when comedy was Freedonia

Rating: Null/10 (21 May 2004)

Duck Soup is the Marx Brothers best film because it's the only one in which they had the opportunity of working with a good director. And a craftsman like McCarey could easily take away any radio monologue or useless instrument playing for the sake of pure cinematic storytelling. Here they aren't the clowns helping a phony singing couple; they are the force (or Schopenhauerian Will) that moves Freedonia. Everything seems to be right in this film, from the memorable pompous musical numbers (`I think they think we'll go to war' and Firefly's assumption ceremony), to the slapstick moments at the peanut stand or the breaking in the house, a scene that concludes with the mirror scene that constitute one of the most abstract moments in film history. The Marx' were never as anarchic and creative as in this film (check out the change of costumes between shots during the war scene) and it's sad that in their later films they sacrificed a lot of their talent to comfort the studio's establishment. However, the idea of a leader as Firefly ruling a nation has been proved often ever since; another example of life imitating film.