Word: groucho
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Duck Soup (Paramount). Any country governed by Groucho Marx would likely become a shambles. Freedonia,* the scene of this picture, has Groucho for dictator, Brother Zeppo for his secretary. Freedonia's collapse is only delayed by Brothers Chico and Harpo as spies for a rival principality. Groucho is engaged simultaneously in making love to and insulting the richest lady in Freedonia. He is also doing his best to foment war by abusing Ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern) of Sylvania who makes the mistake of hiring Chico and Harpo. They enter his office armed to the teeth with alarm clocks, scissors...
With more plot and fewer girls than most Marx Brothers comedies, Duck Soup has the disadvantage of adding nothing to vary the essential technique of their efforts. It exhibits Chico & Zeppo as usual, Groucho less flatteringly than in Horsefeathers. Admirers of Harpo should be particularly pleased with his horrid actions in Duck Soup. He carries a plumber's blow torch for a cigaret lighter, conducts a wordless telephone conversation by means of horns and bells, irritates a lemonade vendor by doing sleight-of-hand with his straw hat. Good shot: Harpo, impersonating Groucho in order to steal "war plans...
...cancellation of a bridge match with the four Marx Brothers who play a fair game. Having agreed to a quiet game, he found they had hired a hall and invited 300 cinema stars to watch the "world's championship." Zeppo and Chico were to play, Harpo to advise, Groucho to perch on a tower behind Culbertson wigwagging signals. Best bridging Marx is Zeppo, best gambler Chico. All play a good bargaining game...
...with his shako cocked over his nose; Producer Joe Schenck as a colonel of the cuirassiers; Douglas Fairbanks of the Hussards de la Garde; Grenadier Clive Brook; le Maréchal Sid Grauman; Adolphe Menjou as Marshal Ney; William Powell as an aide de camp. To the left lies Groucho Marx as a dead trumpeter. In the lower right-hand corner Charlie Chaplin, as a drunken priest, is clutching a bottle of champagne and refusing a drink of brandy from Vivandière Marion Davies. In the background a staff officer is apparently trying to keep a charging regiment...
...kind of fun which Ed Wynn provides does not vary much from play to play but he has a large body of followers for whom Ed Wynn, like Groucho Marx, is sufficient in himself. The personality is more important than the vehicle. In the case of "The Laugh Parade," which is small beer in its interludes of song and dance, this is especially true...