A Night at the Opera (1935)

• Year: 1935
• Released: 15 Nov 1935
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 1 win
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026778/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_night_at_the_opera
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 720p
• Language: English, Italian
• MPA Rating: Passed
• Genre: Comedy, Music, Musical
• Runtime: 96 min
• Writer: George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, James Kevin McGuinness
• Director: Sam Wood, Edmund Goulding
• Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
• Keywords: opera, cross dressing, marx brothers,

7.8/10

A Night at the Opera Storyline

Arrogant European opera impresario, tenor Rodolfo Lassparri, is chasing after his leading lady, Rosa Castaldi. Rosa detests her leading man. She’s in love with Ricardo Baroni, an unknown tenor who is more talented than Lassparri. All Ricardo needs is an opportunity to show the world his talent. Otis B. Driftwood convinces Mrs. Claypool to be a benefactress to the New York Opera Company to the tune of $200,000, Mrs. Claypool seeing this investment as her in into society life. With the money, the company’s managing director, Herman Gottlieb, can hire Lassparri. Lassparri accepts and wants to bring Rosa to New York with him to continue as his leading lady, both on stage and in life. On the ship to New York, Ricardo, his friend and self-appointed manager Fiorello, and Lassparri’s former dresser Tomasso (Lassparri fired him) stowaway on board. They want to go to New York to assist Ricardo in getting into the company himself as the leading tenor and to reunite him with his love, Rosa. The stowaways are found out and the authorities are after them. Once in New York, the trio plus Driftwood have to keep one step ahead of the authorities all the while helping Ricardo achieve his dream. Their actions include some on stage antics during Lassparri’s New York stage debut.

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A Night at the Opera Movie Reviews

awfully good but too much singing

This film is the first and probably the best Marx Brothers film made by MGM. Unlike later MGM/Marx collaborations, this film has energy and creativity. However, it also has LOTS of singing–hence, the title of the movie. That means in addition to the usual Chico and Harpo songs, there is a lot of operatic-type stuff from the duo of Jones and Carlisle. For me, these songs were frankly the low-point of the picture, but for some dumb reason, Hollywood’s conventional wisdom was that comedies MUST have musical numbers to be appreciated by wider audiences. This same formula was foisted upon WC Fields, Abbott and Costello and even Laurel and Hardy. However, this movie is th rare exception that is STILL good in spite of the pointless songs.

Hilarious!

A Night At The Opera is very silly at times, but it is absolutely hilarious. A simply brilliant film, with so many memorable scenes, that is guaranteed to have you in tears of laughter. The Marx Brothers do a superlative job here with their zany antics, and their rough-around- the-edges humour was truly unique. The cinematography was fabulous, the pace was fast moving, the screenplay was inventive and phenomenally witty, and the plot is effective enough without being contrived.

The romance between the two songbirds Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle was sweet, and while it has thought been thought to be of irrelevance to the story, it didn’t detract too much for me to enjoy this film. The music is wonderful as well. As for my favourite scene I can’t possibly choose as there were so many priceless scenes. The contract scene between Groucho and Chico was unforgettable, as was the ruination of Il Trovatore which happens to be one of the best comedy climaxes. But my favourite scene, if I had to choose, is the shenanigans inside Groucho’s cabin on the transatlantic liner, it is quite simply one of the silliest scenes in comedy history. All in all, a true comedy classic. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I Appreciate This One Now!

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.