CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

JohnHowardReid Producer: Herman Mankiewicz. Copyright 17 November 1933 by Paramount Productions, Inc. New York opening at the Rivoli: 22 November 1933. U.K. release: 26 May 1934. Australian release: 4 April 1934. 70 minutes. SYNOPSIS: The story, if one can call it that, concerns Dumont (who did seven of these with the Brothers) as a dowager millionairess who will donate $20 million to the destitute duchy of Freedonia if it will agree to make Groucho (Rufus T. Firefly) the dictator. NOTES: Zeppo's last film. He retired to become an agent. Groucho, Chico and Harpo's last film for Paramount. Irving Thalberg induced them to sign with M-G-M where they started off with one of their biggest contemporary hits, "A Night at the Opera" (1935). Although "Duck Soup" was not all that popular when first released, it proved a tremendous hit in the U.S.A./Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, when it was re-issued in the early 1950s. By the mid- fifties, it had become a top cult movie in all four countries.COMMENT: Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby didn't receive any encomiums for penning this three-laughs-a-minute script and these delicious mock- opera songs in their M-G-M "biography", "Three Little Words". Surprise, surprise! Their most famous film too — and easily the marvelously anarchic Marx Brothers' best. McCarey and his astute film editor have pruned the film so that only the funniest routines and most hilarious wisecracks remain in this zippily paced spoof of all things Ruritanian. Produced on a lavish budget, with stunning visual images to match the sharp soundtrack, "Duck Soup" is one of the few cult classics that fully deserves its highest reputation as an endless cornucopia of fun.OTHER VIEWS: "I'm going home and clean the crackers out of my bed. I'm expecting company," explains Groucho in Leo McCarey's naughty, nutty spoof of politics and international diplomacy. A merciless satire, enlivened by the sexiest dialogue and situations. Raquel Torres wears the lowest-cut gowns ever displayed on the vintage Hollywood screen. — JHR writing as George Addison.AVAILABLE on an excellent Universal DVD.

atlasmb Released in 1932, "Duck Soup" is surely one of the best Marx Brothers films, blessed with countless memorable lines and plenty of free-form comic insanity.The story takes place in the mythical country of Freedonia, where they are in need of a new leader. Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), who exerts some control over the nation's doings by virtue of being a sizable creditor, recommends Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) to replace the old ruler, who didn't measure up.Ms. Dumont, it should be noted, is the perfect foil for Marxian histrionics. If anyone doubts that being the straight person is a talent unto itself, they should watch the way she embraces the comedic lines with a flawless balance of understanding and disregard.The "T" in Rufus T. Firefly must stand for timing. Groucho and his brothers Chico and Harpo let fly with wonderful streams of wordplay and puns that pass too quickly to notice them all on first viewing.Much of the humor in this film comes from tit for tat exchanges of physical affronts. Laurel and Hardy were also expert at this; see their film titled, appropriately, "Tit For Tat". Such humor later found its way into the pages of Mad Magazine in their "Spy vs. Spy" features.This type of comedy is not everyone's cup of tea, but those who appreciate skewering by wordplay as much as swordplay should enjoy it immensely.

Fred Wemyss 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.

LeonLouisRicci This is Considered the Marx Brothers Best Film. That is if A Night at the Opera (1935) isn't. It's Completely Objective (just like all Comedy) and it Matters Not Because Both are Great Films and Great Marxist Entertainment.This One is Lean, Trimmed of All Excess (even Chico's Piano and Harpo's Harp), and Moves at the Speed of a Bullet with No Lag Time. The Movie Never Seems to Drag or Stall and has a Momentum All Its Own and that is, It Never Stops Moving.Someone, Somewhere, Sometime Probably did the Math and Figured Out that Duck Soup has More Laughs Per Minute than Any Other Film Ever Made. If No One Did, They Should, and If It Doesn't, the Math is Wrong, Because This is One Funny Film.The Subject, a Satire of War, is Alone Worth the Price of Admission. One of the Few Musical Interludes is a Swinging, Jazzed Up Minstrel "All God's Chillun Got Guns" (cut in some versions), and Groucho Makes a Joke About a Popular Song of the Time "That's How Darkies Were Born". The Point is, that the Marx Brothers were Never Politically Correct or Reverent and Duck Soup is Full of Their Edgy, Sometimes Nasty Humor. Maybe More than Any of Their Films. It Never Capitulates Like "Opera" for Others to Perform or to Lessen the Bite. So Overall, if One Had to Choose the Best Marx Brothers Movie, the Recommendation is Duck Soup for Everyone.