Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Soup's On!: Duck Soup

Before we get rolling onto the next installment of my AFI journey, let's start things off with some honesty: 1) This is NOT being posted one week after the last Butch Cassidy post 2) At this rate I am never going to make my resolution by the end of the year aka all dreams are lies. So I'm going to be way better about this if that is cool with you. Bon apetit!

Duck Soup (1933)

Director: Leo McCarey
Writers: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Arthur Sheekman, Nat Perrin
Main Actors: The Four Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico & Zeppo)
Synopsis: Rufus T. Firefly is named president of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania to win the love (and money) of Mrs. Teasdale.
AFI #60

Kneejerk Reaction: I giggled and guffawed the whole way through. I realized I probably saw this movie as a kid since my parents were huge Marx Brothers fans, only this time I was able to catch the satire. Although I'm certain my dad explained it all to two-year old me at the time which explains a lot about who I am. Anyways, the movie was clever, it was fun and nobody rattles off a fast, deadpan one-liner like Groucho.


High Points: The movie switches between Groucho & Zeppo, the president and his straight man secretary, and Chico & Harpo, the spies. It's a perfect balance between the steady stream of jokes and slapstick, with the running gags getting funnier every time. Whenever Chico and Harpo meet a new character, like the ambassador or the merchant, I die. When Groucho is looking in the "mirror"? Holy crap. This is comedy gold, people! Gold! 


Why I Think It's On the Top 100: The Marx Brothers had a huge impact on comedy and this film in particular is so smart in its criticism of government and people that it is not your run-of-the-mill comedy filled with cheap laughs. Well, there are cheap laughs, but they move from joke to joke so seamlessly that the movie is a masterpiece even without the social commentary.


Geek-Out Scale: I'd say you could be at about a 5 on the Geek-Out Scale (1 = From Justin to Kelly is your favorite movie and 10 = you watched Intolerance everyday for a week and then gave a Power Point to your nearest and dearest. For fun.) If you love comedy this is a great place to see where a lot of your contemporary favorites got inspired but you will also be in for a treat if you love The Three Stooges, Laurel & Hardy or Abbott and Costello. If you haven't seen any of them, then there really is no hope for you, is there? 


When Will I See You Again?: I have been putting this movie on every time I sit down to write this post and just had to pause it because I kept getting distracted and wanting to watch it instead of write. So..... soon? Also, I just realized I fit my description of a 10 on the Geek-Out Scale (although Duck Soup is MUCH easier to swallow than Intolerance, am I right?! "No one else cares about Intolerance," you say? "Sit down, geek," you say? But wait, you WILL care about Intolerance if you keep reading my AFI posts muhahaha!!)



All right, lassies and lads. Hope you enjoyed this snack about Duck Soup. Let me know if you watch it and what you think, what you want me to watch next, etc. Please feel free to keep track of my progress on the Top 100 here. And make sure to throw virtual tomatoes if I make you wait too long for the next one. I am going to be in Mexico next week so expect the next post the second week of October!




soupy sales & flowers & sunshine,

bunny 


1 comment:

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