Duck Soup (1933, Leo McCarey)

"Here are the plans of war. They're as valuable as your life. And that's putting them pretty cheap. Watch them like a cat watched her kittens. Have you ever had kittens? No, of course not, you're too busy running around playing bridge. Can't you see what I'm trying to tell you? I love you."

The mustachioed screen persona of Groucho Marx might invite comparisons with the silent comic Charlie Chaplin. However, Groucho’s brand of comedy is anything but silent. Only an all-sound picture could communicate his genius, which relies on his complete mastery of every facet of spoken English. Furthermore, Groucho is downright funnier than any other comedian of his day, and perhaps any other day. Most comedies settle into a steady rhythm of setup and payoff. The Marx Brothers effortlessly manage to go a step further: the payoff of one gag doubles as setup for another one. When everyone else fires jokes from a musket, the Marxes use a machine gun. Groucho delivers the rapid-fire zingers, Harpo executes a perfect pantomime, and Chico blends both styles (with Zeppo playing a supporting role). Both their verbal and physical humor carries a nasty, modern edge to it that is difficult to find in other American classics. Groucho’s subversive insults are every bit as dangerously sharp as the oversized pair of scissors that Harpo uses for constant vandalism. By the way, Duck Soup also features a plot that involves politics, diplomacy, espionage, and war. These plot elements serve the same function as all of the straight characters in the film: more targets for the Marx Brothers to knock down.