Duck Soup

Are you afraid? I’m kind of afraid. Most of us are, to some extent, fearful at the  moment. Covid-19 is a pandemic. Here in the United States it’s spreading at an exponential rate. The country has dozens of hot spots. Hospitals are running out of room and equipment. Add to that the economic uncertainty. The economy was largely a house of cards, and this mess has knocked a few aces from the foundation. Millions are out of work, but the bills keep coming in.  It a big slimy bag of existential dread, terror, empathy turned to eleven, horror and pain. It’s messy and ugly.

It’s fucked, folks.

We need comfort. We need joy. We need to laugh. I look to movies because that’s where I always look. For me, the one film that always brings joy Is Duck Soup. This classic Marx Brothers film is a manic, goofy, hilarious time.  As long as I can remember, Duck Soup has cheered me up. I have owned many copies of the film, and it’s an absolute staple of my viewing.

Groucho, as Rufus T. Firefly, singing “If you think the country’s bad off now, just wait ‘til I get through with it” always brings a smile to my face. The lemonade stand leaves me doubled over. The mirror scene breaks me every single time.

After my mother died, I put off watching this movie because I feared that it wouldn’t work. That I would sit there feeling nothing good as Groucho Wooed Margaret DuMont. I was wrong. When I finally watched it I laughed for 90 minutes, then I cried for two days.

  

If you need something to bring a little light and joy into your day right now, give Duck Soup a try.

What movies do this for you? Is there something that can always cheer you up? Tell us about it in the comments or shoot us an email.