bmonclers

Their last Rescue Me Seasons 1-5 DVD Box Set for Paramount Pictures was also their best: “Duck Soup” (1933). “To war, to war, we’re going off to war” sing the merry citizens of Fredonia as the diplomatic skills of Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) sends the country to certain doom. Leo McCarey’s sharp-as-a-knife satire of modern diplomacy and international relations was edgy even for the Marx Brothers, but their irreverence and insanity makes it all work. A little too much for depression era audiences, it marked the last appearance of Zeppo and the Brothers’ last film for Paramount. Relocating at MGM, their comedies became more linear, less surreal, and more commercial. “Duck Soup” is the Marx Brothers at their peak: wild, unpredictable, anarchic. If there is one Marx Brothers film you need in your collection, this is it.

Covert Affairs Season 1 DVD Box set on DVD. Seriously, cancer is what drives (in completely different directions) the protagonists of two made-for-cable shows hitting home video this week: “The Big C: The Complete First Season” (Sony) with Laura Linney (reviewed on Videodrone here) and the smarter, superior “Breaking Bad: The Complete Third Season” with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, who both won Emmy awards this year (reviewed on Videodrone here). But there are other channels on the racks. For instance…