Groucho gives the best State of the Union speech ever written.

Rating: 10/10 (9 April 2014)

"If you think this country's bad off now, just wait till I get through with it", Groucho sings while being sworn in as President of Fredonia (no relation to the small New York city in Chautaqua County) where he actually rules as dictator. Ironically the same year as the rise of Hitler in Germany, this parallels the absurdities of dictatorships with Groucho not apologizing in any manner for his promise of "We stand them up against the wall and pop goes the weasel" for breaking any law he passes. Of course, he can't get out of his house because every time he does, his chauffeur (Harpo!) takes off in the motorcycle, leaving Groucho behind in the sidecar, and later switching places with hysterical results.
With a name like Rufus T. Firefly, you know what kind of character Groucho is going to be, especially when he makes a pass at his benefactor, the wealthy Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont, back with the boys after a two-picture absence), all the while insulting her at the same time. He creates an instant rivalry with the ambassador from another country (an imperious Louis Calhern) and when war is declared, all zany hell breaks loose. There's even a minstrel show musical number about the declaration of the war, and with Harpo and Chico as spies, you know that the spying game is going to be downright hysterical.
Chico and Harpo take up in a zany argument with fellow street vendor Edgar Kennedy which has some truly outrageous visual gags. Raquel Torres takes over for Thelma Todd, vixen from the previous two entries here, but no vixen, no matter how sexy, can get one over on Groucho. Ironically, the director this time around is Leo McCarey who usually went for sentiment. Here, the atmosphere is downright parody of an unsettled world on the verge of another war, perhaps a little ahead of its time, but a film that today is considered ingenious and probably the most famous of the Marxx Brothers' films. It was so controversial in its day that the politicians from the real Fredonia, New York wrote to Groucho in protest. You know who came out the winner.