Looking
back from 2010, it is hard to believe that at one time the film Duck Soup was seen as the Marx Brothers’ swan song, a failure
following the anarchic success of The
Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers,
Monkey Business, and Horsefeathers.
However, before it was revived during the Viet Nam War and given new
relevance, the film was not highly regarded. In Hail,
Hail, Euphoria!,
Roy Blount, Jr. looks at the film, which he deems “the greatest war
movie ever made” and traces its history and humor.
Blount
explains his purpose is to provide a sort of commentary track to the
film, which currently lacks such a feature on its various DVD
permutations. He describes the action and then provides discussion of
the actors, background history, and so forth. Blount does a good job
tracking down the information on even the smallest of roles, although
his reliance on the Internet Movie Database seems a little heavy.
Nevertheless, he does indicate when he uses it and when he is using
other published sources.
Much
of Blount’s information is about the Marx Brothers generally, as well
as about Duck Soup
specifically and some of his stories will be new to even the most
die-hard Marx fans, such as the story of Zeppo and his near involvement
in a murder, or Groucho’s attempts to join Ben Hecht’s orchestra.
Blount’s information is generally accurate, although his statement
that only one recording of Harpo exists is wrong. There are at least
three different audio recordings as well as video footage (the latter
found in the “New York Hails the Great Ziegfeld” special feature on The Great Ziegfeld DVD).
At
times, Blount allows his descriptions to run away with his commentary,
most notably in his description of the lemonade scene between Harpo,
Chico, and Edgar Kennedy. At other times, he gets a little silly,
apparently deciding to watch the film with French subtitles and provide
commentary on that as well.
Blount
also appears to have an axe to grind, looking at the famous tribulations
director Leo McCarey faced in making the film and extrapolating it to a
Jewish-Irish rivalry. This is an interesting theory, but doesn’t hold
water in the face of the Marx Brothers’ treatment of their other
directors, as well as Irving Thalberg. The issue, therefore, seems to be
less Jewish-Irish tension and simply the Marx Brothers’own disdain for
authority and their personal anarchy.
Hail,
Hail, Euphoria! works best when read with Duck Soup playing in the background, however, because of Blount’s
description of action, it is quite enjoyable to readers who have a
familiarity with the film. Those who are unfamiliar with Duck Soup will most likely be mystified by the book, but are also
unlikely to pick it up and read it without watching the movie.
