Introduction by Writer and Critic J. Hoberman

Sunday, Apr. 27 2025, 12:40

• Film critic at the Village Voice for over three decades, J. Hoberman has written over a dozen books, including Bridge of Light: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds (with Jeff Shandler), Entertaining America: Jews, Movies and Broadcasting, and contributed to numerous anthologies. His most recently published book is a monograph on the Marx Brothers's movie Duck Soup. He currently teaches a graduate seminar in documentary theory at Columbia University.
• Duck Soup by J. Hoberman: J. Hoberman's study of the film traces its reputation history, from the initial disappointment of its release to its rise to cult status in the 1960s when the Marx's anarchic, anti-establishment humor again seemed timely. Hoberman places Duck Soup, alongside analogous comedies: Dr. Strangelove (1964), the Beatles' films, Morgan! (1966), The President's Analyst (1967), and The Producers (1968). It attained canonical stature as a touchstone for Woody Allen and would be recognized by the Library of Congress in the 1990s. Hoberman's analysis provides a historical and political context as well as an in-depth production history, drawing on primary sources and emphasizing director McCarey's prior work along with the Marx Brothers in addition to the situation at Paramount, a substantial synopsis, and an account of the movie's initial reception, concluding with its subsequent elevation to comic masterpiece.

Tickets: $15 (members), $20 (nonmembers), $9 Children

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