Duck Soup
It seems like I watched two of my absolute favorite comedies back to back. The Naked Gun which I wrote about in my last post, and then Duck Soup. And to me these are some of the pinnacles of their own particular genres of comedy for their era.
I think I was trying to show them off to my girlfriend. I purchased all of the Marx Brothers films from the two different studios they worked at when there was a sale on boxed sets at Borders a while ago. I'm making my way through them. I've seen all of their movies up through A Day at the Races before, but none after that. I've heard they go down hill after that. But if there is even one moment in any of those films that is as wonderful as any moment in Duck Soup, then they should be worth watching.
As each brother is introduced I think you start to like the next one more than the last. And then one reappears again and becomes your new favorite. You have to fight over who is the best until they end up all dressed up like Groucho in the same pajamas and you realize it would never be this great if they were alone and not a team.
I love how the film deteriorates from order to absurdity in the face of war. By the end Groucho has a new military uniform from a different era on in every scene. I think you can see the link as to why I love both the Marx Brothers and the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team. Both films have serious characters with zaniness going on around them, but they kind of just allow it to keep going. And then some of these absurd sigh gags come in that seem to break the reality of the film, but then disappear again. I love it!
Rating: 10/10