Duck Soup
In 1933, The Marx Brothers would come out with this, their fifth effort as a movie comedy team. Sadly, it would be the last ever film appearance for Zeppo who quit film acting entirely after this, becoming a talent agent along with a number of other pursuits, citing how he was tired of being considered among other things, âthe fourth wheelâ or âthe unfunny Brotherâ even as his more strait laced appearance compared to his siblings never seemed to have been allowed to gain any traction as a comedic persona. Here, itâs no different, with Zeppo once again being cast in the role of personal assistant / secretary to whoever Groucho was playing at that time. But there is something else about this entry that makes it even more unusual, an elevated status which it has received that only became prevalent after a certain number of years. For a long time The Brothersâ next film, A Night At The Opera (their first film made while under contract to MGM and their first without Zeppo) was considered to be their âgreat masterpieceâ until the 1980s that is, when this prior release started making the rounds at college campuses and other revival showings, boosting its reputation so much that by the late 1990s, it had officially displaced Opera as their ultimate masterpiece, showing up on all kinds of respectable âAll Time Best Ofâ lists including that of The AFI (American Film Institute) and their prime time list announcement TV specials, getting high rankings on their Overall Greatest Movies Of All Time lists and actually scoring the number 5 spot(!) on the list of The 100 Greatest Comedies Ever Made. So the question is, is it really THAT good? The answer would probably be an educated no, but one can also see the elements that seemed so appealing to the younger college crowds in that the film was The Marx Brothersâ biggest cinematic foray into the realm of actual political satire, although at the same time the satire so to speak seems a bit muted despite the storyline of Groucho becoming the leader of a foreign country (and wasting little time starting a war with another nearby nation) and more of an excuse for The Brothers to continue to wage their own little war of comic anarchy on both themselves and on those whom they deem to be too ânormalâ to NOT get fucked with whether it be in their minds or through outright slapstick (including Margaret Dumont returning in her usual matronly role so that Groucho can again heap loads of abuse on her). This time though, they brought on as the director one Leo McCarey, a future multiple Oscar winner and filmmaking legend in his own right who reportedly really did NOT want to work with The Marx Brothers at all but was forced to as he was a contract director and The Brothers really wanted him onboard for this one. Gone also are the rather charming little piano solos by Chico or Harpoâs performances on the harp, but that does not mean that needless musical numbers do not continue to be The Brothersâ Achillesâ Heel, as the instances of them and others breaking out suddenly in song continue to plague their mostly winning formula. The musical numbers obviously donât work because they 1) arenât funny and 2) completely mess up the pacing when the film would move much faster and funnier if The Brothers were just allowed to do their comedy thing constantly from beginning to end. But they do get their shots at it as the plot sees Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly take charge of the country of Freedonia after being sponsored by the widow of the richest man in the country (Dumont). Problem is, the ambassador from a neighboring country (Louis Calhern) has decided to try and undermine Fireflyâs regime by dispatching two spies to watch him constantly and try to gather as much information as they can which can be used against him. No prizes are awarded for guessing that the two spies are Harpo and Chico (here still doing his grifter Italian stereotype routine and calling himself Chicolini, a character name that so enraged the real life Italian dictator Benito Mussolini that he outright banned the film from being exhibited in Italy, a development for which The Brothers found much reason to rejoice) and the majority of the film involves their quest for information while Grouchoâs Firefly continues to insult The Ambassador at every opportunity (including numerous slaps to the face) before The Ambassador character (who appears to have more authority in his own country than even his own President) decides to declare war of his own which leads to The Brothers showing their own interpretation of how inane war really is which takes up the last 15 minutes of the movie at such a lightning pace that it can almost be called a comic montage of sorts, as Chicolini and Harpo take turns switching back and forth from one side to another and Zeppo continues to play the good soldier in always having Grouchoâs back. But is this any good in an EXCEPTIONAL way from The Marx Brothersâ other films? And the answer there would be yes, it IS good when compared to the rest of their work, but still in the same quality range as their best earlier films like Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, neither of which received any kind of preferred placement on The AFI Sweepstakes Lists. There are still lots of good bits on display here which show The Brothers at their lunatic best including Chico (who is operating a peanut stand as part of his cover) and Harpo squaring off with a rival business owner (Edgar Kennedy) who runs a lemonade stand as his business and is trying to bully Chico and his peanut stand off of the sidewalk so that he can have all of the street vendor business to himself, leading to a duel of sorts amongst the three of them which involves the exchanging of hats. There is also Chico and Harpoâs tendency to constantly mess with their boss (The Ambassador) up to and including putting glue on his ass and then putting a newspaper in his chair so that when he sits down and then gets back up he has the newspaper stuck to his ass. And then of course there is the legendary bit where both Chico and Harpo (in a harebrained scheme to get some classified government documents from Dumont) lock Groucho in a bathroom and then dab on some greasepaint for a moustache along with the requisite glasses and cigar to enable themselves to BOTH become Groucho (and both bear a stunning resemblance to him in the process) and try to fool Dumont into handing over the documents with the only problem being that Chico still talks with his faux Italian accent (which she notices) while Harpo doesnât talk at all! Better yet, when the real Groucho breaks out of the bathroom, he pursues Harpo downstairs where they engage in the unforgettable mirror routine, with Groucho trying to fool his doppelganger (and brother) by seeing if he can keep up with mimicking his movements (when he can just step through to grab him and prove itâs not a mirror) until Chico (also still in the Groucho gear) wanders along and not only winds up being grabbed, but also held over for trial on charges of treason! The mirror gag proved to be so memorable that many years later, Harpo would recreate it with Lucille Ball (only she would actually be dressed as Harpo) on a classic episode of I Love Lucy. Harpo was actually finding himself at that time to be a darling of the âintellectual eliteâ of The 1930s (the group that included the infamous Dorothy Parker and her vicious circle) who declared him to be the true genius of The Brothers and appreciated his talents enough to invite him to wine and dine with them. Regardless, many have cited this movie (and Horse Feathers beforehand) as being the time when Groucho would âtake the leadâ as being the most featured of the group (with it being a shame that Zeppo was left out of the Groucho impersonator bit since he was said to be able to do the best impression of Groucho out of anybody) and while that assertion was still questionable in Horse Feathers, here it would have to be said that with Groucho playing a war mongering world leader and Zeppo as his secretary and Harpo and Chico playing mere spies, that might be true and while the ridiculous closing minutes depicting the âgreat warâ is really more of The Brothers doing their crazy schtick, Groucho would claim in later years that there was NO deeper meaning to the whole thing and that he and his brothers were just trying to âget a laughâ like they always did and from the looks of things, thatâs exactly what they did, parallels to any kind of modern day politics be damnedâŚ
8/10