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| Duck Soup (1933) | |
| Background
It was the Marx Brothers' fifth film in a five-picture contract with Paramount Studios, before they went on to MGM. It was their last and best film with the studio. The film was directed by first-class veteran director Leo McCarey (who would go on to direct The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939), Going My Way (1944), and An Affair to Remember (1957) - a remake of his 1939 film), and its screenplay was written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby (with additional dialogue by Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin). Originally, it was to have been directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The film was devoid of any Academy Award nominations. The outrageous film was both a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release - audiences were taken aback by such preposterous political disrespect, buffoonery and cynicism at a time of political and economic crisis, with Roosevelt's struggle against Depression in the US amidst the rising power of Hitler in Germany. (This film quote, spoken by Groucho, was especially detested: "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.") Insulted by the film, fascist Italian dictator Mussolini banned the film in his country. Fortunately, the film was rediscovered by a generation of 1960s college students, and by revival film festivals and museum showings. As a result, the film has attained immortal status. This was the last of the Marx Brothers films to feature all four of the brothers. Their next film (without Zeppo), for MGM and its producer Irving Thalberg, Hollywood's most prestigious studio, was their landmark film A Night at the Opera (1935), with a more developed and polished plot-line. The irrepressible comedians in this quintessential anarchic, satirical film simply but irreverently attack the pomposity of small-time governmental leaders (Firefly as President), the absurdity of government itself (the Cabinet meeting scene), governmental diplomacy (the Trentino-Firefly scenes), an arbitrary legal system (Chicolini's trial), and war fought over petty matters (the mobilization and war scenes). The non-stop, frenetic film is filled with a number of delightfully hilarious moments, gags, fast-moving acts, double entendres, comedy routines, puns, pure silliness, zany improvisations, quips and insult-spewed lines of dialogue - much of the comedy makes the obvious statement that war is indeed nonsensical and meaninglessly destructive, especially since the word 'upstart' was the insult word (Ambassador Trentino called Firefly an 'upstart') that led to war between the two countries. It also contains a few of their most famous sequences:
The mirror routine, contributed by McCarey, had been used by Charlie Chaplin in The Floorwalker (1916) and by Max Linder in Seven Year's Bad Luck (1921). It was later replicated in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, re-enacted by Harpo with Lucille Ball on a 1950's "I Love Lucy" show episode, and also appeared as part of the opening credits for the 60s TV series "The Patty Duke Show". Actor/director Woody Allen paid homage to the film in his Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) - with an excerpt from the musical number "The Country's Going to War." While attending an afternoon screening of Duck Soup at his local repertory movie theater, one of the film's characters - a depressed and neurotic NY Jew named Mickey Sachs (played by Allen himself), who is afraid of disease and dying - experiences a climactic epiphany that life was meant to be enjoyed, by narrating: "And I started to feel how can you even think of killing yourself? I mean, isn't it so stupid?..." Unlike many of their other features, there are no romantic subplots (with Zeppo) and no musical interludes that stop the film's momentum - no harp solos for Harpo and no piano solos for Chico. There are, however, a couple of musical numbers that are perfectly integrated into the plot:
Why the title Duck Soup? [Earlier in 1927, director Leo McCarey had made a two-reel Laurel and Hardy film with the same title - and he borrowed the title from there.] The film's title uses a familiar American phrase that means anything simple or easy, or alternately, a gullible sucker or pushover. Under the opening credits, four quacking ducks (the four Marx Brothers) are seen swimming and cooking in a kettle over a fire. Groucho reportedly provided the following recipe to explain the title: "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." The StoryThe film opens with the flag of Freedonia (emblazoned with an "F") flying over the small village. The government of a "mythical kingdom" - the Balkan state of Freedonia, is suffering an emergency. It has gone bankrupt through mismanagement and is on the verge of revolution. The country's richest dowager millionairess, the wide and widowed benefactress Mrs. Gloria Teasdale (Margaret Dumont in a welcome return as the perfect foil for Groucho) has offered $20 million to sponsor and support the cash-poor government, but only if it is placed under new leadership:
The opening scene is the classic inaugural ceremony and lawn party for the conferring of the Presidency of the tin-pot republic to a newly-appointed leader, Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx), characterized by a supportive Mrs. Teasdale as "a progressive, fearless fighter." She vows: "I will lend the money to Freedonia only if Firefly is appointed leader." Headlines in the Freedonia Gazette read: "FIREFLY APPOINTED NEW LEADER OF FREEDONIA." A sub-article reads: "Mammoth Reception Arranged to Welcome Nation's Leader Tonight - Selection of Rufus T. Firefly Greeted with Cheers of Freedonians." In the coronation setting (a spoof of all such gala events), royal court guards at the entry announce the guests. Meanwhile, the representative of the neighboring Sylvania [the name of the country where Jeanette MacDonald ruled in Ernst Lubitsch's The Love Parade (1929)], Ambassador and rival suitor Trentino (Louis Calhern), schemes to win Mrs. Teasdale's hand in marriage by wooing the rich heiress (with the ultimate goal of annexing Freedonia to Sylvania). He has hired the seductive, sultry, and sinuous Latin temptress/dancer Vera Marcal (Raquel Torres), who wears a low-cut, revealing gown, to function as a secret agent and keep Firefly distracted [in a satire of all Mata Hari films]:
Firefly's secretary Bob Rolland (Zeppo Marx, in his LAST Marx Bros. film) arrives and assures Mrs. Teasdale, in song, that the absent statesman will appear "When the Clock on the Wall Strikes Ten." When the clock on the wall does strike ten, pretty dancing girls scatter rose petals and kneel in homage between an impressive lineup of helmeted, sword-bearing guards along the entrance way with swords uplifted. The assembled audience sings the national anthem "Hail, Hail Freedonia," but Firefly isn't anywhere in sight. After a long pause and a trumpeters' fanfare, the anthem is sung a second time and all the guests look toward the entrance, but Firefly still fails to enter. Suddenly, in an upstairs bedroom, the ringing of an alarm clock is heard, and Firefly appears in bed with a nightshirt, nightcap, and cigar. He quickly removes his nightshirt to reveal a suit, and slides down an unlikely fireman's pole into the spacious ballroom hall. He takes his place in the line-up with his own honor guard at the end of the ceremonial line, joining them to wait for his own arrival and holding out his cigar with their swords. He asks one of the guards: "You expecting somebody?" Mrs. Teasdale notices him and welcomes him (with understatement), and attempts to impose some degree of dignity upon the proceedings, but he assaults her with insults by skipping from non-sequitur association to another:
She begs him to lead Freedonia to the same heights it occupied when her late husband Chester V. Teasdale was President: "The future of Freedonia rests on you. Promise me you will follow in the footsteps of my husband." Firefly looks straight into the camera, and in his first major line rudely insults his most ardent supporter:
Then he engages the widowed Mrs. Teasdale in an insult-ridden conversation, but quickly covers up his insults and shamelessly flirts with her when he realizes she is a widow with money:
[Firefly's coat reverts back to the black tuxedo here.] When Firefly is introduced to the sleek, impeccably tailored Trentino, Ambassador from rival Sylvania, he immediately insults him a few times, calling him an "old skinflint":
Then, the new Freedonian President meets a "very charming lady," the seductive "famous dancer" Vera, still wearing a slinky evening gown displaying her bosom. Overwhelmed by her appearance, he shows off a number of his own ridiculous dance steps: "I danced before Napoleon. No, Napoleon danced before me. In fact, he danced two hundred years before me." When she seductively suggests dancing with him some time later, he tells her:
Firefly dictates a letter to his dentist in the middle of the inauguration. Mrs. Teasdale congratulates him on his coronation and sovereignty: "The eyes of the world are upon you. Notables from every country are gathered here in your honor. This is a gala day for you." He replies: "Well, a gal a day is enough for me. I don't think I could handle any more." In the song and dance number, "Just Wait 'Til I Get Through With It," Firefly specifies the rules and program planned for his preposterous administration. He threatens, as a repressive, dictatorial ruler, to abuse his power, to be rude, obnoxious, irresponsible, insulting, cynical, and power-mad, ruining the country. [The last verse featured a dirty joke and managed to evade the censors.] Between verses, he plays a "Yankee Doodle" fife and dances around among the guests:
[Firefly's coat again changes back to the gray one at the conclusion of the song.] |
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The
Marx Brothers' greatest and funniest masterpiece - the classic comedy Duck
Soup (1933) is a short, but brilliant satire and lampooning of
blundering dictatorial leaders, Fascism and authoritarian government.
The film, produced by Herman Mankiewicz, was prepared during the
crisis period of the Depression. Some of its clever gags and routines
were taken from Groucho's and Chico's early 1930s radio show Flywheel,
Shyster & Flywheel. Working titles for the film included Oo
La La, Firecrackers, Grasshoppers, and Cracked
Ice.