
Duck Soup
Duck Soup, arguably the Marx Brothers’ best film, is also one of the greatest anti-war movies ever made. Director Leo McCarey gave the picture a disciplined structure that still allowed his anarchistic stars plenty of room to wreak havoc, resulting in an absurdist comedy with an undercurrent of no-nonsense political commentary. This 1933 classic could be seen as the spiritual father of the darkly comic anti-war films that emerged in the sixties including Dr. Strangelove and How I Won the War.
About John Landis
John Landis is the director of Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf In London, Trading Places, Coming To America, Kentucky Fried Movie, Spies Like Us, Three Amigos!, Into The Night and Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and the recent Burke and Hare for Ealing Studios, among many other films and television shows. His documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project premiered on HBO and won an Emmy for Best Music, Comedy or Variety Special. He is also the subject of noted film critic Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan’s recent book “John Landis” and his own book “Monsters in the Movies’ was published to critical and popular acclaim in 2012.