Leo McCarey
La Guerra Lampo Dei Fratelli Marx

Not just the usual soup!!

Perhaps the most successful of the saga of the four most irreverent and madcap brothers in the history of Cinema, “Duck Soup” from 1933 represents a true Anthem to Pure & Hard Comedy, free from the ideological and psychological superstructures so dear to modern post-sixties comedy (see under Woody Allen) and at the same time a fierce satire on every type of dictatorship (these were the years of Europe's imminent entry into war as it prepared to defend itself from Germany's attacks that would soon lead to the Second World War), a theme also picked up by the more famous Charlie Chaplin in his “The Great Dictator”.

Here we talk about the small state called Freedonia (from “free=libero”, basically “the Country of Freedom”) and of a certain Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) who reluctantly becomes its dictator. But a series of “enemies” try to spoil the plans: two absurd and crazy enemy spies (played by Chico and Harpo), a singer similar to a romantic tenor but skilled in his own way (Zeppo), and a real “bad guy” in all respects (L. Calhern).
This “duck soup” is a true concentrate of the genres that were most popular in that period: the operetta, the musical, satirical gags, and surreal comedic inventions on the edge of nonsense.

The real star, as always, is the multifaceted and surreal figure of Groucho, who gave life to actual biographies on his life, his work, and his truly “cross-cutting” and certainly “ahead” thinking for the time, still an unsurpassed model for many comedians who have drawn heavily from his repertoire (do not miss his Letters published by Adelphi).

Here are some memorable lines due to their absolutely ingenious madness:
"Pick a card. You can keep it, I have 51 more."
"Excellence, you're shooting your own men!" - "Oh. Here, take 5 dollars, don't tell anyone. No, it's too much, give it back, tell whoever you want."
"These plans are very simple, even a fourth-grader would understand them. Find me a fourth-grade child, I don't understand anything."
"We're three men and a woman under siege, send us reinforcements! And if you can't find reinforcements, at least send us two more women."

Adding to this are the ongoing “choreographic” antics of the Chico & Harpo duo, like true circus clowns always ready to bicker, chase each other, and invent acrobatic numbers that seem almost naive when viewed today.
Sure, beyond the Italian translations of certain idioms and pronunciation nuances that diminish the original playful impact, this film remains a true “upending” of common logical sense, with a barrage of interventions of Highest Stupidity (meant in a good way) from our insurrectionary anarchic group that succeeds in destabilizing the film in a systematic dismantling of the beauty, style, and good taste canons that the cinema of the time had accustomed us to.

An absolutely “unique” and unrepeatable film that the Marx Brothers themselves were no longer able to duplicate in terms of courage, freshness of ideas, and inventiveness, yet giving us one of the greatest Masterpieces of all time in the field of Ars Comica.