Freedonia's Battle Circus

Rating: 9/10 (11 April 2006)

DUCK SOUP (Paramount, 1933), directed by Leo McCarey, is hailed as a Marx Brothers comedy masterpiece and regarded the best of their five features for Paramount. Not precisely a movie about the restaurant business with the special of the day being duck soup, but a political satire that needs to be seen more than once in order to get the jokes involved and understand the humor missed the first dozen times around. A forerunner to latter spoofs of this nature as THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940), and DOCTOR STRANGELOVE (1964), or public television's oddball sense of humor from "Monty Python's Flying Circus" of the 1970s, DUCK SOUP followed the similar pattern of Paramount's MILLION DOLLAR LEGS (1932) with WC FIelds, spoofing both government and the Olympics. As for DUCK SOUP, it's in a class menu by itself.
Set in the mythical kingdom of Freedonia, the government asks wealthy widow Gloria Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) for another $20 million in order to reduce the taxes. Feeling the money has been mismanaged, she agrees to the loan only if Rufus T. FIrefly (Groucho) is appointed leader. Wanting to gain control of Freedonia by marrying Mrs. Teasdale, Trentino (Louis Calhern), the ambassador of Sylvania, has famous dancer Vera Marcal (Raquel Torres), also his mistress, to distract Firefly by flirting with him while at the same time having his hired spies Chicolini (Chico Marx) and partner, Pinky (Harpo Marx) to get enough information to discredit him. When all else goes wrong, a revolutionary war between Freedonia and Sylvania begins, especially since Firefly has already paid a month's rent on the battlefield.
From the very beginning with the opening title and credits superimposed over four ducks swimming in a pot of soup, to Mrs. Teasdale singing "Hail to Freedonia" as the four brothers pay homage by throwing fruit at her, DUCK SOUP is solid comedy to the extreme, which can be categorized as stupid, insane or hilarious. Regardless of what's thrown in, everything about DUCK SOUP works, and never slows down for an instant during its 68 minutes. While this could be very well be a reworking of a Marx Brothers Broadway play, DUCK SOUP is an original, in spite of reinventing itself with gags taken from earlier works, including Groucho's "love making" to Dumont, or the inauguration opening lifted from ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930) as the public awaits for their guest of honor, repeating the lyrics to "Hail to Freedonia" as with the earlier "Hooray for Captain Spaulding," until he eventually does.
The Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby include: "The Clock on the Wall Strikes Ten" (sung by Zeppo Marx and Margaret Dumont); "His Excellency is Due" (sung by cast); "Pop Goes the Weasel" (sung by Groucho Marx); "Hail to Freedonia" and "Freedonia's Going to War."
DUCK SOUP breaks away from its traditional time out for piano and harp interludes by Chico and Harpo, possibly ending up on the cutting room floor to tighten the pace, along with Edmund Breese (best known as Doctor Wong on 1933's Paramount comedy, INTERNATIONAL HOUSE, with W.C. Fields) credited as Zandor, is seen at a glimpse as one of the cabinet members.
While a mythical kingdom, this is no land of Oz. The Marx Brothers retain their traditional costumes and overly familiar personalities: Groucho, the king of insults ("Remember we're fighting for this woman's honor which is more than she ever did!"); Harpo, the silent instigator; Chico, the Italian accented peanut stand vendor accompanied by his dog, Pastrami; and Zeppo, the straight man/ secretary in his farewell screen performance. Aside from Margaret Dumont playing Groucho's foil for the third time, other notable performances include Louis Calhern as the debonair villain, Edgar "Slow Burn" Kennedy as the lemonade seller, finding that he is no match for his neighboring vendors, Harpo and Chico; and Charles Middleton as the court martial prosecutor.
Great moments of site gags seem to all belong to the quiet one, Harpo, acting as Firefly's chauffeur whose motor cycle equipped with attachment seat passengered by Firefly which never seems to go anywhere (Groucho: "This is the fifth trip I made today and I haven't been anywhere yet."); Harpo showing Firefly his bodily tattoos, one which comes to life; Harpo doing a Paul Revere ride after war is declared; and of course, the legendary mirror scene between yours truly and Groucho. Chico gets his quota of laughs with his puns, either with Groucho or Harpo. That all noisy on the battle front finale, which must be seen to be believed, rightfully belongs to all four of the Marx Brothers.
Considering its initial failure at the box office in 1933, DUCK SOUP may not be for all tastes, yet did find everlasting popularity in later years due to frequent revivals on commercial television enjoyed by the Baby Boomer generation. It became one of the first Marx comedies to be distributed on video cassette in the early 1980s, and from 1991-92, found a new audience with the cable TV generation on American Movie Classics; later resurfacing on cable again on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 18, 2001), where it later became part of its Essentials.
Currently on DVD, DUCK SOUP remains a timeless classic, now that it's become American Film Institute's top 100 best comedies of the twentieth century. With laughter being the best medicine, DUCK SOUP may not be the best remedy for all, but at least the effort for fun entertainment is there. (****)