Classic of the Month: The Marx Brothers in DUCK SOUP

“What significance? We were just four Jews trying to get a laugh”

That was what Groucho Marx said when asked about the political nature of the 1933 madcap-zany-WTF-live-action-cartoon of a comedy Duck Soup, and how much thought was put into its construction as the ultimate anarchic comedy. And it’s not unfair to ask- though it’s a perfectly reasonable and unpretentious answer- since Duck Soup seems to be such a work of insane brilliance that it defies explanation.  And, especially if you get a chance to see it on a big screen, as I had the luck to have recently, it is large and grandiose enough to fill the space just right.

Maybe it is best not to explain why things were done this way or that. The movie works almost like a cocktail of dreams and hallucinations on declaring and, ultimately, engaging in war (at least the last 15-20 minutes), and also features some of the best gags and jokes ever put to film. If you asked me where I took a breath from laughing I would be hard pressed. There’s not a moment in this movie that is not at least a little clever, or awesomely bad-pun-like, and indeed there’s many moments where I continued to laugh after a joke happened just in wondering “how the holy Moses did they come up with that?”

Duck Soup is the epitome of the 1930’s Vaudeville-birthed sound comedy (at the very least before color); no stone is unturned, no insult is not given out by Groucho and sometimes brother Chico, no word is not twisted around for the sake of a big laugh, and no piece of, well, clothing or whatever is left un-snipped by Harpo’s scissors, while Zeppo acted as the straight man. In the dissection of dictatorships and war as a function of the human condition (yes, I’m going there describing it like this), the Marx brothers take it down to a fundamental level: what makes all of this tick, what gets our goad, and what makes it funny?

Or what makes it so that one can see without any fog at how insane it already is? It’s like the Marx brothers top the inherent insanity given in human beings who reach power over the people and can go to war with whomever they like, by just, frankly, being themselves. It’s hopefully the greatest compliment to say that a lot of what happens in Duck Soup comes off so effortlessly by the three/four brothers.  And director Leo McCarey uses cinema’s delirious intentions with montage; in the final minutes the cavalry is called, sure, but so are all the animals in the zoo and on the plains of the safaris, and the swim team to boot.

Then again, there must have been a lot of effort put in by the brothers and the writers, and whatever mess it may seem to turn into by the time the war stuff happens; or just that musical sequence in the courtroom right before they go to war, a possible high water mark as far as laugh-a-mili-second musical scenes go, which I’ll also post below.

So many quotable lines come from every direction (just to put two out there: “Remember, you’re fighting for this woman’s honor, which is probably more than she ever did,” from Groucho and “Mint? No, no, I no like a mint. Uh, what other flavor you got?” from Chico when asked about a job in the Mint) that it’s hard to keep up, so hard that it probably demands repeat viewings. While it’s given to say the mirror scene is classic, which it is, lest not forget a masterful near-pantomime with the hats at the peanut stand, or some ‘tiny’ gags like making a “record” of events being a vinyl and tossed in the air to shoot.

There’s so much in the ether that it makes it an overwhelmingly rich experience comically, even in just 68 minutes. It’s also always in the spirit of fun, or whatever can get a laugh, and that takes some guts. Screw a “story”, why not just have Harpo make a stop while doing his “Paul Revere” at a woman taking a bath in a house and then winding up in the bathtub with the husband (?!) Why not have Groucho make his entrance the backward way down the pole to where everyone else is giving the GRAND entrance, as he holds out his cigar for, um, himself? Why not have the cavalcade of footage of “reinforcements” near the end? Why not break out into a song or have a bunch of unrelated cultural gags (“Taxes!” “Texas?” “No, money, dollars!” “Yeah, Dallas Texas!”)?

Why not just go completely bug-f*** nuts from time to time, take decency and give it the old run-around like for any hapless peanut vendor, and make the audience not even sure what’s exactly a joke or a gag or a goof or something ironic or (dare it happen) poignant? The Marx’s answer: Why, OF COURSE! Duck Soup is a masterpiece, no if’s ands or buts. HAIL FREEDONA!

Have you seen the film – if so, let us know what you think in the comments or at Twitter on .