The Marx Brothers' Best Movie

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2016)

At a mere 63 minutes, this may be the shortest Marx Brothers movie. But if you were to cut out, from the other movies, the sorts of things which were not in this one, you'd still find that, minute for minute, this is the team's most consistent effort. All the other Marx Brothers movies contain a piano solo by Chico and a harp solo by Harpo. Most of the other movies have multiple songs sung by a non-comedic couple. DUCK SOUP dispenses with all of that. What remains is a fast-paced, driven assault of one-liners, sight gags and masterful slapstick routines, all with an antisocial edge. It also is a parody of patriotic musical extravaganzas and war-movie clichés. This movie became exceedingly popular with college crowds thirty-five years after it was released. it's a sort of cinematic equivalent of MAD Magazine.