"Duck Soup" Universal (The Marx Brothers - Silver Screen Collec) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Universal (The Marx Brothers collection) - Region 2

(aka "La guerra lampo dei fratelli Marx" or "En tosset diktator" or "Die Marx Brothers im Krieg" or "Soupe au canard")

directed by Leo McCarey
USA 1933

The Marx Brothers' greatest and funniest masterpiece - the classic comedy Duck Soup (1933) is a short, but brilliant satire and lampooning of blundering dictatorial leaders, Fascism and authoritarian government. The film, produced by Herman Mankiewicz, was prepared during the crisis period of the Depression. Some of its clever gags and routines were taken from Groucho's and Chico's early 1930s radio show Flywheel, Shyster & Flywheel. Working titles for the film included Oo La La, Firecrackers, Grasshoppers, and Cracked Ice.

It was the Marx Brothers' fifth film in a five-picture contract with Paramount Studios, before they went on to MGM. It was their last and best film with the studio. The film was directed by first-class veteran director Leo McCarey (who would go on to direct The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939), Going My Way (1944), and An Affair to Remember (1957) - a remake of his 1939 film), and its screenplay was written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby (with additional dialogue by Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin). Originally, it was to have been directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The film was devoid of any Academy Award nominations.

Actor/director Woody Allen paid homage to the film in his Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) - with an excerpt from the musical number "The Country's Going to War." While attending an afternoon screening of Duck Soup at his local repertory movie theater, one of the film's characters - a depressed and neurotic NY Jew named Mickey Sachs (played by Allen himself), who is afraid of disease and dying - experiences a climactic epiphany that life was meant to be enjoyed, by narrating: "And I started to feel how can you even think of killing yourself? I mean, isn't it so stupid?..." Further, the mirror sequence was re-enacted by Harpo with Lucille Ball on her 1950's I Love Lucy TV show many years later.

Excerpt of Tim Dirks review on the Greatest Movie Site located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 17, 1933 - USA

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Universal (The Marx Brothers 6 disc - Silver Screen) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Image Entertainment (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Universal (4 disc) - Region 2,4,5 - PAL

Big thanks to Vincent Lacomme and for the Screen Caps!

(Universal (The Marx Brothers - Silver Screen Collec) - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Image Entertainment (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
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Distribution	Universal Region 1 - NTSC	Image Entertainment Region 0 - NTSC	Universal Region 2,4,5 - PAL
Runtime	1:08:44	1:08:24	1:05:59 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.33 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 8.28 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.20 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Universal (The Marx Brothers - Silver Screen Collec)
Bitrate: Image Entertainment
Bitrate: Universal (The Marx Brothers collection)
Audio	English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono , DUB: Spanish Dolby Digital 1.0 mono	English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, dubs in French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, none	English Closed Captions, none	English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Turkish and none.
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33 Edition Details: • Theatrical Trailer (1.46 m) • Boxset also includes The Cocoanuts / Animal Crackers / Monkey Business / and Horse Feathers • Contains five films plus a disc of extras and an exclusive book DVD Release Date: 09/11/2004 Digipack (in the Boxset) Chapters 19	Release Information: Studio: Image Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: October 17, 2000 Snapper Case Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Trailer (1:40) DVD Release Date: November 10, 2003 (UK) Keep Case Chapters 20 NOTE: There is difference in how the Marx Bros. is released - In UK a 4-DVD Box, Australia 3-DVD (Missing Monkey B.) and in Denmark, France, Germany there are only single discs.

Comments

We can see clean-up in both the new Region 1 and the PAL edition in comparison to the old Image Entertainment release which looks to have a little brightening. There is far less damage and dust, but I do see more in the PAL than in the new NTSC. Between the Silver Screen and the PAL - I don't see a lot of difference. The NTSC might be marginally sharper and has slightly superior contrast, but neither are deal-breakers in my mind. Depending on where you buy the PAL edition (There is difference in how the Marx Bros. is released - In UK a 4-DVD Box, Australia 3-DVD (Missing Monkey Business) and in Denmark, France, Germany there are only single discs.) but in the least the NTSC set also offers "The Cocoanuts". The PAL offers, as usual, some extra DUBs - both offer a trailer and I prefer the Silver Screen edition menus.

- Gary W Tooze

DVD Menus

(Universal (The Marx Brothers - Silver Screen Collec) - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Universal (The Marx Brothers - Silver Screen Collec) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL - BOTTOM)