A Night at the Opera
Tags: romantic, comedy, satire

Plot synopsis:
In Milan, wealthy dowager Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont) has hired sly, wisecracking business manager Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx) to help her enter society, but he merely helps himself to her money. At dinner in a fancy restaurant, he introduces her to opera impresario Herman Gottlieb (Sig Ruman). Gottlieb tries to persuade her to hire famed Italian tenor Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter Woolf King) for his New York opera company, and takes her to watch an opera performance with Lassparri as lead. Claypool is impressed and agrees to hire Lasspari for $1000 a night. Determined to cut himself a piece of the pie, Driftwood decides to sign Lassparri for the New York opera company first, and rushes backstage after the opera to find him.Back stage, Lassparri is a total jerk who beats his playful, mute assistant Tomasso (Harpo Marx). He tries to romance beautiful chorus member Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle). However, she has two problems with that - first, Lassparri is an arrogant, rude, egotistical brute, and second, she's in love with Riccardo Baroni (Allan Jones.) Riccardo sings in the chorus, hoping for his break to stardom. Riccardo meets up with his old friend Fiorello (Chico Marx), Tomasso's partner, who declares himself Riccardo's manager and decides to help him move further in the opera world. Looking to sign Lassparri before Gottlieb gets to him, Driftwood wanders backstage and runs into Fiorello, who claims to be the manager of the greatest tenor in the world. Excited, Driftwood whips out 2 questionable contracts for him and Fiorello to sign- however, due to Fiorello's stupidity and inability to read and Driftwood's sarcasm, a comical scene unfolds where they argue incessantly about clauses stating things like "in this contract, the party of the first part shall be known as the party of the first part" and so on. They end up ripping both contracts to shreds, though they both agree they have a contract. At this point, Gottlieb and Claypool arrive backstage and find Lassparri and sign him up - Fiorello informs a confused Driftwood that HE signed Riccardo Baroni!Gottlieb prepares to set sail for New York at once with Mrs. Claypool, Driftwood, and Lassparri. Also joining the group is Rosa, at Lassparri's request to have her as a leading lady; sadly, this means leaving Riccardo behind. As everyone boards the boat, Lassparri is begged by the papparazzi to sing for the crowd, but he feigns laryngitis: "Why should I sing if I'm not being paid for it?" Instead, Rosa sings "Alone", a popular love song. Riccardo, on the dock, joins in. While he is singing, Rosa asks Gottlieb to consider bringing Riccardo along. He tells her that Riccardo has a nice voice, but will have to wait until he has developed a reputation.On the boat, Driftwood finds Rosa crying and delivers to her a love letter from Riccardo to cheer her up. As the smartass conman rides luggage carts to his room, he finds that Gottlieb's set him up in a room no bigger than a storage closet, in which his suitcase takes up half the room. An angry Driftwood opens his luggage to find his clothes gone, and that Fiorello, Tomasso, and Riccardo have stowed away inside: after all, Driftwood DID sign Riccardo to the company. Not wanting to get caught with the illegal stowaways, Driftwood demands the 3 leave: Fiorello will only leave after they've been fed. Driftwood then orders multiple plates of food (with multiple hard-boiled eggs) to the room.What begins now is the "stateroom scene", one of the most famous comedy scenes of all time. Already crowded in the closet-sized room are Driftwood, Fiorello, Tomasso, Riccardo, and the giant suitcase. Slowly, more people begin crowding in the room: two maids come in to make the bed, the engineer and his large assistant come in to fix the heat, and a manicurist shows up to do Driftwood's nails. The already too-small room becomes too crowded as all this action takes place at the same time, and Driftwood continues to let more people in: a cleaning woman comes in to clean up, a young woman looking for her Aunt Minnie tries to use the phone, and finally, the servers with all the food. All these people try to fit in the room with their seperate duties as a smirking Driftwood remarks, "Say, is it my imagination or is it getting crowded in here?" Finally, Mrs. Claypool comes by and opens the door, and all 15 people come crashing out of the room into the hallway.That night, there are festivities going up on the ship's main deck, including a big dinner where Lassparri tries hitting on Rosa, who rejects him yet again, and a dance. An honor is given to three famous aviators with large beards, who are traveling to New York City for a large ceremony. Mrs. Claypool tells Driftwood she doesn't want him associating with Fiorello and Tomasso, as they are riff-raff, far below her social class. Meanwhile, bored inside their stateroom, Fiorello, Tomasso and Riccardo sneak up to the main deck and help themselves to dinner. Afterwards, Fiorello starts to play the piano and Tomasso plays the harp, much to the enjoyment of the children on board. However, Lassparri spots the three stowaways and informs the crewmembers: they chase the stowaways and throw them into the detention cabin.Locked up in the brig the next day, Tomasso plays the harmonica much to Fiorello's annoyance, who throws the harmonica out the window into the ocean. Tomasso jumps out the window and into the ocean to get his harmonica. Driftwood, spotting Tomasso from an open window, tosses him the rope to the anchor. Tomasso grabs on to the rope and is lifted back up on to the ship, landing in the stateroom of the three bearded aviators, who lay in bed asleep. Seeing as how the stowaways are illegally entering the country, Tomasso gets an idea to get them safely into New York City, takes out a pair of scissors, and goes to work...The boat docks in New York City. When the papparazzi try to get the 3 aviators from their room, Driftwood impersonates as their manager, and takes the bearded "aviators" - Fiorello, Tomasso, and Riccardo wearing the shaved-beards as disguises- off the boat. The 3 real aviators are left tied up and gagged to their bed. The "aviators" and Driftwood are taken to a large ceremony at City Hall, where thousands upon thousands of people stand audience in the city, watching. The Mayor presents the 3 aviators with awards and asks them to talk about their accomplishments. Fiorello gives a fake, messed up speech to the crowds, while Tomasso drinks multiple glasses of water to stall time, leading Police Sgt. Henderson (Robert Emmett O'Connor) to suspect that the trio are imposters. The trio pretend to be offended by the sergeant's accusations and storm off, leading him to apologize to the Mayor and Tomasso. Tomasso hugs him- but when he does, his fake beard comes off, exposing their ruse. Everyone goes mad trying to catch the illegal frauds as they escape.Word is out all over New York City and on the front page of the next day's newspapers as police look for Fiorello, Tomasso, and Riccardo. Driftwood, hiding the trio in his hotel room as to avoid arrest and deportation, shows the news to them and demands they leave before he gets arrested. Before they can, Sgt. Henderson comes knocking at the door to investigate Driftwood's room. As Driftwood tries to slyly deal with Henderson and make him leave, Fiorello Tomasso and Riccardo hide on the fire escape between the kitchen area and the bedroom. As Henderson moves back and forth between the two rooms, the three stowaways use the fire escape to move furniture from the bedroom into the kitchen, leading Henderson to believe he's losing his mind and gone crazy until Driftwood finally gets him to leave.The day of the big opera finally arrives: Il Trovatore starring Lassparri and Rosa. As Rosa prepares in her room, Riccardo visits and they reunite. However, Lassparri enters and becomes disappointed when he sees the two together, and angry when Riccardo kicks him out of the room. Meanwhile, Driftwood arrives at the theater and gets a happy reception from the chorus: only for Gottlieb to tell Driftwood that Mrs. Claypool has officially dispensed with his services for associating with the riffraff (Fiorello and Tomasso), and he is fired. Driftwood is kicked down the staircase and thrown out of the theater, now unemployed.Out of a job, out of money, and kicked out of his hotel, Driftwood is left with nothing else but a bench in Central Park, with Fiorello, Tomasso, and Riccardo still with him. Incredibly resentful of how his life is pretty much ruined, he wishes he never met any of them and to be back in Milan. Rosa shows up heartbroken and in tears: she informs the group that, because she doesn't love Lassparri, Lassparri persuaded Gottlieb to fire her from the opera, and she has been replaced with another diva. Fed up with how far Gottlieb and Lassparri have gone, Driftwood decides enough is enough: he begins to plot revenge, the way only the Marx Brothers can...That night, crowds have filled the big theater to see the opera. Gottlieb arrives in a fancy suit and enters his office: only to find Driftwood, Tomasso, and Fiorello smoking his cigars and eating his dinner. As he tries to call the police, the three of them knock him out and strip him of his clothes, which Driftwood puts on. Their plan has begun: destroy the opera. Driftwood takes Gottlieb's spot in the box seat next to Mrs. Claypool, and delivers a smart-mouthed speech to the audience as the orchestra gets ready. However, sitting in the orchestra causing trouble are Fiorello and Tomasso, who distract the maestro by tapping on instruments. Gottlieb, having woken up and put on Driftwood's too-small clothes, gets to the orchestra box to catch Driftwood, he jumps out and runs for it. Gottlieb sends his men after him and calls the police.What happens next is 7 minutes of the most amazing operatic mayhem ever to visit the movie screen.Fiorello and Tomasso have inserted "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" into the musicians' sheet music. When they reach that point and start playing it, the two begin playing baseball in the orchestra, as Driftwood walks around the audience selling peanuts. Gottlieb chases Fiorello and Tomasso into the storage area under the stage, where they knock him out yet again. Driftwood remains running around the opera house, making snarky comments towards everything as Gottlieb's men chase him.The curtain rises and the opera begins... with Fiorello and Tomasso in costume on the stage with the chorus. They begin to run amok, ripping off singers' clothing and generally causing havoc in the scene. Sgt. Henderson and his police guards arrive backstage, ready to catch and arrest Driftwood and his illegal friends. They find Gottlieb and wake him up, and inform him that the 3 are still out there, sabotaging the opera. Dressing up in costume, the 2 men sneak on to the stage in the middle of the scene to catch Tomasso. However, he escapes by climbing up the backdrop of the stage and disappearing into the rafters of the opera house. He then begins swinging, Tarzan-style, on the ropes and pulleys backstage. This causes various inappropriate backdrops--vendor pushcarts, trolleybuses, and a battleship--to move up and down on the stage while Lassparri is singing. In one case a backdrop is actually in front of Lassparri. Tomasso then swings directly over the stage, making a daring flying snatch of Lassparri's wig.The police are chasing him all over the backstage area, also swinging on ropes. When Tomasso is cornered, he jumps directly down a backdrop, tearing it in two. The police corner him on the ground, and he runs/climbs back UP the backdrop, then swings on a rope over to the electrical control panel.He turns off all the lights. Lassparri, still singing solo despite the chaos, suddenly starts to scream but is silenced. When the power is restored, Lassparri is missing! While it was dark, Fiorello and Driftwood have kidnapped, bound, and gagged him, and put him in a box hanging up in the rafters. The box is held up by the ropes controlled by Tomasso. The 4 are completely out of sight of anyone below.Gottlieb is in a panic. He needs a tenor for the next song. Suddenly, Riccardo and Rosa walk in. Gottlieb begs Riccardo to sing lead in the opera. Riccardo points out that he "has no reputation," (as Gottlieb had pointed out at the start of the voyage.) He demands that his counterpart in the duet be Rosa, since they have practiced it. Gottlieb has no choice but to put both of them in costume and send them out on stage.Riccardo and Rosa put on an amazing performance of the sad duet "Miserere". In contrast to the preceding raucous goings-on, the audience now pays rapt and appreciative attention to the new singers. Even Gottlieb is impressed. (Ms. Carlisle and Mr. Jones were classically trained; they did their own singing.) At the end of the song, there is thunderous applause. After Riccardo and Rosa go off stage, Lassparri is released. He angrily demands to go out on stage, saying "I'll sing them an encore that they will never forget." But the audience will have nothing of this. They boo him off the stage. He storms out of the opera house.Gottlieb's course of action is clear. Riccardo and Rosa will be the new stars of the opera company. After quickly consenting to a few demands--all criminal charges will be dropped, and Driftwood will get his job back--he sends the two back on stage for an encore before the enthusiastic audience. All ends happily, or will end happily as soon as Driftwood, Fiorello, and Gottlieb can agree on a contract. Which requires agreement about the role of the "party of the tenth part."

Review: Though some claim that either HORSE FEATHERS OR DUCK SOUP was the greatest Marx Brothers opus, A NIGHT AT THE OPERA has to be Marxdom's signature film.
aside and told them, "You know, you guys are missing only one thing in your pictures: you never help anybody." After OPERA, the Marx Brothers' scripts always revolved around either an attempt to get a romantic couple together or became an effort to save an institution from going under, i.e., THE BIG STORE; A DAY AT THE RACES; HORSE FEATHERS; THE BIG CIRCUS.Margaret Dumont is established once and for all as Groucho's perfect romantic staple and a Marx Bros.
A young Kitty Carlisle and Allen Jones provide the romance and music--though many audiences never realize how fine an operatic voice Carlisle had in those days.So many hilarious and classic routines fill A NIGHT AT THE OPERA that the movie offers itself as a study in Komedy 101: the unforgettable "contract" bit between Chico and Groucho (Chico can't read).
"Oh, you canna' fool me; there ain't' no sanity Klaus!..." The crowded state room scene where Groucho, Chico, and Hapro stow-away in a tiny cubicle and the shoebox crams with more and more people until Mrs. Claypool (Dumont) opens the door and everyone spills out...The hotel scene where Detective Henderson tries to nail the brothers for stowing-away and everyone races back and forth between suites, furniture is switched, and Henderson is left wondering if he's nuts...But it is the film's finale during a live performance at the New York opera house that is perhaps the comedy team's grandest movie climax.
No doubt that "A Night at the Opera" is right up there with "Duck Soup" as the best Marx Brothers movie.
It fully deserves its reputation as one of the two best Marx Brothers films, along with "Duck Soup"."A Night at the Opera" is probably slightly less funny than "Duck Soup" (it is no criticism to say that of any film), but it has more of a story to connect the great comic bits.
After Driftwood and his cronies arrive in at the Metropolitan Opera House, thanks to them in disrupting Rudolpho's performance that the art of opera will never be the same again.The musical program: "Alone" (sung by Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones) by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed; "Cosi-Cosa" (sung by Allan Jones) by Bronislau Kaper, Walter Jurmann and Ned Washington; "All I Do is Dream of You" (by Brown and Freed/piano solo by Chico Marx); "Alone" (harp solo by Harpo Marx); and selections from Il Trovatore by Guiseppi Verdi: "Di quella pira," "Miserere," "Anvil Chorus," "Stride la Vampa" "Strido lassu" and "Miserere." Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle doing their duet, "Alone," him on the pear and she from the boat dock, Chico's fast finger piano playing, and Harpo's harp solo in a serious manner as he performs to a little old lady (facial shadow front only) who looks on approvingly, may not be highlights, but are truly memorable moments.Highlights: Whenever anyone goes into discussion regarding A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, the first thing that comes immediately to mind is that famous state room scene involving Groucho, Chico and the sleeping Harpo, with various others involved, crammed together until the door opens, having them all falling out like dominoes.
However, there are others worth noting: The opening where Dumont awaits for Groucho at a restaurant for an hour only to find him at the table behind her eating with another lady, is priceless; Groucho and Chico contract exchanges that becomes a "sanity clause"; arrested stowaway Harpo's attempt in escaping his detention cabin by crawling out of a porthole and hanging onto a rope outside only to be dumped into the ocean; Jones, Chico and Harpo in bearded disguises posing as celebrity aviators to give speeches on coast-to-coast radio, with the silent Harpo covering up his muteness by constantly drinking glasses of water; the disappearance of beds in Groucho's hotel room while the plainclothesman detective (Robert Emmett O'Connor) investigates; and of course, the climactic opera chaos by the Marxes, with one great bit with the orchestra playing the overture to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" after coming to the page with the planted song sheets, with Groucho acting as a vendor yelling "Peanuts!
Driftwood (Groucho Marx) and two (Chico Marx as Fiorello and Harpo Marx as Tomasso) wacky friends of two (Kitty Carlisle as Rosa and Allan Jones as Ricardo) opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies .
There's good arguments on either side, and while I myself might be inclined to say that Duck Soup is the "best film" of the Marxs, Night at the Opera might be as, if not more, plain fun.And it's so unforgettable, with scene after moment after continuous gag that goes so far along that it becomes funny just seeing how long these guys can keep going.
it all builds so much that it's like its own piece of frantic, combustible music, and it's one of those pure scenes in movies that one can never really top, only try and imitate and get OK in their own right.There are others that strike up such strong laughs, exchanges of dialog that go on like verbal assaults in the form of an argument over a contract between Groucho and Chico ("Sanity clause" "I don't believe in it!"), or just the continuous string of syncopated insults and throwaway lines from Groucho that cut right to the matter and even find some new twists one would never think of outside of his mind.
insane, like say Duck Soup could arguably be called.Insanity, of course, is what the Marx's excel at, an organized chaos of comedy that is so seamless because of how energized and random some of the things happen with- but there is logic, as warped as it can be, like the other classic number when the brothers and opera singer carry out the beds one by one around the window or through the door evading the totally perplexed eyes of the officer.
In this, the first Marx brothers picture to feature only Groucho, Chico and Harpo, the trio helps (?) two young lovers to flourish in love and in the opera world, preferably in a different order.
Once in New York, the stowaways are chased by the police as illegal aliens, and it all leads to a climactic comeuppance for all the stuffed shirts when the Marx brothers wreck the opening night performance of Il Trovatore by hurtling it into complete anarchy and making a last-chance shot for both of the idealistic young lovers to be the new hits of the opera world.Yes, the picture is indeed fun, but allow me to slaughter a sacred cow here and say that it's deeply weakened by all that schmaltzy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayerism.
He figures opera is the best way and gets involved with Chico, Harpo and rising opera singers Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle) and Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones).The plot doesn't really matter too much--it's just a jumping off point for the Marx Brothers to stage one hysterical scene after another.
The jokes fly fast and furious and there are quite a few standout scenes: Chico and Groucho negotiating a contract; the infamous stateroom scene; Harpo, Chico and Jones impersonating three airmen; the brothers fooling a policeman by switching furniture from room to room and the total destruction of the opera "Il Travatore" at the end.This is also one of the few Marx Brothers movies that's not destroyed by an unnecessary romance or lousy sings.
Don't get me wrong, Duck Soup is absolutely hilarious and features some great political satire, but I think A Night at the Opera reigns supreme as the best the Marx Brothers ever did.
This time the Marx brothers make fun of the high culture.They step into the world of opera and no one can stop them.A Night at the Opera (1935) is directed by Sam Wood and George S.Kaufman is behind the screenplay.In this movie the Marx brothers collaborated with the producer Irving Thalberg for the first time.This is the first Marx movie without Zeppo in it.He retired after Duck Soup (1933).A farce can't get too much better than this.Oh what a riot they cause at the opera house.There's Harpo behaving like Tarzan and dressed all funny with Chico.They also do "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".It's awfully funny when that small stateroom in the ship is packed with people.Then there's the contract-tearing scene between Groucho and Chico.Party of the first part of the...Hilarious!
With the Marx brothers we of course have the brilliant Margaret Dumont playing Mrs.Claypool.The recently passed away Kitty Carlisle is Rosa Castaldi.Allan Jones (replacing Zeppo) is her sweetheart Ricardo Baroni.Sig Ruman and his beard is Herbert Gottlieb.Walter Woolf King is the villain Lassparri.This is a truly recommended comic masterpiece.The anarchy rules when the Marx brothers are in control..
This film is often hilarious, especially at its beginning, but it suffers from long dry spells, some boring musical numbers (unlike the fantastic ones in Duck Soup), and a couple of set pieces which I just did not find as funny as the Marx Brothers may have wanted me to.
If you can't find something to laugh about here, visit a psychiatrist, you've really got a problem.On a more serious note, I must admit that the long pauses that were interjected into the film to accommodate audience laughter grow less and less tolerable over time, and it would be worth something to have these removed for a limited special edition release.Otherwise, I wouldn't change a thing.Other comedians could parody Hitler; only the Marxes could parody war (Duck Soup) and then swing around and, by parodying opera (Night at the Opera), remind us that the grand scheme of monsters doesn't amount to much compared to a sweet melody, a colorful dance, or the wink of a lover.Without ever performing a scene from Shakespeare, the Marx Bros.
Circumstance soon throws him together with equally sly Fiorello (Chico) and goofy Tomasso (Harpo), as they become determined to help out young lovers & aspiring opera stars Rosa (Kitty Carlisle) and Ricardo (Allan Jones).Even if one is not a fan of the opera, they shouldn't let that dissuade them from checking out the Marx Bros.
Even the music was great - "Alone," "Cosi, Cosa" and, of course, the strains from Verdi's masterpiece, "Il Trovatore." It is a national treasure which still holds up even 70+ years later.To compare this movie with most of today's so-called comedies (with their filth, puerile themes, bathroom "humor", etc.) is criminal.The comedic genius, Woody Allen, when asked for his inspirations and favorite comedians of the past, immediately cited Groucho as No. 1, with Harpo next.
All the usual Marx Brothers shticks are there -- Chico's piano, Harpo's harp and horn, Groucho's leer and loping walk -- and Margaret Dumont, Groucho's perennial foil, but one of the more remarkable facts about this movie is that Kitty Carlisle, the female lead, is still alive and reportedly vigorous and beautiful.
Some people will remember Kitty as Moss Hart's wife or as a luminous presence on TV or for her memoirs but to see her as a movie star, singer and love interest opposite Alan Jones would be enough of a reason to see "A Night at the Opera" even if it weren't the Marx Brothers' most famous movie.
"Night At The Opera" is a solid comedy, just not the classic people claim, and I wonder whether a little light left the brothers when Zeppo decided to retire before this film was made.Professional leach Otis B.
Today, "Duck Soup" is a template for film comedy, while "Opera's" pretense at high culture comes off forced, and its romantic storyline quickly grows tiresome, however charming Carlisle and Jones are.It's not just the non-Marx moments that grate.
Combining the low-brow antics and the musical talents of the Marx Brothers with the "high art" of opera, this film is the benchmark for classic comedy.
There's no denying that `A Night at the Opera' is a terrific film, well-crafted and funny, with some of the Marx Brothers' best lines delivered at the height of their comic power.
Almost everyone agrees that the new formula worked for this film-it's incredibly popular with both Marx Brothers fans and the general public-but it was the beginning of the end for the Marx Brothers' almost surreal comic style.Best moments: The Stateroom scene is often cited as the standout bit, but I submit that it's almost rivaled by the hotel scene, which has wonderful timing, great Groucho asides and a knockout punchline.`Duck Soup' was placed in a fictional land, and in that parallel universe the comedy could be stretched far into the realm of the Bizarre.
The rest of the numbers aren't bad, and Chico and Harpo's musical interludes were never better than in this film.)  The stuffy world of the opera provides the perfect backdrop for the Marx Brothers' creative anarchy.
The result is a celebrated but controversial film that is recognized as one of their best, even though it is widely considered to be the start of a downward trend in their careers.Irving Thalberg was probably the real mastermind behind this movie; he's the one who believed that a good plot and a less manic pace would make "A Night at the Opera" a bigger hit than the previous Marx Brothers films.
It's worth sitting through the romance and the musical numbers just to see Harpo bring anarchy to the most ordered and elitist environment imaginable.Nevertheless, "Duck Soup" is a funnier and more relevant movie, even though it's not as well structured or "feel-good" as "A Night at the Opera." Though "A Night at the Opera" is great, it represents a different and ultimately wrong-headed approach to Marx Brothers comedy.
Groucho's lines, Chico and Harpo's gags, the co-cast of the movie, the songs, the plot, all is better on "A Day At The Opera" - a true classic..
While many consider Duck Soup to be the Marx Brother's greatest movie (even though it bombed at the box office in the 1930's) A Night at the Opera remains there most successful film with MGM..
The comedy set-pieces are perfectly timed and superbly paced.On the whole A Night At The Opera is the perfectly balanced Marx Brothers film, it has enough of the belly-laugh comedy that we expect (the state room scene, the opera) but is, for once, cleverly integrated into a smart plot and some thoroughly enjoyable musical numbers..
It is a Slick Film that Groucho Said is His Favorite.But for Pure Marx Brothers Without the MGM Mix of Music and RomanceSome Prefer Duck Soup as Well as Some of the Others Done at Paramount..
Two years after making their last Paramount film, Duck Soup, the remaining Marx brothers-Groucho, Chico, and Harpo since Zeppo left-ended up at M-G-M after Chico played bridge with head of production Irving G.
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (MGM, 1935) directed by Sam Wood, re-introduces the Marx Brothers to the screen following their five years at the Paramount studio (1929-1933) to MGM, this being the start of a new beginning and the end to their wild world of comedy.
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (MGM, 1935) directed by Sam Wood, re-introduces the Marx Brothers to the screen following their five years at the Paramount studio (1929-1933) to MGM, this being the start of a new beginning and the end to their wild world of comedy.
It also brings forth their most popular comic foil of all, Margaret Dumont, from their Broadway to Paramount days, and the return to a formula story and time out for musical interludes either by the brothers or the romantic lovers originally done in their initial films of THE COCOANUTS (1929) and ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930).
It also brings forth their most popular comic foil of all, Margaret Dumont, from their Broadway to Paramount days, and the return to a formula story and time out for musical interludes either by the brothers or the romantic lovers originally done in their initial films of THE COCOANUTS (1929) and ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930).
However, at MGM, with this, their best film for the studio, Groucho and Harpo become victims instead of instigators, with such notable scenes as Harpo employed as a dresser for an abusive opera tenor (Walter Wolfe King) who slaps, hits and uses a whip on him (at one point off camera) whenever getting out of line with his buffoonery, and Groucho, who always wins out in every situation physically and verbally, getting kicked down four flights of stairs, which indicates they are not always indestructible, yet remain in character from the old days whenever possible.
However, at MGM, with this, their best film for the studio, Groucho and Harpo become victims instead of instigators, with such notable scenes as Harpo employed as a dresser for an abusive opera tenor (Walter Wolfe King) who slaps, hits and uses a whip on him (at one point off camera) whenever getting out of line with his buffoonery, and Groucho, who always wins out in every situation physically and verbally, getting kicked down four flights of stairs, which indicates they are not always indestructible, yet remain in character from the old days whenever possible.
Driftwood (Groucho) agrees to represent dowager Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont) into society by arranging for her to invest $200,000 to Herman Gottlieb (Sig Ruman), director of the opera company so that he can afford to bring opera singers Rudolpho Lassparri (Walter King) and Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle) to New York City.
Driftwood (Groucho) agrees to represent dowager Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont) into society by arranging for her to invest $200,000 to Herman Gottlieb (Sig Ruman), director of the opera company so that he can afford to bring opera singers Rudolpho Lassparri (Walter King) and Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle) to New York City.
"A Night at the Opera" is generally regarded as the second best Marx brothers comedy, right behind 1933's "Duck Soup".