41. Duck Soup

When Freedonia, a fictional country, is bankrupt yet again they turn to Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) to bail them out.  She says she will give them the money, left to her by her dead husband, if they let her choose who is put in charge.  They allow it and for some reason she decides that Rufus Firefly (Groucho Marx) would be the perfect fit.  Soon after he becomes the president/dictator (I'm not exactly sure of his title) a set of spies, Pinky (Harpo Marx) and Chicolini (Chico Marx), try to find dirt on him because Trentino (Louis Calhern) wants to steal the love of Mrs. Teasdale away from him and take over Freedonia.  Although they are unable to come up with any dirt, Firefly declares war on Trentino's country of Sylvania in order to secure his place with Mrs. Teasdale and her large fortune. 

I've never been a big fan of the Marx Brothers and this movie didn't help them out.  Although there were parts that are clever and I can appreciate them paving the way for other comedians and the evolution of film comedy with their interpretation of word puns and physical humor, I just didn't find them that funny.  I've only seen one other film of theirs from start to finish, A Night at the Opera, and I feel that one wasn't as bad, probably because there was a lot more of Zeppo, which seems to be the only sane one in the group.  I always feel bad for Margaret Dumont in every film too.  She seems to take a verbal beating, plus it can't be easy hanging around the Marx Brothers.  I'm actually surprised that hasn't been made into a Farrelly comedy yet.  Zeppo brings a girl home and she has to survive the weekend with the Marx Brothers.  I know I couldn't.  The last fifteen minutes of this movie just seems to be complete chaos.  I do respect what they did, but that doesn't mean I have to think it still is funny in today's cinema. 

Rating: **

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CEdb0sGfaI