Review of A Night at the Opera (1935) by Kyle R — 11 Apr 2011

Otis B. Driftwood is a small-time theatrical agent scamming the wealthy Mrs Claypool in a deal to sponsor a New York opera company. Meanwhile, the disreputable Fiorello and Tomasso are trying to help their friend Riccardo gain recognition as a tenor. The swindlers' plans collide during a very unorthodox production of Verdi's Il Trovatore ...

This was the Marx Brothers first big-budget movie with MGM, and many cite it as their best film. It is a beautiful production by the legendary Irving G. Thalberg, with a first-rate script by the talented Broadplay playwright George S. Kaufman and some incredibly funny sequences. Personally, it's not my favourite but its a close second (my favorite would have to be Horse Feathers), purely because I think the romantic subplot between Carlisle and Jones gets in the way too much and there's not enough of the irresistible Dumont. That aside however, there is lots of wonderful music and plenty of side-splitting scenes; the pack-everyone-in-Groucho's-cabin episode, the contract-shortening sequence ("You no fool me, there is-a no Sanity Claus !"), the chase-the-beds-around-the-hotel-room bit and the total cultural destruction of that bastion of upper-class social prowess, the metropolitan opera, with Groucho throwing peanuts to the crowd and Harpo sliding pirate-style down the backdrops. A wonderfully nutty black-and-white comedy classic.