Enjoy a bowl of Duck Soup, hilariously served by the genius of The Marx Brothers – Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo. Grouch plays Rufus T. Firefly, who at the behest of the wealthy widow Mrs. Gloria Tisdale (Margaret Dumont), becomes the leader of Freedonia, a country that is about to be taken over by neighboring Sylvania and its scheming Ambassador. There are plenty of quotable one liners and delightfully choreographed physical gags when spies Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) are sent over to spy on Firefly – “You know this means war!” Groucho relishes in the absurdity of it all, and you’ll recognize The Marx Brothers’ vaudevillian influences in countless comedies such as Bananas, Blazing Saddles, Airplane! and Monty Python’s Flying Circus, to name a few. Duck Soup features the famous “mirrorscene” and the dizzying exchange of hats between Chico and Harpo with Edgar Kennedy victimized as a Lemonade Stand vendor, but the key ingredient in Soup, is its political satire, putting it in the rarefied air of The Great Dictator and Dr. Strangelove.
“The Marx Brothers in their greatest movie.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
