Barry Hughes

Duck Soup is a 1933 Marx Brothers anarchic comedy film written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, with additional dialogue by Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin, and directed by Leo McCarey. First released theatrically by Paramount Pictures on November 17, 1933, it starred what were then billed as the “Four Marx Brothers” (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo) and also featured Margaret Dumont, Raquel Torres, Louis Calhern and Edgar Kennedy. It was the last Marx Brothers film to feature Zeppo, and the last of five Marx Brothers movies released by Paramount.

Compared to the Marx Brothers’ previous Paramount films, Duck Soup was a box-office disappointment, although it was not a “flop” as is sometimes reported. The film opened to mixed reviews, although this by itself did not end the group’s business with Paramount. Bitter contract disputes, including a threatened walk-out by the Marxes, crippled relationships between them and Paramount just as Duck Soup went into production. After the film fulfilled their five-picture contract with the studio, the Marxes and Paramount agreed to part ways.

While critics of Duck Soup felt it did not quite meet the standards of its predecessors, critical opinion has evolved and the film has since achieved the status of a classic. Duck Soup is now widely considered to be a masterpiece and the Marx Brothers’ finest film.

In 1990 the United States Library of Congress deemed Duck Soup “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

This is the first movie that I have seen since I made a goal to watch all of the Top 100 Movies of all time. Thanks to Netflix I can see all of these movies and about 1/3 of them instantly online.

The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is the story of Ethan Edwards, a middle-aged Civil War veteran portrayed by John Wayne, who spends years looking for his abducted niece with Martin Pawley, his adoptive nephew, portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter.

The Searchers is the first of only three films produced by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney’s C. V. Whitney Pictures; the second being The Missouri Traveler in 1958 with Brandon De Wilde and Lee Marvin, the last being The Young Land in 1959 with Patrick Wayne and Dennis Hopper.

While a commercial success upon its 1956 release, The Searchers received no Academy Award nominations. It was named the Greatest American Western of all time by the American Film Institute in 2008. It also placed 12th on the American Film Institute’s 2007 list of the Top 100 greatest movies of all time.

Just finishing laundry, cake in oven and cleaning kitchen. I didn’t get hardly anything accomplished last night but I am making progress this morning. Should have kitchen and dining room clean in another hour or two. Less the refrigerator that needs a total makeover inside.

Will move to possibly the garage, 3 seasons room or bathroom after the downstairs is completed. I shouldn’t rush this and need to pace myself to thoroughly clean one room per day. By the end of the week I could in theory have my home 100% clean and de-junked. Gotta go the oven is beeping.