Duck Soup (1933 film)

Duck Soup
Four disheveled men with goofy expressions wearing antiquated military garb ride a rocket. One of them—with round-rim glasses, thick eyebrows, and a thick mustache—holds a telescope.
Theatrical release poster
L to R: Harpo, Zeppo, Groucho, Chico
Directed byLeo McCarey
Written by
Produced byHerman J. Mankiewicz (uncredited)
Starring
CinematographyHenry Sharp
Edited byLeRoy Stone (uncredited)
Music by
  • Bert Kalmar
  • Harry Ruby
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • November 17, 1933 (1933-11-17)
Running time
68 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Trailer

Duck Soup is a 1933 American pre-Code musical black comedy film written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby (with additional dialogue by Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin) and directed by Leo McCarey. Released by Paramount Pictures on November 17, 1933, it stars the four Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo in his final film appearance) and also features Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Raquel Torres and Edgar Kennedy. Duck Soup was the last of the five Marx Brothers films released by Paramount Pictures.[1] In the film, Groucho portrays the newly installed president of the fictional country of Freedonia. Zeppo is his secretary, while Chico and Harpo are spies for the neighboring country of Sylvania. Relations between Firefly and the Sylvanian ambassador (Calhern) deteriorate during the film, eventually leading the two countries to war.

Compared to the Marx Brothers' previous films, Duck Soup was a financial disappointment,[2] though not an outright box-office failure as is sometimes reported. The film opened to mixed reviews,[3] although this by itself did not end the group's association with Paramount. Bitter contract disputes, including a threat by the Marxes to leave and found their own production company, soured their negotiations with the studio just as Duck Soup went into production. After the film fulfilled their contractual obligations to Paramount, the Marxes and the studio agreed to part ways.[4][5]

While contemporaneous critics of Duck Soup felt it did not quite rise to the level of its predecessors, critical and popular opinion has evolved and the film has since achieved the status of a classic.[6] Duck Soup is now widely considered to be a masterpiece of comedy and the Marx Brothers' finest film.[3][7]

In 1990, the United States Library of Congress deemed Duck Soup "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.[8][9]

  1. ^ Zeppo retired from acting altogether after Duck Soup, becoming a talent agent. See Louvish.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Louvish was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b "Notes for Duck Soup – TCM.com". Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved January 3, 2008.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference silver was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ As a consequence of the relative lack of financial success of Duck Soup, when the Brothers moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and A Night at the Opera was in preparation, production boss Irving Thalberg insisted on trying out material for the picture in front of live audiences on the vaudeville circuit.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference filmsite was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Griffin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference registry was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 28, 2020.