Lots of fun and memorable gags - with a few tasteless moments.

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2004)

The four Marx Brothers ride on to celluloid as a dictator (Groucho), a couple of unlikely spies (Chico and Harpo) and a guy that hangs around for no particular reason (Zeppo), but joins in the singing!
I love the Marx brothers, but there are quibbles and short comings. For a start most of the major MB films were road tested as stage plays and the film makers didn't do enough to disguise this fact. While people praise the Bothers (plural) there is only one world class talent on show (Groucho) - the others are a leering creep (would you let Harpo near your child?), a pleasant but empty nothing (Zeppo), and an Italian stereotype (Chico - pronounced "Chic-o" in family - due to his love of women, not the pronunciation normally used!)
The problem with silly comedy is that it is unattackable as regards plot (how can you take anything seriously when opposing parties - in the film proper - join for a singsong!), so anyone looking for in-depth political satire here will be disappointed. This is just a convenient setting for visual gags and various put downs of (and on) authority and - sadly - women in general.
(This might be earliest film example of general bland statements being taken as sexual invitation!)
Groucho/Firefly seems hell bent on having his war - as if the very concept of war is fun and should be treated with jest. At one point he fires a machine gun out of the window - but the people that he is gunning down turn out to be his own men (whoops)! Production code values were only introduced later (this is 1933) so there are a few innuendoes and even post-coitus bed scenes!
Let me take a minute out to voice my general MB beefs: First Groucho never wrote any of the famous lines that came out of his mouth. Script writers did. They are often credited to him - even in serious quote books. Secondly they were never all that nice in real life. Chico viewed the chorus line of the shows as his own personal sexual play things and hung around with criminals (who took most of his money - through crooked gambling - and threaten to kill him unless he found more). Groucho wasn't called Groucho for nothing and, while master of the put-down, seemed bitter and twisted about money (no matter how much he had). He didn't take direction well (the painted mustache was a one-finger gesture to directors!) and as proof no director ever directed two Marx Brothers films!
Returning to Duck Soup, what do we have: well-rehearsed one-liners are aired, women are chased and bedded, silly songs are sung, visual gags are aired (mostly pointless vandalism if you want to be pedantic) and war is presented like silly school boys playing in the school playground. Still it is the best Marx Brothers best film, not because it is perfect, but because it showcases what they had to offer the best.