Movie Odyssey Review #093: Duck Soup

Rating: 10/10 (6 April 2008)

093: Duck Soup (1933) - released 11/17/1933, viewed 6/9/07
KEVIN: At last, my favorite Marx Bros. movie. "This means WAR!" First they messed with high society in Animal Crackers. Next they wrecked havoc on a cruise liner in Monkey Business. Then they unleashed their antics on the college campus in Horse Feathers. But this time, it's war! The Marx Brothers latest outing, Duck Soup is their funniest, most streamlined, and by far my favorite Marx movie, and it is the first movie on the odyssey that I already have memorized. I'll take this one over 'Night at the Opera' any day. The movie starts out like an achingly routine politics-and-manners play. But when Groucho makes his entrance, it's a non-stop romp from there. Margaret Dumont is at her best. In the previous films, her timing with Groucho was a little shaky. It would go like this: Dumont would act regal, Groucho would toss out a non-sequiter, Dumont would pause to regain her bearings before the next line. Now the awkward pauses are gone, and Dumont never quits, no matter what Groucho says to her. My favorite moment from her is late in the film, when she puts in one last effort to prevent war and must watch helplessly as Groucho inevitably fouls it up. Edgar "Slow Burn" Kennedy is a stitch as the burly lemonade vendor who is repeatedly tormented by Chico and Harpo. After watching those scenes for the 18th time, I started to see that while certain comic beats may look chaotic, it is all meticulously rehearsed over and over again until it's perfect. Everyone else is perfect too. The supporting players pull their weight rather than slow things down. In the past the Marx boys played it sort of like they were in a different movie than everyone else. It's the same in Duck Soup, only this time everyone and everything just fits. And the final reel of the big bad war is the most rapid-fire marathon of Marx material I've ever seen. Naturally, I chose the film's climax as the clip to show for a presentation I did in my theatre history class about the Marx Bros. and their similarities to commedia dell'arte (it was way more fun than it sounds.) It comes down to this: The Marx Brothers are all about chaos. Anything that is structured and in order, they come in and tear it apart. By the time they're done with Freedonia, all that's left is pure hilarious mayhem.
"And while you're out there risking life and limb through shot and shell, we'll be in here thinking what a sucker you are!"
DOUG: It's the end of an era with this, the leanest and meanest Marx Brothers movie of all, and one that's very close to my heart, Duck Soup. It's the last one with Paramount, the last one with Zeppo, and the last one in the Pre-Code era. I watched this film for the first time several years ago on TCM. It was on at 1 in the morning, and it was the funniest 70 minutes of my life, totally worth it. Watching it this time, I kind of got this impression: It's as though Zeppo got a role in this boring movie about two countries in political turmoil. Rather than simply act in the film as planned, he invited his brothers over to make things interesting. The result was Groucho, Chico, and Harpo disrupting the proceedings with their trademark mayhem and non-sequiters, while the other actors (Raquel Torres, Louis Calhern, and the great Margaret Dumont) are trying desperately to stick to the script. It's the only explanation for why Mrs. Teasdale ever trusts Firefly to save the nation, or why Trentino ever expects Chicolini and Pinky to come through for him. By the third act, it's as though they just threw out the script and made up the rest. The film's meager running time is filled to the brim with jokes, gags, and insults that come fast and furious; you'll never catch them all in one viewing, or two, or even three. Even 'Airplane' and 'Young Frankenstein' can't match the pace of this one. In one scene, Trentino asks the guys if they "got Firefly's record," and a flurry of gags ensue: a toss, a gunshot, a bell, a cigar, and finally trapped fingers. The only scene that doesn't really work for me is the trial scene, maybe because it feels like filler before the big finale, maybe we're all tired out by that point, or maybe it's just too many other characters stepping on the brothers' jokes and throwing out obvious set-ups. Then there's Zeppo, the youngest brother and straight man one last time, playing Groucho's handsome assistant Bob. I recall when I watched the film for the first time, I didn't know that Bob was actually Zeppo until he joins his brothers in the "Freedonia's going to War" number. Not that that's bad; he does what a straight man must, going along with his boss/brother's every odd request ("Here's five dollars, keep it under your hat. Never mind, I'll keep it under my hat."). Margaret Dumont is at her best here. She lets out the necessary reactions to Groucho's subtle insults about her weight, but never loses her cool, and powers on through in-character like nobody's business. Like comedies? Like mayhem? Like classic movies? Like good movies? Like movies AT ALL? SEE IT!
Last film: Little Women (1933). Next film: Flying Down to Rio (1933).