brilliant actors, brilliant editing

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The country of Freedonia is in the middle of a financial crisis and on the brink of revolution. In order to gain a bail-out from the wealthy Mrs Teasdale, the government appoints Rufus T Firefly (Groucho Marx) as its president. However, Mr Firefly shuns the pomp and pretentiousness of government...and the prudence and rationality of it too. Meanwhile, the neighbouring country of Sylvania is plotting to overthrow Freedonia and sends Pinky (Harpo Marx) and Chicolini (Chico Marx) to spy on Firefly. War seems inevitable.Starring the Marx Brothers and viewed as a comedy classic, I was expecting great things from Duck Soup. However, while it has its moments, it was largely a disappointment for me.Having seen several of their previous movies, I knew what to expect. However, even then, this movie seemed quite silly. The others revolved around Groucho's quickfire wit and Chico and Harpo's slapstick comedy and Duck Soup is no exception. However, here it seems less clever than the best of the others, especially A Night At The Opera and A Day At The Races. Here, Groucho's witticisms wander into the territory of dad jokes and Harpo and Chico's clowning is often quite silly. The plot is okay, though not brilliant. Hardly the powerful anti- war and political satire movie it is made out to be.This all said, there are some great laugh-out-loud moments and these are enough to sustain the movie.

At a mere 63 minutes, this may be the shortest Marx Brothers movie. But if you were to cut out, from the other movies, the sorts of things which were not in this one, you'd still find that, minute for minute, this is the team's most consistent effort. All the other Marx Brothers movies contain a piano solo by Chico and a harp solo by Harpo. Most of the other movies have multiple songs sung by a non-comedic couple. DUCK SOUP dispenses with all of that. What remains is a fast-paced, driven assault of one-liners, sight gags and masterful slapstick routines, all with an antisocial edge. It also is a parody of patriotic musical extravaganzas and war-movie clichés. This movie became exceedingly popular with college crowds thirty-five years after it was released. it's a sort of cinematic equivalent of MAD Magazine.

The nation of Freedonia is in dire financial situation and wealthy widow Mrs. Teasdale is willing to help if only Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) is appointed the new leader. Sylvanian Ambassador Trentino and Raquel Torres are trying to incite a revolt. Sylania sends Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Pinky (Harpo Marx) as spies. Firefly appoints Chicolini as Secretary of War. As the crazy situation spins out of control, war is declared between Freedonia and Sylvania.Groucho is relentless in his fast rolling jokes. It comes so fast that it's impossible to laugh at it all. Harpo is pure slapstick genius. This is pure comedic chaos. There is the great mirror scene between Groucho and Chico. It's not simply mirroring. It's that they go beyond and start changing places. It is simply a classic and so is this movie.

The Marx Brothers were among the best comedy entertainers of their time and beyond. They were gifted musicians as well as comedians. Their comedy included dialog with one-liners and zingers, zany antics, slapstick and acrobatics. Some of their movies are among the funniest and best comedies of all time. Many sources regard "Duck Soup" as their best film. I don't, and here's why. This film was still early in their movie careers and strikes me as raw and unpolished. It has many lines and routines that seem right out of vaudeville. Indeed, the long scenes with the peanut vending come from a vaudeville act that the brothers recreate in a couple of movies. There's nothing wrong with the variety performances of vaudeville, except that today they are old hat and just not as funny. And many of the one- liners are so old that they too lack humor today. The long scenes of costumed players singing the Freedonia anthem lose their humor after the first one or two. "Duck Soup" seems to me to be a succession of skits held together by the thinnest of plots. Plots aren't necessary for great comedy, but then the comedy must be able to stand on its own. I just don't think "Duck Soup" has the comedy that does that. One last thing that bothers me about this film is the insult in some of Groucho's lines. It goes overboard here. As an aside, this is one of the few of the brothers' big films in which they don't perform musically. Their musical talents were surely of professional level and when they played in their other films, they added a little something to the story – and even to the mayhem at times. I rate "A Night at the Opera" as the best Marx Brothers film, and one of the greatest comedies of all time. Close behind it is "A Day at the Races." Those films differ considerably from "Duck Soup" in that they have interesting serious plots that make for much more laughter with the zany scenes. And, they have much better developed dialog with witty lines and wonderful zingers. In the place of silliness (slaps in the face, verbal insults, etc.) that pepper "Duck Soup," those films spend a little time with plot involving other actors. That makes the comedy all the more hilarious in the scenes that follow. "Duck Soup" may be the silliest movie the Marx Brothers made. But it's not the funniest by a long shot. Nor is it their best, in my view.