Film Review
Widely considered the zenith of the Marx Brothers' achievements,
Duck Soup is a comic masterpiece
that features some of the best material from one of the greatest comedy
teams ever. Part political satire, part anarchic farce, this is a
compendium of comic delights that is chock-full of inspired visual
gags, hilarious set piece routines and quick fire comic dialogue
(including material borrowed from the radio show
Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel
made by Groucho and Chico just before this film). There is
perhaps no better introduction to the genius of Groucho and his
vaudevillian siblings than this tirelessly funny masterwork.
Of all the great gags this film has to offer, the most memorable is the
famous mirror sequence, in which Harpo pretends to be Groucho's
reflection in a broken mirror. The joke had been done before - by
Charlie Chaplin in
The Floorwalker
(1916) and Max Linder in
Seven Years Bad Luck
(1921) - but not nearly as perfectly or as hilariously
as it is done here. The other great set piece is the chaotic
battle scene at the end of the film, which is a riot of anarchic fun,
as well as being an effective anti-war statement.
Duck Soup was made at the time
when the Marx Brothers had begun to fall out with Paramount Pictures,
the company that had produced their four previous films
which included
Monkey Business (1931)
and
Horse Feathers (1932).
With the studio running into serious financial difficulties and
seemingly unable to honour its financial commitments, the Marxes were
considering leaving to set up their own production company.
Duck Soup was barely in the can
before the brothers waved an acrimonious farewell to Paramount and
transferred their allegiance to MGM. At this point, Zeppo,
the Marxes' straight man and understudy, left the team. He went
on to found his own very successful theatrical agency (his clients
including his other brother Gummo), whilst developing his talent for
all things mechanical - he ran a company that made machine parts during
WWII and invented a wristwatch that monitored the pulse rate of cardiac
patients.
Whilst it is highly regarded today,
Duck
Soup was not as well-received as previous Marx Brothers films
when it was originally released in 1933. With the United States
in the midst of the Great Depression, audiences preferred the pure
escapism offered by glitzy song and dance musicals, romantic comedies
and
King Kong
to the thinly veiled reality of tongue-in-cheek satire. The film was presumably
conceived as an attack on the Fascism that was beginning to sweep
Europe. Benito Mussolini certainly found the film offensive and
had it banned in Italy, much to the delight of the Marxes.
There's nothing funnier than a Fascist without a sense of humour.
© James Travers 2009
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Film Synopsis
With Freedonia facing bankruptcy, the wealthy widow Mrs Teasdale agrees
to lend 20 million dollars to the exchequer, on condition that her
favourite, Rufus T. Firefly, takes over as Prime Minister. One
man who is not pleased by this development is the ruler of the
neighbouring kingdom of Sylvania. He had been hoping that the
ruined Freedonia would tumble into revolution, allowing him to invade
the country and add it to his empire. Whilst the Sylvanian
ambassador, Trentino, tries to discredit Firefly by drawing him into an
illicit affair with the vampish Vera Marcal, two spies, Chicolini and
Pinky, are sent to dig up incriminating information about the new
Freedonian leader. Trentino's tetchiness gets the better of
him when Firefly starts insulting him in public, and in the end he has
no choice but to declare war on Freedonia. In the ensuing
carnage, both countries are devastated, thousands of lives are lost,
misery and suffering are brought to millions, but the politicians are
happy, and that's the main thing. Cue laughter.
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.