Brattle Friday!
It is Brattle Appreciation night on Friday… Steven and I can go for free, and we can anyone else in for half-price!
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DUCK SOUP
(1933) dir Leo McCary w/Grouch, Chico, Harpo & Zeppo Marx + Margaret Dumont,
Louis Calhern [70 min]
Leave it to the inimitable Marx Brothers to put together one of the most hilarious, biting, and absurdist war (and anti-war) films ever made. Groucho is, through typically byzantine process, appointed leader of Freedonia. Chagrined to find that his new country is bankrupt and, of course, over the love of a woman, he declares war on neighboring Sylvania. Sylvania proves that they’re about as crazy by hiring Chico and Harpo as spies. The absolute mayhem that ensues features Groucho cycling through a history of military costume (all during one battle sequence!) and the dismissal or belittlement of just about every cliche of war ever committed to film.