking a satirical and anarchic look at war and world power. This was their last film made for Paramount Pictures, and the last film to feature the fourth brother, Zeppo.

When Groucho Marx's character, Rufus T. Firefly, is appointed leader of fictional country Freedonia, he immediately becomes the subject of plot when Trentino, leader of neighbouring fictional country Sylvania, hires two spies, played by Chico and Harpo Marx, to bring disgrace to Firefly. However, nothing goes according to plan when Chico is appointed secretary of war, Harpo becomes Firefly's chauffeur, and the two countries declare war on each other simply because of Firefly's constant insults to Trentino.

The wacky and far-fetched storyline is just what you would expect from a Marx Brothers film. There's Groucho doing what he always did best; his fast-talking wisecracks, his abilty to insult everyone and anyone, and to eventually get away with it. The title "Duck soup" means something that is easy to do, perhaps implying how Firefly governs the country with a happy-go-lucky manner, and how everything he does in his favour could be purely down to luck.

In my personal opinion, Chico and Harpo perform their best double act in this film, and you only have to look at such scenes as the one with the lemonade seller as proof. The film is full of gags, puns, routines, and of course, improvisation. These all contribute to attack democracy, war itself, leadership, and legal systems.

As for the Marxes characters themselves, sure they're selfish, sure they're destructive, but somehow, that's what makes them lovable and somewhat admirable; their anarchic nature in this film, often poking fun at those higher in authority, is something that many people I'm sure would love to do.

"Duck soup" is my favourite film of all time, and it never ceases to put me in a good mood. If you want to see a film that is intelligent as well as hilarious, or if you simply want to find out what is so good about the Marx Brothers, I suggest you see this film.

You must watch Duck Soup for some of the most classic comedy scenes set to film such as ;

1) The mirror sequence. The finest comic sequence ever committed to film. Sure, it's old-hat vaudeville, but it's professional, beautifully timed and spirals into wonderful absurdity.

2) The one-liners, puns and other jokes. Pick of the crop are the peanut stall interchange, the telephone sequence, the riddles ('what has four pairs of pants, lives in Philadelphia, and it never rains but it pours?') and the final battle (especially the stock footage of monkeys and elephants running to save the army under siege - the kind of thing the Zucker Bros pinched for their comedies). Oh, yes, and the motorcycle routines.

3) The satire on politics and warmongering. The Brothers simply deflate the pomposity of the whole deal.

4) The fact that Zeppo is actually given something to do.

Anybody who thinks the Farrelly and Wayans brothers are the last word in comedy should be strapped to a chair and shown Marx Bros films over and over again, until they concede.

My favorite Marx Brothers movie is "A Night at the Opera," but this political satire, which was banned in Italy by Mussolini, is a very close second. It is definitely the best (and last) Marx Brothers movie with Zeppo, for what that is worth. As Groucho later pointed out, Zeppo's roles as the group's straight man were thankless. It was not that Zeppo lacked talent, but rather that he had three older brothers.

"In Duck Soup," the mythical nation of Freedonia is in trouble and Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) insists that the reigns of power be turned over to Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho). Ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern) of the neighboring country of Sylvania employs a couple of spies, Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo), to shadow Firefly. Oh, and Firefly has a secretary, Bob Rolland (Zeppo). Many of the most famous sequences by the Brothers Marx are found in this film: (1) The mirror sequence between Groucho and Harpo (if it had been Groucho and Chico instead Groucho would have asked "Are you my reflection" and Chico would have answered "Sure"); (2) Harpo's encounter with street vendor Edgar Kennedy, master of the slow-burn (" "); (3) The "We're Going to War" take off on 1930s musicals ("They've got guns, we've got guns, all God's chil'en got guns"); (4) Groucho offering Chico the position of Secretary of War ("Sold!"); (5) Harpo offering Grouch a ride in the sidecar of his motorcyle ("This is the third trip I've taken today and I still haven't gone anywhere"); (6) Zeppo introducing the new leader of Freedonia, Rufus T. Fireflay ("Whatever it is, I'm against it."); and much, much more, including the lovely Rachel Torres as the lovely Vera Marcal!

"Duck Soup" was helped by several factors. With director Leo McCarey the Marx Brothers finally had a first rate director who understood how to stage and shoot the action. The Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby screenplay does one of the better jobs of integrating the various comic routines into the overall story. After an absence of two films Margaret Dumont was back where she belonged, trying to stay above the insanity with no success whatsoever. Louis Calhern is arguably the ideal villain for the Marx Brothers because in scene after scene he plays it absolutely straight, without losing his dignity or becoming laughable (similar to the marvelous job by Kitty Carlisle in "A Night at the Opera").

Final tidbit: When the town of Fredonia, New York complained about its name being used in the film (the extra "e" did not matter for some reason," Groucho shot back: "Change the name of your town, it's hurting our picture." And, as always, please remember that the correct pronunciation of Leonard's stage name is "Chick-o" not "Cheek-o." The man liked the ladies and was not a young Hispanic male.