Duck Soup Blu-ray - The Marx Brothers

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(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

From my favorite Sternberg to my favorite Marx Brothers is less of a leap than it might initially appear to be, especially because both deal with national issues in abstract and rather absurdist terms. Leo McCarey’s only encounter with Chico, Groucho, Harpo, and Zeppo is memorable for many other reasons: it has fewer distractions (i.e., gratuitous musical and romantic sequences) than any of the other Marx Brothers movies, more purely visual delights with links to silent cinema (above all, the sequence with multiple Grouchos), and as a wholesale ridicule of everything that leads to and justifies warfare, it has the most bite as satire as well as the most free-wheeling spirit.
Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's article "30 Great Movies on DVD" located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 17th, 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 vs. Arrow Films (Limited Edition) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Vincent Lacomme and for the DVD Screen Caps!

1) Universal (The Marx Brothers 6 disc - Silver Screen) - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT

2) Image Entertainment (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC SECOND

3) Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL THIRD

4) Arrow (Limited Edition - 2017) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - RIGHT

Box Covers
				*Arrow's The Marx Brothers at Paramount* Blu-ray Collection includes The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers and Duck Soup! Coming out individually, on Blu-ray in the UK in April 2019: Also available in Universal's The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Blu-ray** Collection (The Cocoanuts / Animal Crackers / Monkey Business / Horse Feathers / Duck Soup)
Distribution	Universal Region 1 - NTSC	Image Entertainment Region 0 - NTSC	Universal Region 2,4,5 - PAL	Arrow (Limited Edition - 2017) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:08:44	1:08:24	1:05:59 (4% PAL speedup)	1:08:51.127
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	Disc Size: 23,966,562,228 bytes Feature: 17,294,383,104 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video 1080p / 23.976 fps Total Bitrate: 29.95 Mbps
	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)
Bitrate: Arrow (Limited Edition - 2017) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
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.	LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
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.	English (SDH), 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.	Release Information: Studio: Arrow Films Disc Size: 23,966,562,228 bytes Feature: 17,294,383,104 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video 1080p / 23.976 fps Total Bitrate: 29.95 Mbps Edition Details: • Commentary on The Cocoanuts by film scholar Anthony Slide • Commentary on Animal Crackers by film historian Jeffrey Vance • Commentary on Monkey Business by Marx Brothers historian Robert S Bader and Bill Marx, son of Harpo Marx • Commentary on Horse Feathers by film critic FX Feeney • Commentary on Duck Soup by Bader and film critic Leonard Maltin • The Marx Brothers: Hollywood's Kings of Chaos, a feature-length documentary containing interviews with Leonard Maltin, Dick Cavett and others (1:19:57) • Sibling Revelry - Video Essay by David Cairns (19:50) • MONKEYNUTCRACKERDUCKFEATHERS video essay by David Cairns (27:21) • Three excerpts from NBC s The Today Show featuring interviews with Harpo Marx, Groucho Marx (7:13) and Bill Marx (4:35) (total = 16:37) • FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Perfect-bound book featuring new and archival writing on the films Blu-ray Release Date: June 26th, 2017 Custom case (see below) Chapters 12

Comments

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Arrow (Limited Edition 2017) - Region 'B' Blu-ray - June 2017': Arrow include the same 5 films as found in Universal's The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Blu-ray Collection (The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers and Duck Soup!) released in October of 2016 - which I don't own to further compare although we suspect the image quality to be very similar if not exactly the same.

Duck Soup is on the third of three Blu-rays in Arrow's package. It doesn't share the disc space with any other films (but does have extras) and hence is single-layered. The transfer has a high bitrate and, like Horse Feathers, the two key attributes of the Blu-ray visuals are contrast and grain support. It's not as big a difference over the SDs as Horse Feathers, but this 1080P looks quite thick and film-like in-motion. It probably can't look much better.

Arrow use a linear PCM audio transfer (16-bit) and it supports the frequent effects and bouncy score by John Leipold (The Flying Deuces). Dialogue can be a shade inconsistent at times although, generally, audible. Arrow add optional English (SDH) subtitles - see sample below - and their three Blu-ray discs of the package are region 'B'-locked.

Commentaries for every film - on Duck Soup by Robert S. Bader and film critic Leonard Maltin. This disc has two excellent video essays - both by David Cairns. Sibling Revelry - runs 20-minutes and look at the brothers careers and in MONKEYNUTCRACKERDUCKFEATHERS, David Cairns examines five of the Marx Brothers' most loved movies - Animal Crackers, The Cocoanuts, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers and Duck Soup for almost 1/2 and hour. There are other extras that I will discuss in upcoming reviews of the specific films. For the first-pressings the package does contain a perfect-bound book featuring new and archival writing on the films.

Looks like an amazing Blu-ray package- one we can strongly recommend to all films fans.

***

ON THE DVDs: 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)

Arrow - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Subtitle Sample Arrow (Limited Edition - 2017) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Screen Captures

1) Universal (The Marx Brothers 6 disc - Silver Screen) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

2) Image Entertainment (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC SECOND

3) Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL THIRD

4) Arrow (Limited Edition - 2017) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

1) Universal (The Marx Brothers 6 disc - Silver Screen) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

2) Image Entertainment (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC SECOND

3) Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL THIRD

4) Arrow (Limited Edition - 2017) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

1) Universal (The Marx Brothers 6 disc - Silver Screen) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

2) Image Entertainment (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC SECOND

3) Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL THIRD

4) Arrow (Limited Edition - 2017) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

1) Universal (The Marx Brothers 6 disc - Silver Screen) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

2) Image Entertainment (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC SECOND

3) Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL THIRD

4) Arrow (Limited Edition - 2017) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

1) Universal (The Marx Brothers 6 disc - Silver Screen) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

2) Image Entertainment (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC SECOND

3) Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL THIRD

4) Arrow (Limited Edition - 2017) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

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Report Card:

Image:	Blu-ray
Sound:	Blu-ray
Extras:	Blu-ray

Box Covers

Arrow's The Marx Brothers at Paramount Blu-ray Collection includes The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers and Duck Soup!

Coming out individually, on Blu-ray in the UK in April 2019:

Also available in Universal's The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Blu-ray Collection (The Cocoanuts / Animal Crackers / Monkey Business / Horse Feathers / Duck Soup)