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sabotai · 01-14-2019, 09:01 PM

Duck Soup (1933)

Directed By: Leo McCarey
Written By: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby
Starring: The Four Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Raquel Torres, Edgar Kennedy
Length: 68 min.
Genre: Comedy

Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) is made leader of a small country called Freedonia at the insistance (never explained why) of Mrs. Teasdale, who bails out the country financially. The leader of neighboring Sylvania wants to annex Freedonia, so he sends two not so bright spies played by Chico and Harpo Marx.

The usual antics in a Marx Brothers movie occur. Groucho is an endless series of one-liners and puns. Chico does his tough guy with an italian accent act, and silent Harpo has his props and gags. As with the previous Marx Brothers movies, Harpo was the only one that got a few laughs out of me...but only a few.

Obviously, being around 80 years later, a lot of Groucho's jokes were really obvious. I did learn that Futurama's "Robonia" for the episode where Bender pretends to be a fembot was a reference to this movie. The name is a play on it, and the anthem of Robonia was set to the same music as Freedonia's. There was also a "mirror" scene where Groucho and Harpo dressed as Groucho mimic each other. After looking it up, seems like Chaplin was the first to do in the movies it in 1916. But it seems like it was a routine in comedy plays going back to the late 1890s. Good thing I looked it up, I was about to give the movie credit for something. But they did do a funny "mirror" routine.

In the end, there's a battle between Freedonia and Sylvania, and even though Freedonia gets their ass kicked, the ambassador of Sylvania (who is their leading general too?) surrenders after getting stuck in a doorway and getting pelted with oranges.

Both critics and audience on Rotten Tomatoes is over 90% and it has an 8.0 on IMDB. Looks like I'm in the minority of this one. After 3 Marx Brothers movies, I guess I'm just not a fan of their's.

Zeppo was in the movie too.

My Rating: 5/10
IMDB User Rating: 8.0/10 (51k votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% of Critics (44-3), 91% of Audience (4.1 / 5 ; 36k votes)

01-14-2019, 09:01 PM	#284
sabotai General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Satellite of Love	Duck Soup (1933) Directed By: Leo McCarey Written By: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby Starring: The Four Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Raquel Torres, Edgar Kennedy Length: 68 min. Genre: Comedy Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) is made leader of a small country called Freedonia at the insistance (never explained why) of Mrs. Teasdale, who bails out the country financially. The leader of neighboring Sylvania wants to annex Freedonia, so he sends two not so bright spies played by Chico and Harpo Marx. The usual antics in a Marx Brothers movie occur. Groucho is an endless series of one-liners and puns. Chico does his tough guy with an italian accent act, and silent Harpo has his props and gags. As with the previous Marx Brothers movies, Harpo was the only one that got a few laughs out of me...but only a few. Obviously, being around 80 years later, a lot of Groucho's jokes were really obvious. I did learn that Futurama's "Robonia" for the episode where Bender pretends to be a fembot was a reference to this movie. The name is a play on it, and the anthem of Robonia was set to the same music as Freedonia's. There was also a "mirror" scene where Groucho and Harpo dressed as Groucho mimic each other. After looking it up, seems like Chaplin was the first to do in the movies it in 1916. But it seems like it was a routine in comedy plays going back to the late 1890s. Good thing I looked it up, I was about to give the movie credit for something. But they did do a funny "mirror" routine. In the end, there's a battle between Freedonia and Sylvania, and even though Freedonia gets their ass kicked, the ambassador of Sylvania (who is their leading general too?) surrenders after getting stuck in a doorway and getting pelted with oranges. Both critics and audience on Rotten Tomatoes is over 90% and it has an 8.0 on IMDB. Looks like I'm in the minority of this one. After 3 Marx Brothers movies, I guess I'm just not a fan of their's. Zeppo was in the movie too. My Rating: 5/10 IMDB User Rating: 8.0/10 (51k votes) Rotten Tomatoes: 94% of Critics (44-3), 91% of Audience (4.1 / 5 ; 36k votes)