Duck Soup
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Wikipedia
Featured:  |
Duck Soup is a 1933 Marx Brothers' anarchic comedy film written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Arthur Sheekman, and Nat Perrin and directed by Leo McCarey. It starred what were then billed as the "Four Marx Brothers" (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo) and also featured Margaret Dumont, Raquel Torres, and Louis Calhern. It was the last Marx Brothers film to feature Zeppo.
McCarey came up with the title for the film, having previously used it for an earlier directorial effort with Laurel and Hardy. This was in keeping with the "animal" theme of the brothers' previous three films, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business and Horse Feathers. (Original titles for the film included "Firecrackers" and "Cracked Ice". "Duck soup" is a slang phrase meaning something easy to do. When Groucho was asked for an explanation, he quipped, "Take two turkeys, one goose, four cabbages, but no duck, and mix them together. After one taste, you'll duck soup for the rest of your life."
In typical scene, the film pokes fun at the Hays Code by showing a woman's bedroom and then showing a woman's shoes on the floor, a man's shoes and horseshoes. Harpo is sleeping in the bed with the horse; the woman is in the twin bed next to them.
