Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
Farm-Fresh balanceYMMVTransmit blueRadarWikEd fancyquotesQuotes • (Emoticon happyFunnyHeartHeartwarmingSilk award star gold 3Awesome) • RefridgeratorFridgeGroupCharactersScript editFanfic RecsSkull0Nightmare FuelRsz 1rsz 2rsz 1shout-out iconShout OutMagnifierPlotGota iconoTear JerkerBug-silkHeadscratchersHelpTriviaWMGFilmRoll-smallRecapRainbowHo YayPhoto linkImage LinksNyan-Cat-OriginalMemesHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconicLibrary science symbol SourceSetting
File:Marxsoup 2214.jpg
Cquote1

 "The last man nearly ruined this place, he didn't know what to do with it.

If you think the country's bad off now, just wait till I get through with it!"

Cquote2


Groucho Marx plays Rufus T. Firefly. Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont's character) has appointed him ruler of Freedonia. One of his first acts in office, after promising to be a bad president and insulting her, is to offend the ambassador of Freedonia's neighbor, Sylvania.

Chico Marx and Harpo Marx are two Sylvanian spies. They are about as competent as you can expect from characters played by Chico and Harpo.

Twice, Firefly considers making peace with Sylvania. Twice, he chooses to offend the ambassador further. Finally, Sylvania declares war.

Hilarity Ensues throughout all these proceedings.


This film contains examples of:[]

  • Anti-Hero: Rufus T. Firefly, as summed up with the song lyrics included at the top of the page.
  • Awesome McCoolname: Rufus T. Firefly.
  • Banned In Fascist Italy: Benito Mussolini was under the impression that the entire film was a Take That at his expense. Ironically, the most common criticism leveled against the movie in America was that it didn't criticize fascism strongly enough.
  • Crowd Song: "To war, to war, to war we gotta go!" It eventually devolves into a minstrel show. (No Blackface, though.)
  • Cute Mute: Harpo, although this is one of the films that does address the fact that he is mute by choice and used to talk. (Chicolini can't understand why he won't talk to him.)
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Firefly sends Pinky out to warn the country that the Sylvanians are coming, which he does, in a Paul Revere-esque manner, until... he sees a woman about to take a bath. And yet he prefers to share her bed with his horse.
  • Fiction 500: Mrs. Teasdale is rich enough to solve a nation's debt, even a small one, and declare who is to lead it.
  • Fat Girl: As Firefly says of Mrs. Teasdale:
Cquote1

 "I can see you now in the kitchen, bending over a hot stove. But I can't see the stove!"

Cquote2
Cquote1

  Taxes? That's where my uncle is from! Dollars, Taxes!

Cquote2
Cquote1

  Groucho: This is the third trip I've taken today, and I haven't gone anywhere.

Cquote2
    • Later subverted as Groucho gets clever and insists on riding on the motorcycle portion. Cue Harpo driving off in the sidecar.
Cquote1

  Groucho: Ah, this is the only way to travel.

Cquote2
    • Groucho's changing uniforms during the actual war sequence.
    • Harpo's half-kleptomania, where he steals half-items by snipping them off with scissors.
  • Senseless Violins: Groucho of all people in the battle sequence. Naturally, he's shooting in the wrong direction.
  • Silence Is Golden: The Mirror Routine is performed entirely without sound.
  • Slapstick
  • Stock Footage: Amusingly deployed when Firefly summons for help during the battle sequence.
  • Stop Helping Me!:
    • When Freedonia is being bombed, Groucho gets a huge white vase jammed down over his head. Harpo's idea of helping is to draw Groucho's face on the outside of the vase.
    • Remember that people still sometimes used chamber pots and Groucho's line becomes Fridge Nausea:
Cquote1

 "Last time this happened to me I was crawling under a bed!"

Cquote2
Advertisement