Duck Soup

Ashley Kraus
Philosophy of Film
May 5, 2014
Dr. Langguth

Duck Soup

 

Many people enjoy watching a comedy movie. They have a sense of entertainment that keeps a person’s attention and gets a laugh or enjoyment out of what is being done in the film.  The film “Duck Soup” is comedy filmed in 1933 starring the Marx’s brothers.  This film is cinematic and tells it story through scenes.

Duck Soup is about a small country named Freedonia that is in financial trouble.  Mrs. Teasdale agrees to help the town by donating 20 million dollars if Rufus T. Firefly becomes the President. Firefly is a crazy, sarcastic dictator who causes mayhem and refuses to play politics by the book.  He attempts to win the heart of Mrs. Teasdale but so does the neighboring countries Ambassador, Trentino.  Trentino sends in two spies to spy on Firefly and his chaos. Their names are Chicolini and Pinky.  These two are not the normal spies one would think of; these two bring more chaos into the two towns.  When the two leaders cannot resolve their problem over their wealthy lady, a war breaks out between the two countries. This causes more trouble in Mrs. Teasdale’s life by attacking her house trying to win her love.

This does not sound like normal comedy but through everything going on in the film Chicolini and Pinky mess with both causing problems in a comedic way.  For example, when talking to Trentino about Firefly, Chicolini and Pinky mess with Trentino by cutting his cigar, cutting his jacket, and playing baseball with his cigars.  They mess with both Trentino and Firefly in similar ways by not answering questions or re-twisting them in that they cannot be answered. 

Being Cinematic exploits the medium that is in the film capturing the motion   This film can be categorized as cinematic because of it editing techniques.  The editing done with the different point of views and the scene cuts makes the story come alive.  This is done because of the actions and scene not by the words being said by the characters.  The different points of view of the film are more effective than the writing of the film itself. 

Another technique used to portray the cinematic effect is the fact that the movie is in black and white.  With the film being in black and white the film is more condensed and tells the story better with no distraction.  The color films have too much distraction in them and can pull away to what is actually being told in the story. 

If one likes comedy I honestly suggest the film “Duck Soup”.  It is different from many films today in that there is not too much going on in the film to drift away from the plot.  The comedy being done is circled around the plot helping to make sense of what is going on.  This is a film that many should see and rate themselves.