A Night at the Opera
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Movie Reviews of A Night at the Opera
Movie Review: fine--and classic--Marx Brothers comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
A Night At The Opera is indeed one of the greatest films starring The Marx Brothers. The plot moves along at a good pace; the acting is convincing and the gags are timed to perfection. The actors are well cast and the script shines. Harpo Marx even does his own stunts! Who could ask for anything more?
The action begins presumably in Italy or somewhere in Europe when Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx) has increasing difficulty mooching off a wealthy older woman named Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont). Driftwood is supposed to introduce Mrs. Claypool to high society; but all he ever actually does is take his paycheck and stall Mrs. Claypool. Mrs. Claypool is running out of patience; she wants Driftwood to introduce her to high society now that her wealthy husband died and left her eight million dollars. (Why she does this four years after he died and not sooner is left unexplained.) Unfortunately, Otis Driftwood is great at cracking one liners at the expense of Mrs. Claypool--that is, until Mrs. Claypool meets Herbert Gottlieb (Sig Ruman). Eventually Mrs. Claypool is convinced to make a generous donation to an opera company also under the control of Herbert Gottlieb. They sail to New York with Gottlieb's promise to Mrs. Claypool that his star tenor Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter Woolf King) will be a huge financial success. Then Mrs. Claypool will finally look wonderful in the eyes of high society--and Gottlieb just might get his hands on Mrs. Claypool for her money.
But complications arise: Otis Driftwood and two of his peers (Harpo Marx and Chico Marx) tag along on the ocean voyage to America; ever hopeful to win Mrs. Claypool back from the snobby Herbert Gottlieb. Yet another stowaway comes along--Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones) because he loves opera singer Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle) even though Rosa is loved and pursued by star tenor Rodolfo Lassparri himself.
What will happen next? Will they all get to America safely? Will the police have to be brought in? How will The Marx Brothers' characters and Ricardo try to convince or manipulate Gottlieb so that Ricardo can be in the opera starring alongside his sweetheart Rosa Castaldi? Will they succeed? No spoilers here, folks--you'll just have to watch the movie to find out!
Many reviewers have correctly pointed out the funniest scenes in this movie already; so I won't risk boring you with too many details of them. The choreography shines in the classic stateroom scene in which everyone crowds into Otis B. Driftwood's cabin onboard ship; and the cinematography exceeds my expectations with song and dance numbers including Cosi Cosa on the steamship to America.
The DVD comes with a commentary by Leonard Maltin; and Kitty Carlisle is one of several interesting people who add their own commentary in extra features. You also get Robert Benchley's comedy short entitled How To Sleep and there is another extra short called Sunday Night At The Trocadero with Connie Boswell and a brief cameo by Groucho.
If anybody tells you to skip this film, ignore their advice. A Night At The Opera shines as the very best example of The Marx Brothers doing comedy on film; and the performances by Kitty Carlisle, Sig Ruman and Walter Woolf King enhance the quality of the movie.
Enjoy!
Movie Review: The Marx Brothers In MGM Style
Summary: 5 Stars
The first two Marx Brothers films, THE COCOANUTS and ANIMAL CRACKERS, were essentially filmed versions of their great successes on the New York stage. MONKEY BUSINESS, HORSE FEATHERS and DUCK SOUP were specifically created for the screen on the soundstages of Paramount Studios--but when the latter proved a critical and box office fiasco the comedy team found their careers on very uneven ground.
Enter Irving Thalberg of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Thalberg was not known for his comedies and MGM, with its emphasis on prestige pictures and family fare, was an extremely unlikely venue for the brothers, but Thalberg was certain he could pinpoint the reason for their sudden and unexpected failure: DUCK SOUP, and to a certain extent all their previous films, lacked appeal for middle American audiences. The Marx Brothers (without Zeppo, who retired from the act when they left Paramount) signed on the dotted line, Thalberg put the machinery of MGM behind them, and the result was A NIGHT AT THE OPERA.
What Thalberg did, essentially, was to place the anarchy of the Marx Brothers at the disposal of romantic subplot. Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho) has promised to get Mrs. Claypool "into society"--for a fee, of course--and has arranged for her finance a season at The New York Opera. What Mrs. Claypool gets for her money is tenor Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter King), an unsavory man who is sweet on soprano Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle), who is in turn in love with tenor Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones.) When Lassparri attempts to trump Baroni both on stage and in Rosa's affections, Baroni's friends Fiorella (Chico) and Tomasso (Harpo) enter the fray. Throw in an impressario (Sig Ruman), three famous aviators, a herd of New York police officers, and an opening night, and before you can sing a chorus of Figaro that special brand of Marx Brothers mania holds full sway.
Marx Brothers fans argue a great deal about which was better: the Paramount films or the MGM films? I tend to come down on the side of the Paramount films, in which the humor tends to have a sharper edge, but there's no denying the charm of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA. A list of the film's famous moments would require a catalogue, with the legendary "stateroom scene" merely one in a hilarious sequence. The supporting cast is also quite fine; Margaret Dumont is, as always, excellent; Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones are charming indeed. It's all tremendous fun.
The DVD release, which is available on its own or in a package of the Marx Brother's MGM films, is more than respectable. The film was cut during World War II and the edited scenes seem lost forever; it is therefore occasionally abrupt, but even so it all hangs together extremely well, and while the print has not been restored per se it is quite good. The DVD bonus package includes a brief documentary and several vintage shorts, but the real prize is the audio commentary by Leonard Maltin, who is both amusing and informative in the way I wish all commentators would be. If you are in the mood for outrageous farce, you couldn't make a better choice.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Movie Review: The Best Marx Brothers Film
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie really amazed me. It showed me how funny movies could be, even 70 years ago. In fact, I can't remember a movie this funny being shown in any theater in recent times. There probably hasn't been something this funny in theaters for at least six years.
Groucho is top notch in this one. Although he's known for making joke after joke after joke in a very short amount of time, he puts tons of top quality jokes into his performance here. After publicly thanking Mrs. Claypool for financing the opera, he tells the audience that he's sure the memories of a great performer will come back to them, just as sure as Mrs. Claypool's checks will come back in the morning.
Chico has a great scene in this film too. He tells a phoney story about flying across the Atlantic. He says that after two attempts, the plane ran out of gas, and on the third attempt, his crew got about halfway across the ocean and then realized they forgot the airplane.
The Marx Brothers somehow manage to get the opera's orchestra to play "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" which forces them to succumb to the irresistable temptation of yelling out "Peanuts, Popcorn." They ruin the opera in several other ways as well, like dropping random backgrounds behind the actors while they are singing, with Harpo tearing up one of backgrounds too.
One of the best scenes is when they stow away in a boat, and end up in a very small room. As if it weren't cramped enough, visitor after visitor arrives, and soon 20 more people shove their way in there. It gets so crowded a sleeping Harpo is pushed onto a woman, and while he's lying on her, Groucho says to Chico something along the lines of, "Hey, when I said work fast, I didn't mean your friend, I meant the maid."
Groucho's deadbeat-type character never gets old. He tries to give his hotel bill away, and he withdraws a healthy salary without doing anything. When he's fired, he demands he gets his two-weeks salary pay. When informed that he's overdrawn his salary for the next six months, he says he'll take one week's salary instead.
Highly recommended. This movie will get you to really appreciate the genious of the Marx Brothers.
Movie Review: Have a night to remember - A Night at the Opera!
Summary: 5 Stars
Mrs. Claypool (played by Margaret Dumont) wants to make her splash in high-society by sponsoring an opera staring that great Italian singer, Rodolfo Lassparri, but when her incompetent and manipulative factotum, Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx) gets involved, everything starts to go wrong. Lassparri is scheming to woo Rosa Castaldi by bringing her along as his leading lady, but rival suitor Ricardo Baroni has Fiorello (Chico Marx) and Tomasso (Harpo Marx) in his corner. Before any knows it, pure pandemonium breaks outs out during this wild and hilarious night at the opera!
I love the Marx Brothers, with their goofy and irrepressible humor. Indeed, they are so funny that I succeeded in converting my son into a Marx Brothers' fan as well! A Night at the Opera competes with Duck Soup for the crown of The Best Marx Brothers Movie Ever, and as you must know, that is up against some pretty stiff competition!
This is a very funny movie, with some of the most memorable scenes in Hollywood history - there's the scene where Groucho's stateroom overflows, where the boys try (very successfully) to disrupt an opera, where Harpo runs rings around the New York City police, and so much more. This is a great movie, one of the funnies movies ever made! It's family friendly and sure to please everyone. We love this movie, and give it our highest recommendations.
Pop some popcorn, put this disc in your DVD player, and have a night to remember - A Night at the Opera!
Movie Review: One of Their Best
Summary: 5 Stars
"A Night at the Opera," the first movie the Marx Brothers made for MGM, is one of their best. Yes, it is more conventional that their earlier films, and the love story (while not as offensively bad as some make it out to be) is forgettable. Still, the comic moments (including the famous stateroom scene) remain very funny, and there are numerous one-liners (especially from Groucho).The DVD, part of Warner Brothers' "Marx Brothers Collection," is pretty good. The image is in its original 1.33:1 full-frame aspect ratio, and is relatively clear. The commentary by Leonard Maltin, while having a few gaps and providing little information on the Marx Brothers' earlier years, is fine. There is an entertaining (although somewhat unbeiievable) story from Groucho on a mid-sixites talk show. Also included are a trailer and (in an interesting move) some old shorts and cartoons from around the time this film was made.
The only real fault of the disc is in its thirty minute documentary, "Remarks on Marx." Most of the interviewees have little of interest to say (especially the always affordable Dom DeLuise, who actually tries to be funny), and the analysis of several classic scenes (especially the stateroom) is obvious at best and boring at worst. An interesting interview with romantic lead Kitty Carlisle is the saving grace.