Opinions differ as to whether this last Paramount Marx film was a success or not.  It appears to have been the sixth highest grossing film of 1933, but was not as popular as their previous picture, Horse Feathers.  LH explains:

‘The reason for the low esteem in which the brothers held Duck Soup is undoubtedly its poor performance at the box office, which almost cost them their Hollywood careers; luckily salvation came in the form of Irving Thalberg, whom Chico met in a card game.’

The MGM producer must have sensed the time was right and poached the brothers for his studio.  Thalberg had very definite ideas on how to use them cinematically, allegedly saying, “The trouble with Duck Soup is you've got funny gags in it but there’s no story and there's nothing to root for.  You can’t root for the Marx Brothers because they're a bunch of zany kooks; you’ve got to put a love story in your movie so there’ll be something to root for, and you have to help the lovers get together.”

...which is precisely what they would do in their first two MGM vehicles, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races, using all the resources of Thalberg's huge studio.

Year: 1933