Duck Soup by Leo McCarey

Starring the Marx Brothers, Duck Soup is the famous ensemble’s most popular comedy movie. Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) is appointed to be Freedonia’s president when Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) says she will only give the country twenty million dollars if he is given the position. Trentino, the president of the nearest country, Sylvania, is trying to charm Mrs. Teasdale in order to take control of Freedonia. He hires Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Pinky (Harpo Marx) to spy on Rufus T. Firefly. Nonetheless, they get distracted by comedically annoying the nearby lemonade vendor. Meanwhile, Rufus T. Firefly is horrible at being in power. He refuses to talk about any problems in Freedonia and hires unexperienced Chicolini as his secretary of war. Firefly invites himself to Mrs. Teasdale’s picnic where Trentino is about to propose to her. When Rufus T. Firefly interjects, Trentino starts arguing with him. However, Firefly is amused and sarcastically cracks jokes. Eventually, Firefly gets angry at Trentino and slaps him. Trentino and Firefly declare war between their countries due to an argument. Mrs. Teasdale wants peace, so she invites both men to her house in order to talk about their differences. They all joke about how stupid they were, but when Firefly asks what Trentino called him, Trentino says “upstart” and Firefly slaps him again. The war is back on. A spy, named Vera, is sleeping over at Mrs. Teasdale’s house and she tells Trentino that Freedonia’s war plans are in the house. Then, Trentino sends over Chicolini and Pinky to steal the plans from Firefly while he’s asleep. Chicolini enters Firefly’s room and locks him into the bathroom, steals a robe, paints a black mustache on his face, and passes as Rufus to Mrs. Teasdale. Pinky, thinking the same way as Chicolini, does the same thing and now there are three Rufus T. Fireflys. Chicolini hides under the bed as Pinky runs downstairs when they see the real Firefly. In the famous “Mirror Sequence”, Pinky breaks a huge mirror covering the entire wall and almost perfectly mimics every move Firefly makes. Suddenly, Chicolini shows up and Firefly catches him while Pinky escapes. During Chicolini’s trial, Mrs. Teasdale interrupts and says that Trentino is coming to the courthouse to try to settle the argument without war between Sylvania and Freedonia. However, the end up fighting again and the war is disastrous. Freedonia is suffering great losses and Mrs. Teasdale calls Firefly to come help her. Firefly, Pinky, Chicolini, and Bob arrive at her house surrounded by enemy soldiers. The soldiers run into her house and one by one, they knock them on the head. They throw pieces of orange at Trentino and he surrenders. When Mrs. Teasdale starts singing the anthem in celebration, the four Marx Brothers start pelting her with orange slices instead of Trentino.

Groucho Marx as Rufus T. Firefly

Rufus T. Firefly is extremely witty, comical, and sarcastic. He becomes the president of Freedonia and is interested in Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont). Every conversation is an opportunity to joke and make people laugh for him. Firefly is awfully proud and is unafraid to speak what he’s thinking.

Chico Marx as Chicolini

Chicolini is very unaware of his surroundings. Most of his dialogue consists of him not understanding the person he’s talking to. He is a light-hearted guy with lots to say and him and Chicolini never get the job done. Through unrealistic luck, Chicolini manages to escape his treason sentence in his trial and everything works out for him and his companions.

Harpo Marx as Pinky

Pinky is the ultimate jokester. When he’s not doing practical jokes, he is either cutting something in half with his scissors or staring at a person. Pinky and Chicolini were appointed to spy on Rufus T. Firefly but they fail to get any real information because they keep clowning around with everyone around them.