«What a strange, remarkable, hilarious movie this is....»

Duck Soup (1933) - Leo McCarey

The Marx Brothers are almost totally unique in the history of film, and when I say unique, I'm not even referring to how innovative they are. True, they definitely developed a particular style of comedy that I would say is probably now the dominant form in all of American comedy. How would I characterize it? It's difficult, but it includes a combination of anarchy, irony, and self-awareness. I paraphrase Roger Ebert when he states that you can clearly see what the Marx Bros. influenced, but its difficult to see what influenced them, other than the rich tradition of music hall.

However, again, when I say that they are totally unique, I'm referring to something else. If one notices carefully at all the groups and individuals that the Marx Brothers influenced (Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Airplane, etc.), they'll notice one common trait: Despite the anarchic worlds created in these movies, it's almost always the entire world that is anarchic. Mel Brooks and Monty Python, in particular, are contained in ridiculous worlds that have there own sense of ridiculous logic. The Marx Brothers, on the other hand, are the only anarchic and ridiculous individuals in a relatively normal and sane world (although in Duck Soup sometimes it seems as if the rest of the world is the crazy one, which is hugely ironic in itself). What does this create? Well, in Monty Python and Mel Brooks (again, irregardless of how chaotic they may seem), there is a strange sense of coherency, almost as if we could follow along their logic. This coherency is almost completely nonexistent in the early Marx Brothers films for Paramount (MGM tried to enforce conformity and coherency into the Marx Brothers unfortunately). Thus, the movies, although ridiculously hilarious, are also some of the most bizarre, daring, and yes, experimental films ever created. In fact, I would even claim that its almost avant-garde. No wonder the famous French surrealist and theorist Antonin Artaud, who is insane by all accounts and purposes, felt such a strong connection to the work of the Marx Brothers. Regarding this particularly interesting trait, I would say that W.C. Fields is closest, but his films are incoherent more from the standpoint of plot, but the sense of logic within the world is more relatable. I mean, W.C. Fields never exploded into completely random tangents that made absolutely no sense outside of themselves.

Oh, and I guess I should talk about the actual movie now. Duck Soup is the best the Marx Brothers have to offer because it portrays them at their absolutely most chaotic and funny. Oh, and there is no random instrument playing, which a lot of people like, but I just feel blocks the overall momentum of the films. So yeah, this movie is an all time classic and is filled with all time classic moments and one-liners, so definitely buy it.

[Wednesday, March 19, 2008]

«A Fantastic Movie!»

Okay, comedy is subjective. This is my opinion and you may not share my sense of humour. Let's get that out of the way first. This is a FANTASTIC movie - what's not to love? The motorcycle and sidecar gags alone are worth the price of admission. The peanut and lemonade stands. The horse in bed with Harpo. So much to say about Duck Soup... A wonderful film.

[Sunday, November 25, 2007]

«"Why Don't You Object?"»

Duck Soup is the only Marx Brothers film that is listed on AFI's list of the 100 greatest movies of all time. However, choosing it from the bevy of great films starring the boys must have been difficult, and probably caused a lot of raised eyebrows from fans. This was the first Marx Brothers movie I ever saw, and although it has grown on me, it is not my favorite. Still, as in all Marx Brothers movies, there are some fantastic comic scenes.

Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) is the newly appointed and incompetant leader of Freedonia, a land plagued with threats from neighboring lands. Spies abound (Chico and Harpo Marx), but not without fun. Nothing is taken seriously here, so the story is of little importance.

There are quite a few dry spots in this movie that degrade it a bit, and the technical aspects are not always up to par. The opening musical number is not satirical enough to be considered funny; it almost seems to be taking itself seriously. The later musical bits fare a bit better, but they are not outstanding. Even great scenes like the famous mirror bit lack; there is absolutely no sound in the mirror scene. However, Harpo is outstanding in all that he does here. His antics with Edgar Kennedy are hilarious and make this movie worth watching multiple times.

[Saturday, September 15, 2007]

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