Movie Review: Duck Soup
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that the Marx Brothers in this movie
are the epitome of anarchy. They're rude, insulting,
pranksterish, and loyal to nobody. Later, tamer features would
usually cast them in some good-guy role, their destructive
mayhem having a secret agenda to help out a pretty girl in
distress or the like, but not in this movie. Parents who think
the Three Stooges are a bad influence may feel the same applies
here. Also, the opening-credit image of live ducks floating in
a pot with a fire under it is a little disturbing.
Families can talk about how a movie this hilarious could have failed at the box office when it opened in the '30s. Other, more popular Marx Brothers movies had boring musical numbers and straight-faced romantic subplots to interrupt the comedy. Should that have been done here? What kinds of comedies that you see today are like Duck Soup, or is this brand of comedy unique?
Common Sense Media Review
DUCK SOUP is considered a masterwork of comedy, and yet it
was not a success in the 1930s. In fact, there was some doubt
that the Marx Brothers would do another movie ever again after
this Paramount release laid an egg at the box office. It was
indeed the last time that Zeppo Marx, usually a straight man,
appeared onscreen with the troupe. From here onwards, the
brothers were a threesome. It wasn't until the more
anarchy-happy '60s that
Duck Soup was appreciated as a bonafide comedy
classic.
In practically all their other movies, the brothers had to share screen time with snail-paced musical interludes or love stories that had little to do with their wild comedy. Not here.
This is pure, unleashed Marxism, set in a mythical country called Fredonia, a place so poor that its financial existence depends on the charity of rich widow Gloria Teasdale (Margaret Dumont). She's smitten with the disreputable Rufus T. Firefly ( Groucho), and on her orders he's put in charge of the government. Never mind that Groucho still insults Gloria (and everybody else) with his rapid-fire verbiage ("You know you haven't stopped talking since I got here; you must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle!").
The ambassador of the neighboring country of Sylvania wants to take over Fredonia, preferably without bloodshed, by marrying Gloria. His inept spies Chicolini ( Chico) and Pinky ( Harpo) try to follow Firefly, but nothing much comes of the scheme -- even when Firefly spontaneously hires Chicolini as his new Secretary of War. Instead the temperamental Firefly leads Fredonia into war against Sylvania in a crazy climax with stock-footage of wildlife and all logic going out the window. Not that there was much logic or continuity to begin with.
Allegedly real-life dictator of Italy Benito Mussolini took Duck Soup as a personal insult and banned the movie. Whether there's a serious point being made in all the foolishness is pretty questionable. Just laugh and enjoy -- and if some of the gung-ho military madness and government misfits on screen remind you and your kids of people in today's newspaper headlines, that's something to discuss.
For another immortal screen clown who made a very deliberate, savage, slapstick parody of some of the most infamous rulers of the '30s, see The Great Dictator, starring Charlie Chaplin. Another great choice for young Marx Bros. fans is A Night at the Opera .
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
