Duck Soup

Introduction and comments following Duck Soup, 1933, from Dennis Miller and friend Martin Short.

Ben Mankiewicz introduces Duck Soup, 1933.

Ben Mankiewicz introduces Duck Soup, 1933.

Now at war with nearby Sylvania, Groucho Marx as Rufus T. Firefly leads his country (Freedonia) in battle, his brother Zeppo his assistant, then his other brother Chico as the double-dealing Chicolini, his secretary of war, for the moment, in Duck Soup, 1933.

Now head of state in Freedonia, Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) gets a lift (from brother Harpo) to the tea party hosted by the widow Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), who is financing his government, and bamboozles foreign rival Trentino (Louis Calhern), in Duck Soup, 1933.

None of the Marx Brothers (Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly, head of the nation of Freedonia and Harpo and Chico as spies sent to steal his war plans) knows that all of them are disguised as Groucho, thus the famous “mirror pantomime” sequence with the latter two, in Duck Soup, 1933.

Louis Calhern is the evil Trentino of Sylvania, aiming to stir unrest in neighboring Freedonia (where Rufus T. Firefly, played by Groucho Marx, has just been made head of state), but he’s in trouble because his spies are Groucho’s brothers, Chico and Harpo, in Duck Soup, 1933.

Zeppo Marx and Margaret Dumont start the song (by Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar) but Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) makes his own entrance, whereupon she tells us why she’s wants him to lead the nation of Freedonia, which she’s financing, early in Duck Soup, 1933.

In Duck Soup (1933), their masterpiece and one of the greatest comedies of all time, The Marx Brothers take over the tiny nation of Freedonia.