A Night at the Opera (1935)

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. Actually, preferably one without the other. Groucho, playing, Otis B. Driftwood, is hired by a forlorn upper-class aspirer to help her break into aristocratic society, but he favors to charm and insult her off and on. At the last opera performance of the season in Italy, of Pagliacci, Groucho meets Chico, who is the best friend and manager of an opera singer who yearns for his big break and who is in love with peer opera singer Kitty Carlisle. However, his dreams are overtaken by the star of the opera, Lassparri, a vainglorious bore who wants notoriety and Kitty Carlisle both for himself. Groucho signs the longing young singer to a contract, thinking he is signing Lassparri, who in the meantime is signed for the New York opera by a pompous entrepreneur. It could might be the best bit in the movie: Chico says in his embellished Italian accent, "Hey, wait, wait. What does this say here, this thing here?" Groucho: "Oh, that? Oh, that's the usual clause, that's in every contract. That just says, uh, if any of the parties participating in this contract are not in their right mind, the entire agreement is automatically nullified." "Well, I don't know..." "It's all right. That's, in every contract. That's what they call a sanity clause." "Ha! You can't fool me. There ain't no Sanity Clause!"

Although Chico and his client are not allowed to follow the ensemble to New York, they stow away on the ship, along with Harpo, a dresser fired by Lassparri. 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. The Marx brothers were ultimately an anti-authoritarian presence that let off a lot of steam with shock value, warrantless aggravation, mean-spiritedness and pranks. Early studio-era MGM never did seem to understand that spectacle, romance and song-and-dance are indeed a curse to some films. Forgive me. I know how many purist toes I might've just stomped, but I have to be honest here, or there's no point in me writing this. Am I really the only one who fast- forwards over the maudlin interruptions to essentially pare it down simply to the hard-boiled eggs, the stateroom scene, Sanity Clause and the actual sabotaging of the opera? Duck Soup, on the other hand, is hilarious from beginning to end.

Fmovies: "In A Night At the Opera, the Marx brothers help two young lovers to succeed in love as well as in the opera world." That's the most bare of plots. And, in fact, the joy of this film does not come with the plot, but with the numerous off-track happenings. Thank you, Marx Brothers.

The Marx Brothers, particularly Groucho, are amazing at verbal and barbed comedy. The puns and jabs are almost non-stop, and they are so quick they might not even sink in until moments later. Some might be dated (like a reference to the Canadian quintuplets) but for the most part this film stands firm. I loved the "sanity clause" remark and many others.

The most notable scene involves a large number of people packed into a small room, and was partially written by Buster Keaton. I do not know how much Keaton and the Marxes worked together over all, but if this was any indication, they should have continued. Keaton's physical comedy is evident, and Groucho's running commentary is wonderful.

One of the most mysterious influences this film had on others is probably with Rob Zombie. He has written characters named "Otis B. Driftwood" and "Captain Spaulding" in homage to the Marx Brothers, and has other references, as well. It's pretty bizarre to connect this fun, sarcastic comedy to a bloodbath... but, then, stranger things have happened.

I recommend this film to anyone. As far as early comedies go, Chaplin and Keaton are good, but I think the Marx Brothers really take the cake. Their memory has faded over the years, but this is most unfortunate... the humor is no less magical today.

Amusing and entertaining Marx picture , it has a lot of funny material and unfortunately intrusive songs . Groucho's wisecracks and the incomparable Chico and Harpo carry the movie . It deals with a sly business manager named Otis B. 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 . Later on , Marx Brothers anarchize the opera , insulting and mocking the guests and players . Their actions include some on stage antics during the stage debut , as they arrange for the normal tenor to be absent so that the young lover named Ricardo can get his chance .

Classic Marx film with many funny sequences , this is the most sustained bit of insanity , full of crazy gags , antics and amusement , being now deemed a satiric masterpiece ,and one of the biggest hits . Although it suffers from staginess and musical comedy plotting but gives the zany threesome plenty of comic elaboration . Enough gags for give several movies , but our favorite is still the cabin scene . Despite the abundant songs and silly as well as sappy love story the movie maintains itself very well . This is a fun comedy as hilariously amusing as the films they made at Paramount with Zeppo . This is a M.G.M production lavishly financed by Irving Thalberg . Excellent Harpo Marx , as usual , he even did many of his own stunts , he later said it was a silly thing for a 47-year-old non-stuntman to have done . Groucho said that this was his favorite among his movies . The Marx Bros (minus Zeppo) are in peak form in this vintage musical comedy with co-star the legendary Margaret Dumont , including sparkling dialogs with Groucho . Furthermore , Sig Ruman makes his first of three appearances in The Marx Brothers films. However , this is the first Marx Brothers film made without brother Zeppo Marx, it started a new trend of The Marx Brothers movies featuring a Zeppo-like supporting character who carries the love story and sings the song . The motion picture was well directed by Sam Wood . Sam Wood, freshman The Marx Brothers director in this film, was a perfectionist , the scene in which Harpo Marx hangs from the rope was filmed so many times that Harpo Marx's hands became cut and swollen from the rope . Don't miss it , one of the funniest picture ever made by Marx Brothers

Other important films starred by Marx Brothers -many of them Broadway farce plays transfered by scenarists into vehicle for the Brothres- , they are the followings : ¨Animal crackers¨, ¨Duck soap¨ that was a flop when first released but today considered a masterpiece , ¨Horse Feathers¨, ¨At the circus¨, ¨Day at the races¨ , ¨Room service¨ , ¨Go West¨, ¨Love Happy¨ and ¨Night in Casablanca¨, though in 1946 the Marx formula was wearing thin . Any film with Groucho , Chico , Harpo and Zeppo is well worth seeing .

A Night at the Opera fmovies. This is probably the best Marx Brothers film. It is certainly my favorite. The brothers destroy pomposity and pretension by the ton. The pieces of comic business were worked out through many live theater performances before the scenes were finally filmed. This craftsmanship never shows, but it pays off completely. The stateroom scene is a classic, and the total devastation of the opera is a delicious piece of craziness.

I didn't fully appreciate this film until my second viewing. Now I think it's one of the better Marx Brothers film. The film - filled with funny lines - has all the familiar MB trappings: good slapstick, good and bad jokes and routines, wild scenes, several musical numbers and general overall chaos.

The only thing not appealing to me in the film were some of the songs - not all, just some. Otherwise, it was all fun as Groucho, Chico and Harpo all share humorous lines and/or sight gags. Kitty Carlisle doesn't offer much in the way of a young beauty but it was still interesting to see her at this age as I had only known her through her "To Tell The Truth" television days. Alan Jones, meanwhile, is a pleasing singer and a nice guy, as always.

This is the film with the famous scene involving a ton of people being stuffed into Groucho's small cabin room. It's more amazing than funny. My favorite scenes were when Groucho and Chico got into discussions and trade lines back-and- forth. I also laughed heartily at the finale with Harpo swinging like Tarzan at the opera house.

In all, a funny MB film, one of the boys' better efforts. I play it with the English subtitles so as not to miss any of the great lines of dialog in here.

A Night at the Opera is comedy that still hits about as out of the park as imaginable as a true entertainment vehicle. There's comedy, there's music, there's musical numbers, there's action, there's drama, there's romance, there's even fake beards and "Take me out the Ballgame" performed in an opera house "by accident" of course. It also gives a showcase for its main three jovial anarchists (Groucho, Harpo and Chico) as smashing as its production; it's a million dollars well spent, and when you aren't laughing you're at least smiling or enjoying a melodic tune or some good opera melodies. Whether or not it hits so strongly that it might top the quintessential Marx flick, Duck Soup, can be arguable for as long as one can type keys or stretch vocal chords. 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. There's a scene mid-way through A Night at the Opera that might be just about perfect: Groucho has his tiny room. At first the gag is simply that the room is almost too small to even fit the luggage case he has (also fitting inside Chico, Harpo and the conventional leading-man opera singer stowaway). Groucho orders breakfast- an amazing and wonderfully long gag involving an order of hard-boiled eggs- and then the maids come in, and then others come in, and then more come in, and lines like "You know I had a premonition you were going to show up. The engineers right there in the corner. You can chop your way right through." Harpo is still asleep, of course, trying to cure his insomnia by sleeping on top of everybody else shuffling around... 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. But it's not all just raucous and crazy behavior from the stars; there's also the opera itself, that big long sequence where the "plan" is unfolded and "WAR" is unleashed upon the production (my favorite is the bit where the various set pieces on stage keep falling down behind the singer, at one point falling right in front him), and a kind of sweetness that pops up often that keeps it from being too, uh... 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. There's such a kind of graceful choreography to this that is slipped un