By this time, I guess poor Zeppo had been almost completely reduced to being an afterthought. Oddly, Duck Soup is actually Zeppo's smallest role of his five Marx Brothers films. Zeppo was to become a Hollywood agent after Duck Soup, finally refusing to face the great indignity of being regarded as the "unfunny one" of the team.
The fourth Marx Brother, the always-questionable Zeppo, makes his last thankless appearance in Duck Soup. But Margaret Dumont, the greatest straight woman in comedy history, was back to take the constant barrage of insults from Groucho.
Go figure.ĭuck Soup contains many classic Marx brothers moments, although it is a rare Marx Brothers movie with no piano interlude by Chico and no harp solo by Harpo. This type of atmosphere would hardly seem conducive to such a hilarious and brilliant comedy. Someone kept bringing a radio to the set and everyone would listen to the speeches of Adolf Hitler, the new Fuhrer of Germany, during the shoot, bringing everyone down. Harpo recalled the filming of Duck Soup to be the most depressing job he ever experienced.
The film, upon release, received very mixed reviews and, whatever its actual success monetarily, was considered a failure and a disappointment by many, to the extant that many actually believed the Marx's movie career was over after its initial run.ĭuck Soup underwent several rewrites before shooting and had several different planned titles, including Ooh La-La, Cracked Ice, Grasshoppers, and Firecrackers before Duck Soup was finally settled upon. According to one source, it was actually the sixth highest-grossing film of 1933. At least two other sources dispute the "massive flop" story and while admitting that Duck Soup wasn't as big a hit as their other films, claim it still did alright at the box office.
In fact, after Duck Soup's failure, the Marx Brothers were released by Paramount Studios and were looking for work for several months. According to most sources, Duck Soup was such a failure at the box office it almost bankrupted Paramount. Their previous film Horsefeathers was Paramount Studios' biggest hit of the year. And it was with perhaps the greatest of all the wonderful films left to us by that wonderful comedy team known as the Marx Brothers.ĭuck Soup was the boys' fifth film, coming in the wake of four straight box office smashes by the team. As examples, we have The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, and It's a Wonderful Life, three of the most beloved American movies of all time, all of which laid a gigantic egg at the box office upon their initial release. Sometimes in the history of great films, a great film is not initially appreciated as such. Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen.