Duck Soup

Infobox Film
name = Duck Soup


image_size = 215px
caption = theatrical release poster.
director = Leo McCarey
producer = Herman J. Mankiewicz "(uncredited)"
writer = Bert Kalmar
Harry Ruby
Arthur Sheekman
Nat Perrin
starring = Groucho Marx
Harpo Marx
Chico Marx
Zeppo Marx
Margaret Dumont
Louis Calhern
Raquel Torres
Edgar Kennedy
music = Bert Kalmer
Harry Ruby
cinematography = Henry Sharp
editing = LeRoy Stone "(uncredited)"
distributor = Paramount Pictures
"(1933-1957)"
MCA/EMKA, Ltd.
"(1958-62)"
Universal Pictures
"(1962-present)"
released = 17 November fy|1933
runtime = 68 minutes
language = English
country = FilmUS
budget =
gross =
imdb_id = 0023969

"Duck Soup" is a fy|1933 Marx Brothers anarchic comedy film written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, with additional dialogue by Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin, and directed by Leo McCarey. First released theatrically by Paramount Pictures on November 17 1933, it starred what were then billed as the "Four Marx Brothers" (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo) and also featured Margaret Dumont, Raquel Torres, Louis Calhern and Edgar Kennedy. It was the last Marx Brothers film to feature Zeppo, and the last of five Marx Brothers movies released by Paramount. [Zeppo retired from acting altogether after "Duck Soup", becoming an agent. See Louvish.]

Compared to the Marx Brothers' previous Paramount films, "Duck Soup" was a box-office disappointment, although it was not a "flop" as is sometimes reported. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023969/ "Duck Soup" at the Internet Movie Database] ] The film opened to mixed reviews, [http://www.tcmdb.com/title/title.jsp?stid=73717 Notes for "Duck Soup" - TCM.com] ] although this by itself did not end the group's business with Paramount. Bitter contract disputes, including a threatened walk-out by the Marxes, crippled relationships between them and Paramount just as "Duck Soup" went into production. After the film fulfilled their five-picture contract with the studio, the Marxes and Paramount agreed to part ways. [One result of the relative lack of success of "Duck Soup" was that when the Brothers moved to MGM and "A Night at the Opera" was in preparation, studio head Irving Thalberg insisted that they return to their previous practice of trying out their new material in front of live audiences on the vaudeville circuit.]

However, critical opinion has evolved and the film has since achieved the status of a classic. "Duck Soup" is now widely considered to be a Marx Brothers masterpiece.

In fy|1990 the United States Library of Congress deemed "Duck Soup" "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Plot

The wealthy Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) insists that Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) be appointed leader of the small, bankrupt country of Freedonia before she will continue to provide much-needed financial assistance. Meanwhile, neighboring Sylvania is attempting to take over the country. Sylvanian ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern) tries to foment a revolution, woos Mrs. Teasdale, and attempts to dig up dirt on Firefly by sending in spies Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Pinky (Harpo Marx).

After collecting worthless information about Firefly, Chicolini and Pinky infiltrate the government when Chicolini is appointed Secretary of War after Firefly sees him on the street selling peanuts. Meanwhile, Firefly's personal assistant, Bob Roland (Zeppo Marx) suspects Trentino's questionable motives, and counsels Firefly to "get rid of that man at once" by saying "something to make him mad, and he'll strike you, and we'll force him to leave the country." Firefly agrees to the plan, but after a series of personal insults exchanged between Firefly and Trentino, the plan backfires and Firefly slaps Trentino instead. As a result, the two countries reach the brink of war. Adding to the international friction is the fact that Firefly is also wooing Mrs. Teasdale, and likewise hoping to get his hands on her late husband's fortune.

Trentino learns that Freedonia's war plans are in Mrs. Teasdale's possession and orders Chicolini and Pinky to steal them. Chicolini is caught by Firefly and put on trial, during which war is officially declared, and everyone is overcome by war frenzy, breaking into song and dance. The trial put aside, Chicolini and Pinky join Firefly and Bob Roland in anarchic battle, resulting in general mayhem.

The end of the film finds Trentino caught in a makeshift stocks, with the Brothers pelting him with fruit. Trentino surrenders, but Groucho refuses to stop throwing until they run out of fruit. Margaret Dumont begins singing the Freedonia national anthem in her operatic voice and the Brothers begin hurling fruit at "her" instead.

Mirror scene

In the "mirror scene," Pinky, dressed as Firefly, pretends to be Firefly's reflection in a missing mirror, matching his every move — including ones that begin out of sight — to near perfection until the end of the scene. Eventually, and to their misfortune, Chicolini, also disguised as Firefly, collides with both of them.

This scene has been duplicated many times—for example, in the Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Hare Tonic", and in the "The X-Files" episode, "Dreamland". A scene in "The Pink Panther", with David Niven and Robert Wagner wearing identical gorilla costumes, mimics the mirror scene. Harpo himself did a reprise of this scene, dressed in his usual costume, with Lucille Ball also donning the fright wig and trench coat, in an episode of "I Love Lucy". [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0609287/ "I Love Lucy": "Lucy and Harpo Marx"] at the Internet Movie Database.]

Although its appearance in "Duck Soup" is now certainly the most well known instance of it, the concept of the mirror scene did not originate with the Marx Brothers. Charlie Chaplin used it in "The Floorwalker" (fy|1916) and Max Linder included it in his fy|1921 silent film "Seven Years Bad Luck", where a man's servants have accidentally broken a mirror and attempt to hide the fact by imitating his actions in the mirror's frame.James Steffen [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=500600&category=Articles "Seven Years Bad Luck" (TCM article)] ]

Other scenes and jokes

The climactic production number ridicules war by comparing nationalism to a minstrel show. One line is a variant on the old Negro spiritual "All God's Chillun Got Wings" (and was reportedly considered for deletion for the film's current DVD release, for fear of offending African Americans):

They got guns, We got guns, All God's chillun got guns!I'm gonna walk all over the battlefield, 'Cause all God's chillun got guns!

Shortly after, during the final battle scenes, "rightfully [...] called the funniest of all of cinema", Firefly can be seen wearing a different costume in almost every sequence until the end of the film, including American Civil War outfits (first Union and then Confederacy), a British palace guard uniform, a Boy Scout Scoutmaster's uniform, and even a coon-skin Davy Crockett cap. Meanwhile, the exterior view of the building they are occupying changes appearance from a bunker to an old fort, etc. (Some analysts say that all the war costumes suggest that the scene symbolizes all American wars. As the Boy Scouts have never formally engaged in war, it is more likely that the writers were merely trying to get laughs.) Firefly assures his generals that he has "a man out combing the countryside for volunteers." Sure enough, Pinky is wandering out on the front lines wearing a sandwich board sign reading, "Join the Army and see the Navy." Later, Chicolini volunteers Pinky to carry a message through enemy lines; Firefly tells him, " [...] and remember, while you're out there risking life and limb through shot and shell, we'll be in here thinking what a sucker you are." Thomas Doherty has described this line as "sum [ming] up the Great War cynicism towards all things patriotic".Doherty, p. 194] Scenes from this final act also play a significant role in a scene near the end of the Woody Allen film "Hannah and Her Sisters".

The melodramatic exclamation "This means war!" certainly did not originate with "Duck Soup", but it is used several times in the film—at least twice by Trentino and once by Firefly [ [http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/d/duck-soup-script-transcript-marx.html Transcript of "Duck Soup"] ] —and would be repeated by Groucho in "A Night at the Opera". Variations of this phrase would later become a frequently-used catch-phrase in Bugs Bunny cartoons. [Canemaker, John. "The Boys from Termite Terrace". A Camera Three Documentary, 1975. Warner Bros. cartoon director Chuck Jones admitted during this interview that he and his associates "borrowed" Bugs Bunny's phrase, "Of course you know, this means war!", from Groucho Marx. Jones, a fan of the Marx Brothers, laughed, "We would steal from almost "any" source!"]

In another scene, the film pokes fun at the Hays Code by showing a woman's bedroom and then showing a woman's shoes on the floor, a man's shoes and horseshoes. Pinky is sleeping in the bed with the horse; the woman is in the twin bed next to them.

The film's writers recycled a joke used in "Horse Feathers" in this dialogue with Chico that hints at his real-life lifestyle:

"Prosecutor:" Chicolini, isn't it true you sold Freedonia's secret war code and plans?
"Chicolini:" Sure! I sold a code and two pairs o' plans!

The street vendor confrontations are also well-remembered pieces of physical comedy: Chico and Harpo harass a lemonade seller (comedy film veteran Edgar Kennedy) egged on by his flustered attitude. At one point, Harpo burns up Kennedy's straw boater hat, and Kennedy responds by pushing their peanut wagon over. Harpo gets revenge for this by sloshing his legs in Kennedy's lemonade tank, driving off his customers. Finally, there is a complex bit of business involving the knocking off, dropping, picking up and exchanging of hats. [Harpo often doffed his hat on-screen, but Chico very rarely removed his Tyrolean hat. For a few seconds on-screen, Chico's head is uncovered, revealing a wavy wig. Chico had already started going bald when the brothers appeared in their first Broadway production, "I'll Say She Is", in 1924. All of the Brothers' natural receding-hairline patterns were similar, but Harpo and Chico covered theirs with wigs.]

Cast

*Groucho Marx as Rufus T. Firefly, who, at Mrs. Teasdale's insistence, becomes the leader of Freedonia.
*Harpo Marx as Pinky, a spy for Sylvania who never talks.
*Chico Marx as Chicolini, another spy for Sylvania, one who never "stops" talking.
*Zeppo Marx as Lt. Bob Roland, Firefly's secretary.
*Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Gloria Teasdale, a rich widow who underwrites the budget of Freedonia.
*Louis Calhern as Ambassador Trentino of Sylvania, who schemes to have his country take over Freedonia.
*Raquel Torres as Vera Marcal, a "femme fatale" who is working for Ambassador Trentino.
*Edgar Kennedy as a lemonade vendor, who is just trying to make a living.
*Edmund Breese as Zander
*Edwin Maxwell as Former Secretary of War
*William Worthington as First Minister of Finance
*Davison Clark as Second Minister of Finance
*Charles Middleton as Prosecutor
*Leonid Kinskey as Sylvanian Agitator
*George MacQuarrie as First Judge
*Fred Sullivan as Second Judge
*Eric Mayne as Third Judge

Cast notes

Comparing the original scripts with the finished film, most of the characters' initial scripted names were later changed. Only the names of Chicolini and Mrs. Teasdale were kept. Groucho's character — originally named "Rufus T. "Firestone" — eventually became Rufus T. Firefly, while the name of Harpo's character — named Pinky in the final product — was given in the [http://www.marx-brothers.org/marxology/images/pressbook.gifpressbook] as "Brownie". "Ambassador Frankenstein of Amnesia" was quickly changed to Ambassador Trentino of Sylvania. Zeppo's character remained Firefly's son until very late in production, finally becoming Bob Roland; also, Mrs Teasdale's niece "June Parker" transformed into Vera Marcal, first introduced as Trentino's "niece" before ultimately becoming his companion.

Production

The Marx Brothers' previous film, "Horse Feathers", had been Paramount's highest-grossing film of 1932. Encouraged by this success, the studio suggested on August 2, 1932 that they rush out a follow-up. Already at this early stage, the story (provisionally entitled "Oo La La") was set in a mythical kingdom. On August 11, 1932, "The Los Angeles Times" reported that production would commence in five weeks with the famed Ernst Lubitsch directing.

This was a turbulent time in the Marx Brothers' career. Reorganization at Paramount Pictures brought fears that money due the Brothers would never be paid; as a result, the Brothers threatened to leave Paramount and start their own company, "Marx Bros., Inc". Their first planned independent production was a film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical "Of Thee I Sing", with Norman McLeod leaving Paramount to direct. During late 1932 and early 1933, Groucho and Chico were also working on "Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel", a radio show written by Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman; there was even, at one time, talk of casting the two as their radio characters for the new film (an idea that would eventually be used for the later Marx Brothers film "The Big Store").

By October 4, 1932, Arthur Sheekman, Harry Ruby, and Bert Kalmar began writing the screenplay for the next Paramount film, which was now called "Firecrackers". Herman Mankiewicz was to supervise production, beginning in January 1933. By December 1932, "Firecrackers" had become "Cracked Ice". [http://www.marx-brothers.org/marxology/duck.htm The different scripts for "Duck Soup" – Marxology.com] ] Grover Jones was also reported to have contributed to the first draft by Ruby and Kalmar. In "The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia", Glenn Mitchell says that "the first script's content is difficult to determine".

On January 18, 1933, Harry Ruby, Bert Kalmar and Grover Jones submitted to Paramount their "Second Temporary Script" for "Cracked Ice", and Paramount announced that shooting would commence on February 15. This script shows that the basic story of what would become "Duck Soup" had been fixed. In February, Paramount announced that the title had been changed to "Grasshoppers" ("because animal stories are so popular"), and that filming was set back to February 20.

However, on May 11, 1933, the Marx Brothers' father Sam "Frenchie" Marx passed away in Los Angeles of a heart attack, and shortly afterwards, the contract dispute with Paramount was settled. "The New York Post" reported on May 17 that the Brothers would make a new comedy for Paramount, called "Duck Soup". Leo McCarey was set for direction of the film. Three days later "The New York Sun" reported that "Duck Soup" would start filming in June. "Duck Soup"'s script was completed by July 11. The script was a continuation of Ruby and Kalmar's "Firecrackers"/"Cracked Ice" drafts, but contained more elements. Many of the film's clever gags and routines were lifted from "Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel", giving Perrin and Sheekman an "additional dialogue" credit.

Director McCarey reportedly came up with the title for the film, having previously used it for an earlier directorial effort with Laurel and Hardy. This continued the "animal" titles of the Brothers' previous three films, "Animal Crackers", "Monkey Business" and "Horse Feathers". [http://www.marx-brothers.org/marxology/duck.htm "The Making of "Duck Soup" - Marxology.com] ] "Duck soup" is an American English slang phrase meaning something easy to do. [ [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/duck_soup "Duck soup" at the Wiktionary.] ] When Groucho was asked for an explanation, he quipped, "Take two turkeys, one goose, four cabbages, but no duck, and mix them together. After one taste, you'll duck soup for the rest of your life."cite web| last = Dirks| first = Tim| title = "Duck Soup" review| publisher = "filmsite.org"| date =| url = http://www.filmsite.org/duck.html| accessdate = 2007-12-30]

McCarey also thought up "the very Laurel & Hardy-like sequence in which Harpo and Chico stage a break-in at Mrs Teasdale's house." Another McCarey contribution was the now-classic "mirror scene", a revival of an old vaudeville act, which had previously been used in Charlie Chaplin's 1916 silent film "The Floorwalker" and Max Linder's 1921 short "Seven Years Bad Luck".

oundtrack

Breaking with their usual pattern, neither Harpo's harp nor Chico's piano is used in the film, although Harpo briefly pretends to play harp on the strings of a piano, strumming chords in accompaniment to a music box that is playing the unlikely chime tune, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" from rival studio Disney's "Three Little Pigs", released the same year as "Duck Soup".

The musical introduction to Groucho's character is similar to the ones in "Animal Crackers" and "Horse Feathers" but it did not become closely associated with him as did "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" from "Animal Crackers".

Zeppo, as usual, plays, according to James Agee, "a peerlessly cheesy improvement on the traditional straight man", [cite web | last = Adamson | first = Joe | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = "Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo: A Celebration of the Marx Brothers" | work = | publisher = New York: Simon and Schuster | date = 1973 | url = http://www.amazon.com/Groucho-Harpo-Chico-Sometimes-Zeppo/dp/0671470728 | format = | doi = | accessdate = ] in his final on-screen appearance with the Brothers. He sings with the group (including soloing the first few lines of the first song, "When the Clock on the Wall Strikes 10"). He also sings with the others in "Freedonia's Going to War", filling out the four-cornered symmetry as the Brothers sing and dance in pairs during the number.cite web | last = Griffin | first = Danel | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = "Duck Soup" review | work = "Film as Art" | publisher = University of Alaska Southeast | date =
url = http://uashome.alaska.edu/~dfgriffin/website/ducksoup.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-12-30 ]

Original songs by Kalmar and Ruby

The "Freedonia National Anthem" is used frequently throughout the film, both as vocal and instrumental; the entire song seems to consist of "Hail, Hail, Freedonia, land of the brave and free", contrasting with the final line of "The Star-Spangled Banner". The "Sylvania theme", which sounds vaguely like "Rule Britannia", is also used several times. "When The Clock On The Wall Strikes 10", the first musical number in the film, is part of the same scene as "Just Wait 'Til I Get Through With It", Groucho's song over the laws of his administration. "This Country's Going To War" [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=73717&category=Music Music] ] is the final musical ensemble in the film, and is also the only musical number in the Marx Brothers' films to feature all four of the Brothers.

The introductory scene, showing ducks swimming in a kettle and quacking merrily, is scored with an instrumental medley of the aforementioned songs, and is also the only scene in the film that has anything remotely to do with ducks.

Non-original music

*"Military Polonaise" (Chopin) - played over newspaper headline of Firefly's appointment as president of Freedonia
*"Sailor's Hornpipe"; "Dixie" - short segments embedded in Laws of My Administration
*"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" - music box, accompanied by Harpo on (simulated) harp, briefly; a few minutes later, in another scene, Groucho says "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your door in" after he is locked in a closet
*"Stars and Stripes Forever" (Sousa) - on radio, turned on (loudly) by Harpo, who mistakes it for a safe
*"American Patrol" (Frank W. Meacham) - three of the Brothers playing soldiers' helmets like a xylophone as they march by, while Harpo clips off the decorative tassels (part of a running gag in the picture)
*"All God's Chillun Got Guns" (parody of "All God's Chillun Got Wings"); "Oh Freedonia" (parody of "Oh Susanna"); "Turkey in the Straw" (instrumental) - embedded in "Freedonia's Going to War"
*"Light Cavalry Overture" (Franz von Suppé) - Harpo galloping on horseback a la Paul Revere
*"Ain't She Sweet" (Milton Ager/Jack Yellen) - Harpo watching girl in window
*"Goodnight, Sweetheart" (Ray Noble) - Harpo and same girl (Edgar Kennedy's character's wife)
*Generic cavalry charge - Harpo with horn, in bathtub with Edgar Kennedy
*"One Hour With You" (Oscar Straus/Richard Whiting) - Harpo with another girl and his horse - segué into a bit of "The Old Gray Mare"

Reception

Popular belief holds that "Duck Soup" was a box office failure, but this is not true. Although it did not do as well as "Horse Feathers", it was the sixth-highest grossing film of 1933, according to Glenn Mitchell in "The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia" and Simon Louvish in "Monkey Business", his biography of the Marx Brothers.cite book
last = Mitchell
first = Glenn
authorlink = Glenn Mitchell
coauthors =
title = "The Mark Brothers Encyclopedia"
publisher = BT. Batsford Ltd
date = 1996
location = London, England
pages =
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=GFQIAAAACAAJ&dq=Duck+Soup
doi =
id =
isbn = ] Louvish] cite web
last = Bourne
first = Mark
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Review: "The Marx Brothers: Silver Screen Collection"
work =
publisher = "The DVD Journal"
date = 2004
url = http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/m/marxbrothers_ssc.shtml
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-02-23 ]

One possible reason for the film's lukewarm reception is that it was released during the Great Depression. Audiences were taken aback by such preposterous political disregard, buffoonery, and cynicism at a time of economic and political crisis. Film scholar Leonard Maltin had this to say in his book "The Great Movie Comedians":

As wonderful as ["Monkey Business", "Horse Feathers", and "Duck Soup"] seem today, some critics and moviegoers found them unpleasant and longed for the more orderly world of "The Cocoanuts" with its musical banalities. [...] Many right-thinkers laughed themselves silly in 1933—but a large number didn't. [...] The unrelieved assault of Marxian comedy was simply too much for some people.Maltin, pp. 135-136]

Years later, Groucho's son Arthur Marx described Irving Thalberg's assessment of the film's failure during a National Public Radio interview:

[Thalberg] said the trouble with "Duck Soup" is you've got funny gags in it, but there's no story and there's nothing to root for. You can't root for the Marx Brothers because they're a bunch of zany kooks. [Thalberg] says, "You gotta put a love story in your movie so there'll be something to root for, and you have to help the lovers get together." [ [http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/opera/ "Present at the Creation" - A National Public Radio story about the failure of "Duck Soup" and the success of the film that followed] ]

Most critics at the time disliked it because of its "dated" look at politics. Some modern critics are also unimpressed. Christopher Null believes, "the send-up of Mussolini-types doesn't quite pan out. Take the comedy, leave the story."cite web
last = Null
first = Christopher
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Review of "Duck Soup"
work =
publisher = "filmcritic.com"
date =
url= http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/2a460f93626cd4678625624c007f2b46/a722e8320481a92088256b27000f2bc1?OpenDocument
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-12-30 ]

Even Groucho himself did not initially think too highly of the film. When asked the significance of the film's politics, Groucho only shrugged and said: "What significance? We were just four Jews trying to get a laugh." [http://uashome.alaska.edu/~dfgriffin/website/Q&A.htm Danel Griffin] elaborates on this quote from Groucho at his website:

I've always been on the fence about this one. In my write-up, of course, I argue that even if the Marxes didn't intend any deeper significance, one still exists that its longevity has created. And of course, it's impossible to tell when Groucho is being sarcastic and when he isn't. But that he communicated with T. S. Eliot, Antonin Artaud, Dalí, etc., all who praised the Brothers' work, means that he was at least aware of the various readings of the film, and he engaged them on some level. I suspect that his outspoken opinion of "Duck Soup" simply changed over time. While the Brothers were still active, they were infamously embarrassed by the Paramount films—hard to believe it, but there was a time when the Thalberg collaborations were actually considered better. Perhaps the 'four Jews trying to get a laugh' comment was a dismissive one he made towards that era in general. Towards the end of his lifetime, critics reexamined the Paramounts and embraced them, and perhaps this gave Groucho incentive to finally admit that the film indeed was an intentional, biting satire. But who knows? Part of the charm of the Marx Brothers is that it’s impossible to know where they’re channeling.

] Nevertheless, the Brothers were ecstatic when Benito Mussolini took the film as a personal insult and banned it in Italy.Kanfer] Also, the residents of Fredonia, New York protested because they feared that the similar-sounding nation would hurt their city's reputation. The Marx Brothers took the opposite approach, telling them to change the name of their town to keep from hurting their movie.cite web | title = The New Pictures | work = Time Magazine | publisher = Time Inc. |date=1933-11-20 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,929605-2,00.html | accessdate = 2007-12-31 ] Groucho would later use a similar idea in his letters to Warner Brothers defending the title of "A Night in Casablanca". [http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/casablanca.asp Read the "Night in Casablanca" controversy and myth. "snopes.com"] ]

Despite the tepid critical response at the time, "Duck Soup" is now seen as a classic political farce. Film critic Danel Griffin believes that "Duck Soup" is "on par with other war comedies like Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" and Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove", only slightly more unnerving in that "Duck Soup" doesn't seem to realize it is anything more than innocent fluff." Fellow film critic Roger Ebert believes, "The Marx Brothers created a body of work in which individual films are like slices from the whole, but "Duck Soup" is probably the best."

Revived interest in the film (and other 1930s comedies in general) during the 1960s was seen as dovetailing with the rebellious side of American culture in that decade. American literary critic Harold Bloom considers the end of "Duck Soup" one of the greatest works of American art produced in the 20th century. [http://www.amazon.com/Harold-Blooms-twentieth-century-American-Sublime/lm/RNS8OM5V8AM70 "Twentieth-Century American Sublime" - Bloom’s introduction to "Modern Critical Interpretations: Thomas Pynchon" (1987).] ]

The film was #85 on American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies and #5 on its 100 Years, 100 Laughs, and in 1990 was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 2000, readers of "Total Film" magazine voted "Duck Soup" the 29th greatest comedy film of all time. The film also scores a 94% "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. cite web| title = "Duck Soup" | work = | publisher = Rotten Tomatoes
date = | url =http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/duck_soup/
format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-01-20 ] It is also one of the earliest films to appear on Roger Ebert's list of "Great Movies".cite web | last = Ebert | first = Roger | authorlink = Roger Ebert | title = Review of "Duck Soup" | work = Chicago Sun-Times | publisher = "Rogerebert.com" | date = July 9, 2000 | url = http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000709/REVIEWS08/7090301/1023 | format = | doi =
accessdate = 2007-12-30 ]

Influence

The fact that the United States Library of Congress has declared "Duck Soup" "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" is one indication of the film's influence. [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Unofficial/Movies/NFR-Titles.html List of National Film Registry (1988-2003).] ] It is also included in the original 1998 broadcast of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, at number 85. A decade later, for the 2007 update of the list, "Duck Soup" ranked even higher, at number 60. [American Film Institute [http://www.afi.com/Docs/about/press/2007/100movies07.pdf "Citizen Kane Stands the Test of Time"] ]

Among the films that "Duck Soup" has inspired are Woody Allen's "Bananas". [ [http://www.moviehamlet.com/review/1490/bananas-when-woody-was-a-marxist Bananas: When Woody Was a Marxist] ]

Availability

Universal Home Video released "Duck Soup" on DVD, unrestored but uncut, as part of a six-disc box set "The Marx Brothers: Silver Screen Collection", which includes also the Brothers' other Paramount films, "The Cocoanuts", "Animal Crackers", "Monkey Business", and "Horse Feathers". Reviewing the set, film critic Mark Bourne writes:

shortly before this DVD set hit the streets, a pre-release report by nationally syndicated entertainment columnist Marilyn Beck stated that "racially-offensive material" would be edited from this edition of "Duck Soup". Specifically, material "that has been deplored and debated in the 'We're Going to War' production number." Beck didn't say what the exact cut was, or who's doing all that deploring and debating, though presumably she meant the "All God's Chillun Got Guns" section. The possibility of new contextually obtuse editing is bad enough. What made her column even more galling was the satisfied tone in her statement that such a "well-made edit makes the film a pure zany joy without an ugly blot in it to spoil the fun."It's a pleasure to report that Marilyn Beck is full of it. No such edits exist in this edition. Another potentially sensitive moment in the film — Groucho's punchline, "and that's why darkies were born," a dated reference to a popular song from the '30s — is also still intact.

ee also

*List of United States comedy films

References

Notes

Bibliography

*cite book| last = Doherty| first = Thomas| title = Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934| publisher = Columbia University Press| year = 1999| location = New York| isbn = ??
*cite book|last = Kanfer | first = Stefan| title = Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx | publisher = Vintage (Random House) | year = 2001 (reprint) | location = New York | isbn = ISBN 0-375-70207-5
*cite book| last = Louvish| first = Simon| authorlink = Simon Louvish| title = Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers| publisher = Thomas Dunne Books | year = 2000| location = New York| isbn =??
*cite book| last = Maltin| first = Leonard | authorlink = Leonard Maltin| title = The Great Movie Comedians: From Charlie Chaplin to Woody Allen| publisher = Bell Publishing Company| year = 1982 (reprint) | location = New York | isbn = 0-517-361841

External links

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* (Review and scene-by-scene description)
* [http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/Marx/films/DuckSoup.html Credit summary with "Four Marx Brothers" poster] from a University of Illinois at Chicago website
* [http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/opera/ Present at the Creation] , an NPR story about the failure of "Duck Soup" and the success of the film that followed
* [http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2008/081708Hickman.shtml Rice's Recipe for Duck Soup] , contemporary relevance as political reference