Rating: 
Summary: Classic comedy
Review: The small state of Freedonia needs help to get itself out of bankruptcy. The wealthy Mrs. Teasdale agrees to donate $20 million dollars only if Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) is appointed its new president. Firefly is a cynical, sarcastic dictator who refuses to play politics by the book. Firefly attempts to win the hand of Mrs. Teasdale but so does the Ambassador of the neighboring country, Sylvania. When the two leaders cannot resolve their dispute over the wealthy dowager, war between the countries is declared and Mrs. Teasdale's house comes under attack.
This is the Marx brothers at their best. "Remember, we're fighting for this lady's honour. Which is more than she ever did"
Rating: 
Summary: These prices are a rip-off!
Review: More than $$$$ for a Marx Brothers DVD! Insane! How does this happen? There must be 100s of thousands of people willing to pay a reasonable price for some of the greatest comic classics of all time?
Rating:
Summary: THIS MOVIE IS THE BEST!
Review: I think that Duck Soup is definately one of the Marx Brothers' most zany films. It contains so many of my favourite Marx sequences: the lemonade stand (that one's a classic!),the mirror scene, 'To War We Gotta Go',and the final battle episode that had my friends and I laughing for days! For any Marx fan this is definately a must-see, and it's a must-see for any non marx fan,too. And the quality of the picture on the VHS isn't all that bad, either.
Rating:
Summary: These prices are a slap in the face
Review: I, and thousands of other Marx Brothers fans, am waiting for the opportunity to buy all of the classic Marx Brothers movies for a reasonable price. I bet Wal-Mart will put out just such a collection within a year. I guess I'll get it there.
Rating:
Summary: the classic Marx Brothers film
Review: I recently saw this film at the local rep theater (AFI Silver) and the crowd laughed harder than they do at most modern comedy films. Here and in the film Night at the Opera, the Marx Brothers reach loony heights few comedians ever reach.The nice thing about comedy is that you don't need to explain a lot of things. Somehow Groucho, as Rufus T Firefly, gets to rule the country of Freedonia (Zeppo is one of his assistants). Chico and Harpo are spies for rival nation Sylvania. They are all wonderfully inept at what they do and the two countries slide hilariously into war. There are so many classic highlights in this film. Harpo and Chico get into a big rivalry with another peanut vendor. There's the "mirror" scene where Harpo and Groucho are identically dressed and try to outwit each other. The declaration of war becomes a huge parody of Buzby Berkley musicals, and the war itself is endlessly funny. There's also a Paul Revere parody with Harpo that is quite mature for the times at what it is suggesting. And despite all of this, Groucho still finds time to insult Margaret Dumont, as ever. "Remember gentlemen you are fighting for this woman's honor, which is probably more than she ever did." The whole film is great, but the last half hour of Duck Soup may be the funniest sequence in American film. Duck Soap is the Marx Brothers at their funniest, often their most political, and also at their most surreal. Why is this film (and King Kong) still not availalbe on DVD?
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, fine disc
Review: Let's face it: this disc isn't going to get the Citizen Kane treatment as far as restoration. Deal with it. I think this picture was very acceptable and the sound near excellent for pre-'60 mono. Oh, great movie. sure it shows it's age somewhat but if you're going to have one Marx Bros. film Duck Soup is the one. Doesn't focus on the romantic mush that they had to later with MGM.
Rating:
Summary: THE MARX BROTHERS AT THEIR ALL-TIME BEST!
Review: If you're going to watch one Marx Brothers movie, pick this one. An exception to it would be "A Night At The Opera"! These two are excellent four-star cinema-classics! The popuularity of this film has grown compared to what it was in 1933 when it was first released. It was a commercial failure and one of the biggest flops for Paramount. Paramount would later drp the brothers for the bad business "Duck Soup" did. This film has Groucho giving many of his best one-liners, zingers, and puns. Chico, although giving no piano performances, has excellent scenes, too, with taht excellent mock Italian accent. There is a brilliant comedy sketch in which Chico and Harpo disguise themselves as Groucho in order to fool Margaret Dumont to get ahold the plans for war with a rival country. There is a neat mirror sequence where no one spekas for about five minutes. Magnificent, triumphant, and neatly shot war sequence which is the climax of the picture in which Groucho appears puzzingly in so many uniforms. Top 10 funny film of all time!
Rating:
Summary: Bad disc that proves that this film is great no matter what
Review: This disc is bad, but what do you expect? Yes, I understan it's old, but have you seen Citizen Kane? The audio on this has lip-synching problems, and is rough, and sounds analog-ish, but is a heck of a lot better than previous beta, vhs, and tv versions. The sound is also quiet at times. Having a surround-sound system, the mono is aggravating, but in some way, I like some film in mono because I'm used to them that way. All in all though, the dvd was realeased before studio's knew the capabilities of the format (only single layer), and was under [what I expected}, when most dvd are {expensive]. Now, most are 20, and this one's OOP and going aroung 60 on Ebay. The set of Animal Crackers, Horse Feathers and this used to sell for [cheap]. Now dvd's a lot cheper, and it goes for 200 on Ebay. Since there were no special features on those films, and they were short (around 70 mins.), all 3 of the could have easily been fitted on ONE dual-layer disc, that sell for 14.99. Duck soup needs to be re-released for a lot of reasons. The lip synching needs to be reformatted and cleaned up (and maybe they could restore and remaster the sound and remix it in 5.1, but give people the choice between that and mono. I know I'm dreaming, though; it would just be cool for the first time to have a surround track on it). The picture needs to be cleaned up (it was never the clearest of films, though. For special features, I would like to see a documentary if possible, trailers, clips of marx brothers talking about it, ROGER EBERT'S COMMENTARY!! (wouldn't that be neat?), and, if possible, deleted scenes and out-takes. If they can dig out so many special features on Citizen Kane, why can't they do it here? It came out in 1933, maybe a 70th aniversary edition? I hear people saying that its no better than vhs, but they got it for no more than vhs, so they won't complain. Well, I got it for [cheaper], and its actually a lot better. That's not saying there's not room to grow. If you haven't seen this film, do yourself a favor and see it. It is a funnier military comedy than Dr. Strangelove or M*A*S*H. It influenced everyone form Mad Magazine to Woody Allen. Feel free to leave me a helpful/not helpful feedback. God Bless America!
Rating:
Summary: Really funny and exciting
Review: DUCK SOUP is the second movie of the Marx Brothers that I have seen, and I thought it was wonderful. Made in 1933, it was sure to have all the wonderful pieces of a great, old time movie, and it did. Groucho Marx stars as the leader of Freedonia, who is superb at his funny and fast-moving role. Chico and Harpo, on the other hand, are really spies gathering information on Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) and they really can make you laugh with all they do when they have a conference with the leader of Sylvannia (I can't remember who he was...) and they also do a wonderful job through the rest of the show. Besides that, the war scenes were wonderful, the special effects wonderful, and the setting great. So, if you ever think on seeing this film sometime, I think you should. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Comedy of All Time
Review: If you haven't seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to do so. If you haven't ever seen the Marx Brothers in action, you're missing out on some side-splitting laughter. The greatest comedy troup of all time; the Marx Brothers offered a trio of unique comedic skills. Start with Groucho and his acerbic wit. Insults fly like machine gun fire when Grouch has the floor. Chico offers the role of the person who finds new ways to mangle the English Language and misinterpret whatever you tell him. Harpo never speaks but his pantomime speaks volumnes. The way they play off each other is fantastic. This is not three clowns bumping into each other like the Three Stooges. This is humor that can be appreciated by all ages. Comedy these days always seems to fall short of the level achieved by the Marx Brothers. Either it is too high-brow, too low-brow, or too obscene. Watch this one because life is too short.
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