Review – Duck Soup

Though I’m sure this was revolutionary stuff back in 1933, at this point in film history the Marx Brothers are a bit of an acquired taste. They’re good and all, but they take a little getting used to. I was also surprised at how close some of their routines are to the comparatively low-brow Three Stooges. That aside, this is a solid piece of comedy. Sure, a lot of Groucho’s shtick is cliché, but it wouldn’t be cliché now if he hadn’t done it so well and made it so famous back when it was fresh. And Harpo’s physical comedy never gets old. I could spend hours watching the scenes where he and Chico scrap with the lemonade vendor. This production is also notable for its cleverly subtle exploration of themes that Chaplin would take on with a more ham-handed approach later in The Great Dictator. Overall this is a funny if somewhat dated bit of entertainment. Worth seeing