Duck Soup (1933)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writers:

Bert Kalmar (story) and
Harry Ruby (story) ...

Release Date:

17 November 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.

Plot Keywords:

Widow | Dictator | Ambassador | Dowager | Spy

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Groucho Marx	...	Rufus T. Firefly
Harpo Marx	...	Pinky
Chico Marx	...	Chicolini
Zeppo Marx	...	Lt. Bob Roland
Margaret Dumont	...	Mrs. Gloria Teasdale
Raquel Torres	...	Vera Marcal
Louis Calhern	...	Ambassador Trentino of Sylvania
Edmund Breese	...	Zander
Leonid Kinskey	...	Sylvanian Agitator (as Leonid Kinsky)
Charles Middleton	...	Prosecutor (as Charles B. Middleton)
Edgar Kennedy	...	Lemonade Vendor

Also Known As:

Cracked Ice (USA) (working title)
Firecrackers (USA) (working title)
Die Marx Brothers im Krieg (Germany) (West Germany) [de]
Kachní polévka (Czech Republic) (Czechoslovakia: Czech title) [cs]
Diabo a Quatro (Brazil) [pt]
En tosset diktator (Denmark) [da]
Fire frække fyre (Denmark) (reissue title) [da]
Fyra fula fiskar (Sweden) [sv]
Héroes de ocasión (Venezuela) [es]
Kacacia polievka (Czechoslovakia: Slovak title) [sk]
Kacza zupa (Poland) [pl]
La guerra lampo dei fratelli Marx (Italy) [it]
La soupe au canard (France) [fr]
Neljä naurettavaa naapuria (Finland) [fi]
Os grandes Aldrabões (Portugal) [pt]
Sopa de ganso (Spain) [es]
Soupa papias (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

France:U | Ireland:G | UK:U | South Korea:All | Australia:G | Germany:6 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Passed

Filming Locations:

Arbor Mansion, Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Although this is usually considered the finest film The Marx Brothers ever made, it was not a hit when first released. In fact, the film performed so poorly at the box office that Paramount, then in serious financial straits, terminated its contract with The Marx Brothers, who then promptly signed with MGM where they produced two of their classic films, A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937) under the aegis of the legendary Irving Thalberg.

Goofs:

Continuity: In Mrs. Teasdale's house, when Firefly sits down, everybody (Trentino, Vera and Mrs. Teasdale) change positions around him.

Quotes:

Rufus T. Firefly: Oh, uh, I suppose you would think me a sentimental old fluff, but, uh, would you mind giving me lock of your hair?
Mrs. Teasdale: A lock of my hair? Wh-why, I had no idea.
Rufus T. Firefly: I'm letting you off easy: I was going to ask for the whole wig.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Animaniacs: King Yakko (#1.10)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

These Are the Laws of My Administration

Top-class

It narrowly beats A Night at the Opera as the best all-round Marx Bros film, though I find the humour more bizarre in Monkey Business. At least the musical numbers in DS are actually worth sitting through.

The reasons it scores so highly are:

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 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.