Not as good as I hoped

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2012)

Duck Soup can easily be seen as the prototype to the Marx Brothers classics that followed, but it's not one of their best. The political satire is well directed, but it doesn't reach true Marx hilarity until the last fifteen minutes or so - no brilliantly timed slapstick (until the timeless mirror scene), no truly great dialog and one liners (until the terrific exchange between Groucho and Chico at the trial scene), and the musical numbers are especially weak (especially the one that opens the movie, though that might be intentional because the tone changes entirely when Groucho shows up). It's an essential part of their filmography, no doubt, but for me true greatness is achieved only in the follow-up, A Night at the Opera, the one that finally dismissed the unfunny straight- man Zeppo and let Groucho, Chico and Harpo really run wild.