Duck Soup (1933)

A classic Marx Brother's comedy that ended up a box office disappointment. I guess the ongoing Depression may have put a damper on peoples' appreciation of slapsticks. Admittedly, this is my first Marx film and I enjoyed it quite a bit, yet was still completely blindsided by how quick witted and slapstick it was. Following the likes of Chaplin and Keaton this was a complete change of pace. Another surprise for me was how musical it was. I guess the Marxs tried to take advantage of the popularity of the musical genre at the time.

It’s a war comedy, yet the Marx Bros don't try to include any sort of political message. Just pure comedy. The comedy style really grew on me. Its like a fever pitch of comedy where nothing is really important or real, and anything can be true. Its so quick and wacky that you're basically always engaged with something.

My largest complaint with this one is more personal. I just enjoy the more emotionally engaging comedies of Chaplin and Keaton, where while the comedy is important the narrative is possibly just as much so. Duck Soup forgoes this philosophy in an attempt to send such an intense barrage of gags your way that I almost became numb to the ludicrousness of it all.