I prefer Laurel and Hardy to the Marx Brothers (“A Night In Casablanca”, “A Day At The Races”) but I certainly prefer them to Abbot and Costello. For me, Groucho Marx is the only funny one, Chico is okay but Harpo and Zeppo aren’t funny in the slightest. The Marx Brothers dish out the kind of slapstick that isn’t half as good as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.

In “Duck Soup”, Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) becomes the dictator of Freedonia, a country in bankruptcy. After squabbles with Zander (Edmund Breese) over who will marry Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), Firefly wages war on the neighbouring country Sylvania.

Groucho Marx is one of comedy’s most famous faces, with his grease painted moustache, his thick eyebrows, his glasses and his overly large cigar. To me Groucho is the only funny Marx; armed with a quick wit and a hilarious voice I can’t help but giggle at him. Chico Marx isn’t half bad but he isn’t particularly funny in fact he’s more just pleasant. Harpo Marx is woefully unfunny with his mediocre slapstick’s attempt at humour. Zeppo Marx doesn’t have much of a role in this film. The rest of the cast are okay.

Groucho Marx saves this film from falling apart with his hilarity. I’m always surprised how highly this movie is regarded as to me without Groucho, the Marx Brothers would be fairly disappointing. When I watch Laurel and Hardy or Charlie Chaplin I can’t help but enjoy myself but unless Groucho is onscreen, I don’t really enjoy the Marx Brothers. A prime example of this is their last movie “Love Happy” where Groucho makes little more than a cameo appearance (and with a real moustache instead of his usual grease painted one). That film suffered as it basically became just a Harpo film despite having some okay slapstick. “Duck Soup” however is a decent film that although it isn’t great with slapstick, it does feature the wit of the comedic genius Groucho Marx, whose face has since become a great novelty item.