KHI November Movie of the Month: Duck Soup (1933)

[wu tang goku]

For those unfamiliar with the Marx Bros., the ultimate comedy troupe in film, here is a 101:

The Marxs are a successful vaudevillian and performing arts family. Each of them is proficient in some field in music and has some other performing talent, as well as stage names. The stories behind these names are interesting alone. They enjoyed performing in cabarets and Broadway before hitting motion pictures in the early 1900s.


Julius "Groucho" Marx- The most famous of the brothers, Groucho is known as one of the first masters of the one-liner, and has an astounding wit both on and off screen. He also tends to take up a lot of the screen time, but viewers are often voracious when it comes to Groucho. His character has a greasepaint moustache and eyebrows, walks in such a way that it is now used as an exercise in calisthenics and it shares his name, and often says what most of us are afraid to say. Charlie Chaplin once told him that he wished he had his ability to speak in front of the camera, when Chaplin iss already an elegant speaker.


Adolph "Harpo" Marx- Getting his stage name from the instrument he is absolutely amazing at and plays in each of their films, Harpo is a mute character. He takes his roots as a mime and silent comedian and shines these in Harpo. He wears a red wig, is usually in rags, has a cane with a horn bulb at the top that he communicates with beyond charades, and he is absolutely batshit crazy. He can usually be found chasing blondes.


Leonard "Chico" Marx- For the uninformed, his name is prounounced "chick-o," after being a notorious "chicken chaser." Chico is a master at the piano, with a unique playing style. He has a hashed up, phony Italian accent that you will love him for. He wears a cone hat, dark wig, and ragtag clothing. He usually does the talking for Harpo when everyone else misunderstands. He and Groucho have many scenes together, usually in an improv style in which one builds off the other in a series of one-liners.


Herbert "Zeppo" Marx- The youngest of the brothers, Zeppo is the straight man. He is only featured in 5 Marx Bros. films, and does not have a developed personality to the extent that the others do. There's not much to say about Zeppo, he's not featured all that much and he's handsome. Apparently Zeppo didn't leave films because he was any less talented as his brothers, because he was JUST AS talented. He preferred the business side of things so he became an agent.

I see the Marx brothers' personae and I see a homages to film. Groucho is the talkie, Chico is the foreign, Harpo the silent film, and Zeppo... well uh, Zeppo is Zeppo. Everything in between maybe.



Really any movie that features this group is good, the reason why Duck Soup made the MotM is that it's probably the best one, of course. The reason why that is, though, is something simple. The other films had segments that featured romances and melodrama that served to move the plot, and that's really it. The producers thought that nobody would see their films without these elements, and as such they were plugged in. Looking back, this is the biggest mistake they ever made to these films. I admit to being one that skips through these elements as they are boring and stupid.



Duck Soup on the other hand, features very little of this. It is Brothers Brothers Brothers the entire time, and is funny the entire time. Their films feature a very Jewish, witty sort of humor that isn't really found anywhere else besides, maybe Noir films or retro cartoons. They are the biggest anarchists in film ever. Each of their films lampoons something big; in this case, war and politics.

While crazy the entire time, the films reach the nexus of insanity as it crescendos to the end. Every one of their endings is chaotic in someway. Duck Soup's ending is a battlefield in a less than conventional battle with stupid and silly reasons why the countries are at war in the first place. It's awesome.



Another thing to understand about these guys is that their movies are best looked at in segments. While they sustain a certain unity exclusive to the Marx Bros, the segments themselves are well crafted and magical in themselves. Films of related sketch scenes. It's hard not to mimic them or take something away from seeing one of their films.



If one is to start anywhere, start with Duck Soup. Get your family to watch it.

Archive:

The Seventh Seal
Breathless

[Square Ninja]

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck yeah

i need to watch this again

EDIT: is this uploaded somewhere on the internet or have you found a video yet

[Cyborg009]

i have that movie on vhs and i love the marx bros.

i think the movie can be found on youtube.

[wu tang goku]

i probably could upload it somewhere but it's on youtube in rather decent quality

[Square Ninja]

Originally Posted by wu tang goku

i probably could upload it somewhere but it's on youtube in rather decent quality

YouTube - Duck Soup part 1

you mean this?