Passes the Bechdel test
Duck Soup
1933. Directed by Leo McCarey, written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby and Arthur Sheekman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 1 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 1. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
The country of Freedonia is in the middle of a financial crisis and on the brink of revolution. In order to gain a bail-out from the wealthy Mrs Teasdale, the government appoints Rufus T Firefly as its president. However, Mr Firefly shuns the pomp and pretentiousness of government; along with the prudence and rationality of it too. Meanwhile, the neighbouring country of Sylvania is plotting to overthrow Freedonia and sends Pinky and Chicolini to spy on Firefly. War seems inevitable.
- Released
- 17 Nov 1933
- Genres
- Comedy, Musical
- Rated
- Approved
- IMDb
- 7.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 93 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Groucho 216 lines, man
- Chico 101 lines, man
- Mrs. Teasdale 60 lines, woman
- Trentino 52 lines, man
- Bob 25 lines, man
- Vera 20 lines, woman
- All 15 lines
- Ensemble 5 lines
- Zeppo 5 lines, man
- General 4 lines
Full cast, 33 people
- Groucho Marx as Rufus T. Firefly
- Harpo Marx as Pinky
- Chico Marx as Chicolini
- Zeppo Marx as Bob Roland
- Margaret Dumont as Gloria Teasdale
- Raquel Torres as Vera Marcal
- Louis Calhern as Ambassador Trentino
- Edmund Breese as Zander
- Leonid Kinskey as Sylvanian Agitator
- Charles Middleton as Prosecutor
- Edgar Kennedy as Street Vendor
- Edward Arnold as Politician (uncredited)
- Wade Boteler as Officer at Battle Headquarters (uncredited)
- Sidney Bracey as Mrs. Teasdale's Butler (uncredited)
- E.H. Calvert as Officer in Battle Sequence (uncredited)
- Davison Clark as Minister of Finance #2 (uncredited)
- Louise Closser Hale as Reception Guest (uncredited)
- Carrie Daumery as Reception Guest (uncredited)
- Maude Turner Gordon as Reception Guest (uncredited)
- Florence Wix as Reception Guest (uncredited)
- Joseph Crehan as Dignitary at Reception (uncredited)
- Mario Dominici as Minister (uncredited)
- Edmund Mortimer as Minister (uncredited)
- Verna Hillie as Trentino's Blonde Secretary (uncredited)
- Edward LeSaint as Secretary of Labor (uncredited)
- George MacQuarrie as First Judge (uncredited)
- Frederick Sullivan as Second Judge (uncredited)
- Eric Mayne as Third Judge (uncredited)
- Edwin Maxwell as Freedonia's Secretary of War #1 (uncredited)
- Dennis O'Keefe as Bridegroom at Firefly's Reception (uncredited)
- Leo Sulky as Agitator (uncredited)
- Dale Van Sickel as A Palace Guard (uncredited)
- William Worthington as First Minister of Finance (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
VERA: Maybe you can still win the old dame over -- why not try to -- MRS. TEASDALE: I'm so sorry I've kept you waiting...
MRS. TEASDALE: To think that this should happen after all these years of friendship. VERA: Maybe the war can still be averted... MRS. TEASDALE: Oh, if only it could...
VERA: Oh, this is dreadful! If you'll excuse me I'll go to my room... MRS. TEASDALE: Yes, it's awful! Are you sure you did the right thing?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 17 are women's.
83 lines from women, 407 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
7 women and 25 men in the cast. 1 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 540.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 108 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 15% of the words (1,010), men 85% (5,920). Women have 17% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
6
Two men
23
Exhibit F: behind the camera
None of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 0% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Leo McCarey (man)
- Written by
- Harry Ruby (man), Nat Perrin (man), Bert Kalmar (man), Arthur Sheekman (man)
- Story by
- Bert Kalmar (man), Harry Ruby (man)
- Produced by
- Herman J. Mankiewicz (man)
- Shot by
- Henry Sharp (man)
- Edited by
- LeRoy Stone (man)
- Music by
- John Leipold (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Writing
0 women, 8 men
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men
-
Art
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
-
Production
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Raquel Torres 25, Margaret Dumont 51
Men
Leonid Kinskey 30, Zeppo Marx 32, Louis Calhern 38, Groucho Marx 43, Harpo Marx 44, Chico Marx 46, Charles Middleton 59, Edmund Breese 62
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 540 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
