Customer Reviews

Hail, Hail, Euphoria!: Presenting the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup, the Greatest War Movie Ever Made

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Page for page, this is the most entertaining and enlightening discussion of a single film I've ever read. You might want to watch the movie again (or for the first time), then treat yourself to Blount's manic musings. He provides far more than an account of the comics at work: a bit of history about early film comedy, an appreciation of director Leo McCarey, and a reflection on what can be funny without being crude. Blount is as unpredictable and as irrepressible as the movie itself. He jumps from a shot-by-shot discussion of the film to any number of topics that come to mind, particularly the lives and careers of Minnie Marx's boys. He's nearly halfway though his 144 pages when he reaches the 12-minute mark of the 68-minute film. One footnote takes up three-quarters of a page. But, as Chico might say, "That's irrelephant!" Blount packs every paragraph with interesting facts, thoughtful observations or humorous anecdotes, many admittedly tangential to the movie. It's his skill with language and his effort to figure out what tickles us that make this book a joy to read.

Roy Blount jr., a humorist himself, writes a very appreciative, witty and often serious and appreciative view of the Marx Brother's critical 1933 film 'Duck Soup'. While Blount refers to 'Duck Soup' as one of the greatest war movie of all time, as stunning as that remark may seem, a national known military magazine actually rates the film as a top 20 war film of all time. The writing style of Blount is energetic and very fast paced discussing the script, goes back to the movie, the script, then the movie, the brothers, the support actors such as Margaret Dumont, the frequent straight woman foil for Groucho and the boys. Blount provides generous bios on the brothers periodically through his detailed analysis of the film and with intimate details of the film, even describing the stage fruit that the brothers heave at the the end and at Dumont. There is so much captured by Blount, the detailed comedic moments like Chico and Harpo's teasing the lemonade man, and Groucho & Harpo's mirror act that, as Blount describes, is more than coordinated timing but is a special sense of each other from their uniquely close relationship literally growing up at stage. Blount provides fascinating background on the brothers evolving act that was initiated and coordinated by their stage mother Minnie, who sounds funny in her own right, such as wearing a corset to make an entrance then immediately removing it. Blount not only provides descriptions of Chico, Groucho and Harpo but Zeppo who leaves to produce and create a mechanical company that has great success in the medical field and even Gummo who ironically has the last laugh in the book. The movie in itself has an odd familiarity on why wars start, in this case Fredonia needs money and war seems to be the answer and the masses are pitched into hysteria to support the war. Blount has his serious side showing where many similar types of gags, movies etc. from Keaton and Chalin to an obscure french movie that came out before Duck but offers many similarities. This is both a serious look at the film, virtually frame by frame and an appreciation for the Marx's humor. I wish I had watched the movie again just before reading the book, you'll enjoy the book even more if you do. Then read the book and watch the film a second time. I just ordered the DVD version. To end this review, I love the reference to the Mayor of Fredonia, NY who supposedly complained when the movie came out that he wished the makers of the film would change the name of the country so as not to embarrass the town, Groucho quiped "Change the name of the town, it's hurting our movie'.

I am an admirer of Roy Blount's works, but this book will not go into that list. While it is admirable that he decided to do a critcal analysis of this greatest of all Marx Bros. films, how he goes about it is so derivative of another work from over thirty years ago to make reading this book a bit discomforting.

On the plus side, the stills contained herein are some I have never seen and it is really nice to have some different ones unearthed for us to view. Also, I will give Blount kudos for his passion for the film and for taking the time to not only construct an interesting if flawed examination of both the film and its history, but for being so passionate about it.

Now...as to my criticisms, perhaps the biggest one is this: back in the 1970's the best book on the brothers Marx and one of the best tomes on film comedy was published called GROUCHO, HARPO, CHICO AND SOMETIMES ZEPPO by Joe Adamson. His approach to their world and its relation to the rest of it was a huge refreshing breath of air in a genre that normally stifled creativity in film criticism. The book was wise and also wiseass, funny, sarcastic and still is one of the most entertaining books on movies and movie history ever written. It is also obvious that I am not the only one to read it-many of the points in that book are in this one, with no attribution, which saddens me.

Also, some of Blount's facts are just plain wrong-example: he refers to Woody Allen's masterpiece HANNAN AND HER SISTERS and how the Allen character decides to keep on living after a particularly depressing time because of DUCK SOUP. He marvels at the silliness of the film and how great it is to really laugh at something even when the world around you seems bleak. All well and good, but when he refers to the Allen character, he keeps calling him by the name "Alvy Singer." Unfortunately, that is Allen's character in ANNIE HALL, which came out nine years earlier, and Blount makes this same mistake not once but many times in discussing the two films together. This could be just an honest mistake one time, but not several-that is just plain sloppy research, and with the internet it should have been easy for Blount or his editor to correct this before publishing.

In short, skip this book and buy Adamson's instead-it is better written and is the real deal.

The moment I saw that this book was just on Duck Soup, I had to check it out. I'm a Marx Brothers fan who all too often finds bios on the boys depressing or dull because the movies I love are such a small snapshot of what their lives were.

Blount at times uses the narrative to ambitiously give a window into the popular culture and the Marx family history and how it influenced what made it to the screen. Other times he uses it for an excuse for Marx and other anecdotes and to wax comically. If you stick too close to expectations you have for the book, it can get tedious or meandering at times. If you take it in the spirit of fun and love the author has for the material, it's a fun quick read that will make you want to revisit the movie (or watch if you've never seen it before).

Reading this book is like having someone with ADD describe a movie to you - almost scene for scene. How much fun does that sound like?

After reading a rave review, I purchased this book about one of my all-time favorite movies hoping to gain some new insight. That new insight is sorely lacking. There are some, sort of, interesting facts about rewritten scenes from the original script. But, much like watching the deleted scenes on a DVD, you come to realize that they were left out for a good reason.

I also found the author's attempts to channel Chico & Groucho very lame and annoying.

Some of the side stories are a little bit interesting, but I really have to question their validity, based on this fact; for almost 3 full pages, the author refers to Woody Allen's character in Hannah & Her Sisters as Alvy Singer. As any Woody Allen fan knows, that was his character's name in Annie Hall. He was Mickey in Hannah. For someone who references IMDb as much as the author does in this book, it's amazing that he got this wrong. Where are the fact checkers?

Do yourself a favor - skip this book - watch the movie!

I stumbled on "Hail, Hail Euphoria!" only a few days after rewatching Duck Soup for perhaps the 15th time. Struck by this quirk of fate, I bought the book despite feeling a nagging skepticism about it. Could such a slender volume of (yawn) film criticism really teach me anything new about my favorite comedy...?

The answer, of course, is yes. Roy Blount Jr. packs his short book with interesting stories about the Marx Brothers, director Leo McCarey, and the making of Duck Soup; and while some of these stories were familiar to me, others were new. And finding new material about the Marx Brothers, at this late stage, is like finding little gems.

But I hasten to add that this book does not strike me as particularly well-researched or original. Blount draws much of his information from other film critics; well-known biographies and autobiographies of the Marx Brothers; and (most damningly) the Internet Movie Database! He also occasionally makes unsupported statements. For example, he casts doubt on the well-known story that Mussolini banned Duck Soup, but he clearly hasn't done the research to confirm whether his suspicions are correct.

In short, there is something lazy about this book. Indeed, it feels like it was written in a week or so, by a guy who happened to have a lot of relevant reference material in his personal library. But this is not to say that I didn't enjoy reading it. Thanks to his breezy conversational style, and some funny observations (particularly about the pulchritude of Miss Vera Marcal), Blount just about gets away with his semi-laziness. It also helps that he comments on some interesting topics, such as the status of the Marx Brothers as second-generation immigrants.

Still, I wouldn't mind reading a longer - and slightly less self-indulgent - analysis of Duck Soup sometime...

Attempting to convey the sensation of laughter evoked from a great comedy frequently involves trying to recreate the stimuli, and it's always a tough act--trying to follow a great comedy (W.C. Fields resigned from his vaudeville slot that followed the Marx Bros.'s act). Many have tried to relay the humor of the Marxes' movie classic, "Duck Soup," and many have come up beaten, including Richard Anobile and his fumetti-style recreation in "Why a Duck?" (though his heart was in the right place), to a recently failed musical comedy homage that bore the working title of "Duck Stew." Then along comes Roy Blount Jr. who pulls off the seemingly impossible in a slim little volume that seems to go by even quicker than the movie it documents.

Underlying (but never overstated) in Blount's scene-by-scene examination of "Duck Soup" is the fact that it was the first, and possibly ONLY movie that conveyed the Marxes' stage power to the screen. Stage acts and stage shows have a difficult time of transferring to the movie medium. Louise Brooks claimed that W.C. Fields watered-down his act overmuch for the movies, while Fields' extant stage scripts prove that his stage mugging would have been grotesque onscreen. Likewise, the Marx Bros. struggled through movie versions of two of their stage shows that would have killed the careers of lesser talent, and then came to grips with movie technique in two pure Hollywood films, whereupon they landed in a serendiptitous gathering of writing, musical, directorial, and comedic collaboration (including the talents of Herman Mankiewicz, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Leo McCarey, Margaret Dumont, and Edgar Kennedy)that produced the purest and most timeless of their comedies.

Blount reminds throughout that he is, or has, recently viewed the movie in two different settings, one in a revival theater filled with parents and children, as well as on his computer, in a tiny square in a corner of the screen. In many ways, this book is more a reflection of the latter experience, as lines of dialogue and even credit lines open up to reveal biographical footnotes and sidebars, or references to contemporary and modern comedies that have anything in common with the issue at hand. If this suggests tedium, ferggedaboutit. There isn't a dull story or wasted word in this book. This book may not evoke the the loud yocks that come from classic moments like the mirror scene, but it successfully invokes the contagious delight of the movie. It also rounds up a great deal of information that you'd have to dig for in shelves of Marx and movie and Broadway books and ephemera.

Some poets have decried T.S. Eliot and "The Waste Land" for "destroying poetry. Roy Blount Jr. may have pulled off something similar with this book. He has set a new standard not only for Marx Bros. studies but for movie comedy books in general. This is a volume that will bear as much re-reading as the movie bears re-watching, to say nothing of the ongoing laughter due both.

You don't have to be a fan of The Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup" - you don't even have to have seen the movie - in order to enjoy Roy Blount Jr.'s loving homage. Blount dissects the history of the Brothers, from their controlling mom, Minnie, to the tough urban upbringing that shaped the boys' humor to how hapless Zeppo joined the act. The movie itself comes in for lots of scrutiny. Blount compares early scripts with what ends up in the film. What was the meaning of Duck Soup? Was it an anti-war movie? The first post-modern film? Or were the Marxes just having meaningless fun with the material? And what of high-brow Margaret Dumont, the Marx's exasperated foil? Was she really immune to the Marx's hijinks? Or was this a life-long act?

"Hail! Hail!" is a masterpiece that lays bare the making of a classic comedy and delves into the wary souls of America's greatest comedy act.

Duck Soup is one of my favorite Marx Brothers movies, which makes it one of my favorite movies period I suppose. And I usually like the writing of Roy Blount Jr. So how could I miss picking up this book? But the book is quite annoying in places, and so left me somewhat disappointed. Blount keeps getting in the way of the genius of the Marx Brothers. There are certainly plenty of interesting tidbits of information, some of which may be unfamiliar even to diehard Marxists. For example, everyone is aware of Harpo's prowess on his namesake instrument, and Chico's piano skills are showcased in most of the movies, but apparently Groucho was just as accomplished musically on the guitar. However, Groucho playing the guitar only occurs in one movie, Horsefeathers, and then as a comedic device. And did you know that Chico's name was actually meant to be pronounced not "Cheeko" as most do, but "Chick-o" because of his woman chasing? Stuff like this makes the book worthwhile, but Blount still grates on the nerves. His imaginary movie dialogue between him and Chico is a particularly egregious example. Blount's ego at least allows him to acknowledge the lameness of the attempt, but still leads him to inflict it upon us. Completely unnecessary, yet painful. So give me more of the background of the brothers and their movies and less Blount and the book gets five stars. As it is I can give it no more than three.

Subtitled Presenting the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup, the Greatest War Movie Ever Made. A loving and quite comprehensive tribute to one of the Marx brothers' (all four are here - Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly, Harpo as Pinky, Chico as Chicolini and Zeppo as Lt. Bob Roland) best movies, and that is saying something! Blount not only steps through the entire movie (sometimes frame by frame), he also provides insights to the original script, as well as related works by the brothers and others (including Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, et al).

This book is really written to be read with the movie playing in front of you (the author said he had it running in the corner of his computer screen as he typed). Insights to the genesis of these comedic giants are provided, along with a respectful yet irreverantly delivered bow to this cinematic masterpiece (would Groucho want anything less?!).

Blount was delighted to a screening of this marvelous film 50 years after his first viewing to find that the young children in the audience were as delighted as he was with the brothers' antics. They really got it!