Duck Soup

Watch: Duck Soup

Unrated

11/12/19331h 9m

Theatrical (limited) Release (US)

~ War is swell...when the Marx Brothers are in it. They'll be out of the trenches by Christmas...if the food doesn't improve! ~

Overview:

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

Director:

Leo McCarey

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

ambassador
dictator
widow
spy
siege
musical
lemonade
cigar smoking
slapstick comedy
black and white
pre-code
dowager
fictitious country
geofiction
absurd
witty

Cast

Groucho Marx

~ as ~

Rufus T. Firefly

Harpo Marx

~ as ~

Pinky

Chico Marx

~ as ~

Chicolini

Zeppo Marx

~ as ~

Bob Roland

Margaret Dumont

~ as ~

Gloria Teasdale

Raquel Torres

~ as ~

Vera Marcal

Louis Calhern

~ as ~

Ambassador Trentino

Edmund Breese

~ as ~

Zander

Leonid Kinskey

~ as ~

Sylvanian Agitator

Charles Middleton

~ as ~

Prosecutor

View full cast & crew

Reviews (3)

k
kineticandroid
Written 10 year(s) ago
~~
I never get tired of the idea that someone would think of Groucho Marx is the perfect man to lead a nation into war. Or that Harpo and Chico would be good spies. Or that Zeppo would be interested in another film after this one.
t
tmdb47633491
Written 7 year(s) ago
7
The Marx Bros are to Blockbuster as Monty Python are to Netflix and I mean that in the best way possible
Filipe Manuel Neto
Written 1 year(s) ago
10
I would love to send a copy of the film to Vladimir Putin. Would he understand the gesture?

Who would have thought that this film is almost a hundred years old? I just saw it, and it is fresher and lusher than many vegetables in the supermarket! Many people no longer know who the Marx Brothers are, but a hundred years ago, at a time when there were no internet memes (or the internet), they were the kings of comedy, and it's always worth seeing what they did. They passed away a long time ago, but they left us a polite, intelligent, sharp, accessible humor that the whole family can see.

The film was released in 1933, at a time dominated by the imminent threats of war. It reminds us of our own time, doesn't it? One hundred years later, we continue to make the same mistakes and show God that we have learned nothing from them. The film makes fun of this by giving us a portrait of a bankrupt country led by an incompetent man, very vain, arrogant and surrounded by sycophants who treat him as a savior of the nation. It could be Mussolini, or Hitler... and the explicit criticism of European dictators could not be sharper today, if we think about some tyrants of our time.

The film is dominated by the four Marxes: Zeppo, in his last appearance as a member of the group, has a much more solid character than usual and as a result we never feel that he is too much in the film. Chico also does very well. Harpo does what he's used us to, managing to be funny without saying a word and putting all his tricks as a mime and vaudeville clown to good use. Groucho, as usual, intelligently leads the group. The king of ready answers couldn't have a quicker wit or a sharper tongue. In addition, we have Margaret Dumont in a skillful and healthy collaboration with them.

Good sets and very well-imagined costumes help us compose Freedonia, a republic on the verge of collapse, bankruptcy and a foreign invasion. There is an unbelievable dose of anthological scenes in this film, from the motorcycle joke with the sidecar to the joke with the mirror. The black-and-white cinematography is sharp, well-shot, and the film doesn't look as old as it actually is. The soundtrack adds the finishing touch.