1933 Directed by Leo McCarey
Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.
Groucho Marx Harpo Marx Chico Marx Zeppo Marx Margaret Dumont Raquel Torres Louis Calhern Edmund Breese Leonid Kinskey Charles Middleton Edgar Kennedy Edward Arnold Wade Boteler Sidney Bracey E. H. Calvert Davison Clark Louise Closser Hale Carrie Daumery Maude Turner Gordon Florence Wix Joseph Crehan Mario Dominici Edmund Mortimer Charles West Verna Hillie Edward LeSaint George MacQuarrie Frederick Sullivan Eric Mayne Show All…
"Duck Soup" is a comedy machine gun. Its jokes and gags come quickly and constantly in a barrage of rat-a-tat-tat amusement. It is a fully funny, wholly high-energy romp whose only misfire may be that not every bit of wit flows organically from its narrative; but this is a tiny quibble as "Duck Soup" is clearly constructed to be a showcase of Marx Brothers mirth.
A political satire that skewers foreign relations, war, national treasures, and national treasuries, Leo McCarey's "Duck Soup" begins with Groucho Marx's Rufus T. Firefly being named head of the nation of Freedonia. From there, jokes, musical numbers, and mostly solid plotting fly in torrents. The narrative is a sturdy foundation for sturdy comedy.
The timely-even-today…
Has anyone ever sat down and calculated the jokes per minute in this frickin' thing? The joke density has to be high, somewhere around the level of seasons 4-6 Simpsons. I re-watched DUCK SOUP within the last year, and I was still laughing so much today that I felt light headed when the lights came up. The escalating scale of the jokes to that last reel of absolute convention shattering anarchy ... *faints
Half stand-up routine, half variety show, very humorous.
The original songs are quite funny and the rapid fire puns and deadpan jokes are still sharp which is remarkable SEEING HOW THEY ARE OVER 80 YEARS OLD.
I finished watching this and went immediately to my Favourite film by year list for the 30s. Somehow I put The testament of Dr Mabuse ahead of this. At least I did say in the notes that 1933 was a hell of a year and I could have chosen one of ten films.
It is, of course, pretty much perfect. Harpo and Chico and Louis Calhern, Harpo and Chico and the Lemonade seller. The songs, the mirror. Margaret Dumont. Most things Groucho says.
It does that weird cumulative thing that the best comedies do that have you laughing at the memory of having laughed or the suggestion of laughing so that you couldn't for a minute nail down just what…
Anarchic, wild, zippy. Out done a bit by the Goons, who were trumped by Monty Python.
The Marx Brothers are just the best, man. The multiple Grouchos bit will never not be funny. Harpo looks like the guys from Three Identical Strangers.
The humor has aged really well, I feel like their chaotic and random sense of humor is something that us young people of the Vine and Twitter age can really relate to.
Too bad the story is not all the way there, like most comedy movies of this time period because the story were just justifications for the comedians do their thing.
A Night at the Opera still remains my favorite Marx Brothers movie.
الكوميديا فعل احتجاجي." – ميل بروكس ماذا يمكن أن يقال عن هؤلاء الأوغاد؟ عندما كنا صغاراً كان منتشر في محلات لعب الأطفال وجه مستعار بسيط، حواجب وشارب كث بينهما نظارة طبية وأنف كبير، لا أتذكر ما كان اسم اللعبة، لكني أتذكر أننا لم نعرف جروشو ماركس وإن كنا جميعاً وقتها جروشو ماركس. لاحقاً سيقوم وودي آلان بتقديم جروشو إلى، لا عجب لأن وودي يدين بفضل كبير لفطنة وتوقيت جروشو الذي لا يضاهى بأي حال. هذا فيلم مؤسس، الفيلم الكوميدي الذي عبَّر عن فوضوية/أناركية الأخوة ماركس كما لم يعبر غيره، لذا كان من الطبيعي ألا يكون أنجح أفلامهم في شباك التذاكر، فبالرغم من النجاح الكبير لفيلمهم السابق، لم يجد (حساء البط) نفس النجاح، قيل أن الجمهور الذي يعاني خلال فترة الكساد…
Peanuuuuuttttsss To ya!
We all know this is a classic. So what bugs me, about most comedies at this time is the need for the ridiculous climax. I understand why they thought they had to do it, how to top the ridiculousness of the Marx Brothers humor? With a war scene with Tommy Guns and throwing fruit. Compared to the chariot race of Horse Feathers it’s not huge, I think it was just the time that they felt you needed the big musical number and the big “action” moment to make it worth the nickel to get in. Like all of their films, the early scenes between the brothers are the best part of the film, Chico vs. Harpo, Chico…
It's hard to tell where to begin to talk about this positively wacky sendup of war, politics, and the culture of the 1930s. In a very brief 70 minutes the Marx Brothers demonstrate their wackiest and weirdest sensibilities and it somehow works better than some of their more polished studio films of the 1940s. This was the end of the pre-code era and there were so few limits on what filmmakers could do. I find it interesting that the movie wasn't particularly successful on release since it's so clearly funny even today.
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