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.Although not the flop that some sources report it as being, Duck Soup was, in comparison to the Brothers' previous Paramount films, a box-office disappointment. The film was panned by critics across the United States, and the Brothers' Paramount contract was not renewed afterwards. However, critical opinion has evolved, and the film has since achieved the status of a classic. Duck Soup is now widely considered to be a Marx Brothers masterpiece.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.