I usually love old comedies. Laurel and Hardy makes me laugh so much it hurts.But Duck Soup is extremely overrated. There are some genuinely funny parts, but most of the time it only made me chuckle. It's just endless one-liners and some mean-spirited slapstick scenes that last forever. I also didn't like the creepy sexual stuff near the end of the movie. It's "mild" compared to modern movies, but still...I didn't see the last few minutes of Duck Soup, but I really doubt those minutes would change my opinion.I haven't watched a lot of the Marx Brothers' comedies, but if this is their best movie, I don't want to see their worst...

For non-stop chaos and hilarity, this Marx Brothers film is hard to beat. Frequently, the screenplay makes little sense, as expected in a Marx comedy. Groucho is especially prominent, doing a little singing and dancing to complement his usual insulting remarks and puns and flirtations. Margaret Dumont has an unusual amount of screen time, this being one of 7 of their films she was in, usually playing a wealthy widow society matron whom Groucho alternatively insults and flirts with. Here, she even gets to demonstrate her opera-trained singing voice. She plays the chief financier of the small country of Fredonia. Thus, she gets to name the new prime minister in the form of Groucho(Firefly), who takes full advantage of his position to do his usual stick. Chico and Harpo also contribute their brands of zaniness, sometimes together, sometimes separately, sometimes with Groucho. In a particularly memorable segment, Chico or Harpo or both are street vendors, selling peanuts. They have a hilarious time fighting with Edgar Kennedy, as the lemonade vendor next door. Sometimes the pair are working for Groucho; sometimes they are employed as spies for the neighboring country of Sylvania. Harpo is Groucho's trickster motorcycle driver. Chico is sometimes Groucho's war minister. Louis Calhern plays the scheming ambassador for Sylvania: the defacto villain. There is the memorable mirror mimicry scene, which provides perhaps 5 min. of silence, while Groucho and Harpo mimic each other's movements on either side of an empty mirror frame, Harpo being made up like Groucho. Chico then arrives, also made up like Groucho. The basic idea had been done in film a few times before, and would be done by others in the future. I'm personally familiar with instances by Bob Hope, Don O'Connor, and even Errol Flynn.In the music department, early on, Zeppo and Margaret Dumont sing "His Excellency is Due", then Groucho and Margaret sing "These are the Laws of my Administration". Later, the brothers sing "The Country is Going to War". All these were composed by the team of Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar, who were honored in the 1950 film "Three Little Words". This was the last film the brothers did for Paramount, as well as being tied with "Horse Feathers" for the shorted length, at only 68 min.. One of the obvious differences in the structure of the coming MGM films with the Paramount films, is the inclusion of a young romantic couple, who do some of the singing. and usually have some problem interfering with their ability to get married, which the brothers help to solve. Zeppo would also be totally absent from future films. His presence in the Paramount films, including this one, was always tenuous, anyway.

Oh, the golden age of Hollywood. A time for best classic films. Judy Garland, Esther Williams, Kathryn Grayson, June Allyson, Gene Kelly, and Fred Astair gave us the best musicals. Humphry Bogart, Vivien Leigh, Betty Davis, Clark Gable, Ingred Bergman, and Katherine Hepburn gave us the best dramas. W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and the Marx brothers gave us the best comedy. All of it from a bygone era, so special and wonderful. They just don't make em like they used to anymore. Any of it. "Duck soup" is another great Marx brothers comedy, just like "A night at the opera", " Animal crackers", and "A day at the races". I don't want to add too many spoilers here. This film gave us the famous mirror scene, the grand entrance opening, and many other scenes and funny lines from them all, especially Groucho. This was another Marx brothers film that made me laugh so much my sides hurt. So funny. So great. Like I said before, they don't make em like they used to anymore.

The last of the Marx Bros. movies to feature Zeppo and the last made at Paramount is also my favorite. The brothers would go on to make some more good movies but, in my view, their Paramount films are when they were at their best. The nonstop zaniness and unpredictability of them was unlike anything else in film comedy at the time. This is a hilarious satire with Groucho in arguably his most famous role, Rufus T. Firefly, the newly-appointed leader of the small country of Freedonia who leads his country into war with neighboring Sylvania. The brothers are all terrific with some of their most memorable gags in this one. Margaret Dumont is back after missing two consecutive movies. Her scenes with Groucho are some of the film's highlights. Louis Calhern makes for a fine villain and Raquel Torres is one of the sexiest women from any of the Marx films. Edgar Kennedy is a hoot as a vendor that has trouble with Chico and Harpo. It's directed by Leo McCarey, who went on to win Oscars and direct some classic films with Cary Grant and Bing Crosby. Duck Soup also has probably the highest quality production values of any of the Marx films at Paramount. The sets and costumes are very nice. It's easy to see why this is considered the Marx Brothers' masterpiece. Aside from being funny from start to finish with hilarious songs and many great gags, it has been highly influential over the years on everything from Bugs Bunny to Woody Allen. One of the greatest comedies ever made and certainly one I recommend everyone see at least once.