A comedy that never fails to quack you up

There are many who believe the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup" to be the funniest film of the classic Hollywood black-and-white era. With its rapid-fire one-liners, hilarious gags, unforgettable sequences (like the mirror scene), and mirthful mayhem, it's hard to argue with that claim. Here are some of the observations we reached about the brothers Marx and their 1933 comic masterpiece:

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE MARX BROTHERS' BRAND OF COMEDY?

• Anarchistic, silly, satirical, absurd, irreverent, improvisational

• It employs a variety of styles, such as: 

o Slapstick—a boisterous form of comedy marked by chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes

o sight gags—a comic bit or effect that depends on sight rather than words

o verbal jousting that includes puns (a humorous play on words), insults, silly arguments, quips, wisecracks, and double entendres (a word or phrase having a double meaning, especially when the second meaning is risqué or controversial)

o running gags

o satire—irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity; consider how their comedy lampoons institutions like the government and military, authority figures, upper crust snobs, dictators, and film censorship itself

o comedic songs

• Team-based comedy in which each brother has a unique comedic styling and talent set that works well together or separately; unlike Abbott & Costello, the 3 Stooges, or even Laurel & Hardy, the 3 Marxes carry their own solo scenes independent of each other

EACH CHARACTER HAS HIS OWN UNIQUE PERSONALITY AND TALENTS. WHAT ARE THEY?

o Groucho’s talent set included verbal wit, expressive eyes/eyebrows, stopped gait, short stature, and singing/guitar playing; rocker Alice Cooper remarked: “"He was able to use words in the same way Errol Flynn used a sword."

o Chico’s gifts consisted of a funny accent, pun-dominated exchanges, quirky piano playing style, playing straight man to Harpo, and getting Groucho’s goat

o Harpo’s forte included clownish physical and nonverbal comedy, pantomime, mastery of the use of humorous props, crowd-pleasing childlike charm and innocence, sublime harp-playing that instantly transformed him into a sensitive and loveable character, and a hankering for chasing women

HOW IS “DUCK SOUP” DIFFERENT FROM OTHER MARX BROTHERS MOVIES, AND WHY DO YOU THINK IT’S REGARDED BY MOST CRITICS, HISTORIANS AND FANS AS THE MARX BROTHERS’ BEST?

• It’s pure Marx Brothers, start to finish, without any obligatory song-and-dance numbers, boring romantic storylines, or reliance on plot. As BFI writer Geoff Andrew wrote: It has “the perfect comic timing. Duck Soup is probably the fastest of the Marxes’ films; certainly it is the shortest, its 68-minute running time undercutting even Monkey Business (77 minutes) and Horse Feathers (70 minutes). There’s not an ounce of fat on the film; each scene is meticulously paced and structured, and each gag given just enough time (usually a second or so) to sink in before the next one comes along.”

• Keeping the film moving briskly, it doesn’t feature Chico or Harpo playing their instruments.

• It contains perhaps their single greatest skit: the famous mirror scene

• According to film reviewer Jeffrey Anderson: “Perhaps the ultimate reason Duck Soup continues to dominate the other Marx Brothers films is its cynicism toward politics. The ridiculous reasons for going to war ("I already put a deposit on the battlefield") and the awkward, hysterical war itself are especially relevant today.

• It’s bold, brash, and insolent, not afraid of inciting controversy or offending audiences. Consider:

o Hitler and Mussolini had recently risen to power, yet the film skewers their fascist tendencies over the coals

o It mocks warmongers and the absurdity of war

o It ridicules jingoism and patriotism, even insinuating volunteering soldiers as “suckers”

o It lampoons religion and gun-owning conservatives, “singing “we got guns, they got guns, all God’s chillum got guns”

o It parodies government bureaucracy, which subtly was poking fun at Roosevelt’s cabinet and initiatives during the Great Depression

o It flips the bird to the Hays Code and expected film censorship standards of the time, showing Harpo in bed naked with a horse

WHY ARE THE MARX BROTHERS MOVIES STILL FUNNY TODAY, CONSIDERING THEIR AGE?

• Meticulous craftsmanship: fine-tuned humorous personalities at the heights of their powers, impeccable comedic timing, and undeniable multi-faceted talents for each brother.

• Their characters are indelibly etched into our pop culture consciousness and remain timeless. Groucho's former co-manager Shep Gordon was quoted as saying: "Their movies will always be relevant because it is intelligent, character-driven humour. Groucho uses words like a laser surgeon and Harpo is the perfect innocent scoundrel."

• Ahead-of-their-time absurdity: Consider how zany, unpredictable, contextually rebellious and disrespectful, and visually inventive many of these films and individual scenes are. Without the Marx Brothers, perhaps you don’t have: 

o Monty Python-esque humor that veers into surrealist/illogical territory

o Visual cut-and-paste-style comical montage (think of the stock footage-sourced rampaging elephants and animals intercut with the war scenes in Duck Soup)

o Modern comedy sketches, TV shows and films that dare to break the rules without the Marxes. Contemporary comedy director Judd Apatow revealed: "The first movie that had an impact on me as a person interested in comedy was Duck Soup. I was a fanatical Marx Brothers fan as a 10 year-old. It might have been because I loved their rebellion - it seemed like they were flipping the bird to everyone."

o Daring political satire, from Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” to Sasha Baron Cohen’s “The Dictator” without “Duck Soup.”

o Comedy that isn’t afraid to break the fourth wall and defy the traditional structure of film comedy—such as talking to the audience and a doghouse tattoo that reveals a live action dog.

OTHER MOVIES HELMED BY DIRECTOR LEO MCCAREY

• The Awful Truth

• Going My Way

• The Bells of St. Mary’s

• An Affair to Remember