It would be impossible to give a complete overview of any Marx Brothers film without going into so much detail that you have written out the entire story so:
Plot Outline: Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighbouring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale
Runtime: 70
Country: USA
Language: English
Black and White
Sound Mix: Mono / Western Electric Sound System - on DVD Dolby Mono
Cast (in credits order)
Groucho Marx....Rufus T. Firefly
Harpo Marx....Pinky
Chico Marx....Chicolini
Zeppo Marx....Bob Rolland
Margaret Dumont....Mrs. Gloria Teasdale
Raquel Torres....Vera Marcal
Louis Calhern....Ambassador Trentino of Sylvania
Edmund Breese....Zander
Leonid Kinskey....Salvanian Agitator (as Leonid Kinsky)
Charles Middleton....Prosecutor (as Charles B. Middleton)
Edgar Kennedy....Street Vendor of Lemonade
rest of cast listed alphabetically
Wade Boteler....Guard (uncredited)
E.H. Calvert....Bit Part (uncredited)
Davison Clark....Second Minister of Finance (uncredited)
Verna Hillie....Trentino’s Secretary (uncredited)
George MacQuarrie....First Judge (uncredited)
Edwin Maxwell....Freedonia’s Secretary of War (uncredited)
Eric Mayne....Third Judge (uncredited)
Dennis O’Keefe....Bridegroom at Firefly’s Reception (uncredited)
Frederick Sullivan....Second Judge (uncredited)
Dale Van Sickel....Man (uncredited)
William Worthington....First Minister of Finance (uncredited)
Directed by Leo McCarey
Writing credits (in credits order)
Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
Arthur Sheekman (additional dialogue) and Nat Perrin (additional dialogue)
Produced by
Herman J. Mankiewicz....producer (uncredited)
Original music by Bert Kalmar (uncredited) Harry Ruby (uncredited)
Cinematography by Henry Sharp
Film Editing by LeRoy Stone (uncredited)
Art Direction by Hans Dreier Wiard Ihnen
Arthur Johnston....musical director (uncredited)
Production Companies
Paramount Pictures [us]
It is ironic that the Marx Brothers were only ready to make a war film after making peace with Paramount Pictures. Duck Soup post-dated both an abortive script and a bitter contractual dispute, culminating in the threatening to go it alone as Marx Bros. Inc. The trouble did not stop there; Richard Meryman describes producer Herman Mankiewicz spending the early weeks of production playing darts with director Leo McCarey; the crunch came when Mankiewicz, always found of a drink, was taken off the project after blaming his excessive intake on Harry Ruby.
The idea of putting the Marxes into a mythical kingdom had been announced in August 1932 after the wildly successful opening of Horse Feathers, this was at a time when there was a vogue for stories of the Ruritanian-stlye milieu. As on Horse Feathers Bert Kelmar and Harry Ruby were credited with the screenplay – they contributed jokes in additions to the songs. Other material was supplied by Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman, much of it originating in the radio series they had written for Groucho and Chico, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel.
By the time the Marxes dispute with Paramount had been settled the script had gone from Oo La La to Cracked Ice to Grasshoppers and was now basically Duck Soup. The script was reported finished on 11 July 1933 but underwent considerable revisions during shooting due in no small measure to director Leo McCarey, who had taken with him much of the Hal Roach style when he had left that studio three years before. To McCarey may be attributed several ingredients of Duck Soup including its title: (a Laurel & Hardy two-reeler of 1927). Edgar Kennedy’s presence was probably at McCarey’s instigation; especially has he engages Harpo and Chico in the type of leisurely exchanged violence McCarey had pioneered at Roach. Another legacy is the very Laurel & Hardy-like sequence in which Harpo and Chico stage a break-in. Their unsuitability for the task, locking themselves out after gaining admission, bears a strong similarity to a Laurel & Hardy 1930 short, Night Owls. The difference is of course that the Marxes bungle the task deliberately. The mirror routine predates McCarey at Roach having been in Chaplin’s 1916 short The Floorwalker and reprised by Max Linder in Seven Years’ Bad Luck in 1921. (Variety credits an old stage act The Schwartz Brothers as originators) For the younger reader who may never have seen this gag, it involves look-alike characters simulating the presence of a mirror by matching each other’s every move. In this case it is a nightshirted Groucho who confronted a disguised Harpo, who has crashed into a wall-sized mirror. As with other adapted routines the Marxes give it an extra edge by displaying full awareness of the situation rather than any genuine attempt to convince – Groucho changes hats with his ‘reflection’ and even changes places with Harpo. The game is only up when a third ‘Groucho’ – an identically attired Chico arrives on the scene.
A couple of other gags worth mentioning include ‘His Excellency’s Car’ – in reality a motorcycle and sidecar – the first twice it is seen Groucho gets in the sidecar and Harpo gets on the motorbike and rides off, leaving Groucho behind – the third time he is not going to caught out again and gets on the motorbike so that Harpo climbs into the sidecar – and just drives off in the sidecar – leaving Groucho leaning over the handlebars of the bike saying ‘It’s the only way to travel’. At a meeting of the cabinet to discuss the finances of Freedonia Groucho is asked if he understands the report, to which he replies that ‘a four year old child could understand it’ – whereupon he turns to Zeppo and says ‘go out and find a four year old cause I don’t understand a word of this’.
Duck Soup almost has the structure of a real story, but not enough to make any sense, it is the sequences and the frantic zany-ness of it all that make for such wonderful viewing.
The restored copy, from the rather strange people at Imagine, on this DVD is the most complete – and the best quality – version of the film available. Anybody who claims to like comedy must have their own copies of the available Marx Brothers DVD’s just so that they can show their friends that they do know what is worth laughing at.