Will you marry me? Did he leave you any money? Answer the second question first ✵ Duck Soup - A GOLDEN AGE IN BLACK AND WHITE ✵ 1931–1949 - The Movie Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained) (2016)

The Movie Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained) (2016)

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IN CONTEXT

GENRE

Musical comedy

DIRECTOR

Leo McCarey

WRITERS

Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Arthur Sheekman, Nat Perrin

STARS

Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont

BEFORE

1921 The Marx Brothers’ first movie, a short, Humor Risk, is made. It is now believed lost.

1929 The first full-length movie to star them, The Cocoanuts, is a musical comedy.

AFTER

1935 A Night at the Opera, the first Marx Brothers’ movie not to feature Zeppo, is a hit.

1937 The Marx Brothers’ seventh movie, A Day at the Races, is their biggest hit.

Like so many movies now regarded as classics, the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup received a mixed reception from critics when it opened in 1933. Now it’s seen for what it is: a sharp, anarchic, and above all hilarious political satire (even if the brothers themselves denied doing anything but trying to be funny). The movie is a riot of the brothers’ trademark puns and visual gags, including the famous mirror scene, in which, after breaking a mirror, Harpo mimics Groucho’s every move to avoid detection.

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From the left, Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo Marx were real-life brothers, who honed their comic personas in vaudeville theater.

Absurd plot

Groucho plays Rufus T. Firefly, invited for reasons that never become clear to become dictator of Fredonia by the wealthy Mrs. Teasdale, played by the brothers’ regular straight woman, Margaret Dumont. Firefly only wants Mrs. Teasdale for her money. But he has a rival, Trentino, ambassador to neighboring Sylvania. With Chico and Harpo working as Trentino’s spies, war breaks out between the two countries, leading to some of the most bizarre battle scenes in cinema history. Amid the madcap encounters, Groucho veers between flirts, insults, and some of his finest ever quips: “If you can’t get a taxi, you can leave in a huff.” If that’s too soon you can leave in a minute and a huff.”

What else to watch: Animal Crackers (1930) ✵ Monkey Business (1931) ✵ A Night at the Opera (1935) ✵ A Day at the Races (1937)