Finally made it to 1000!
400 Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein / 500 The Odd Couple / 600 Stir Crazy / 700 Tommy Boy / 800 Jack and the Beanstalk / 900 Caddyshack
"Could he sail tomorrow?"
"You pay him enough money, he could sail yesterday."
"You pay him enough money, he could sail yesterday."
Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho) is a business manager looking to find his fortune. His client, wealthy widow Mrs. Claypool (Dumont), wants to invest in the New York Opera Company and the great tenor they want to sign, Rodolfo Lassparri (King). Driftwood goes to the Opera to sign the tenor first, but he signs Ricardo Baroni (Jones) instead. Baroni is a talented singer, but is overshadowed by Lassparri. Baroni is dating the leading lady, Rosa Castaldi (Carlisle), who is also invited to sign with the New York Opera.
Driftwood and Mrs. Claypool travel to New York with New York Opera manager Herman Gottlief (Ruman). Baroni, his manager, Fiorello (Chico), and Tomasso (Harpo) hide in Driftwood's bag so they can be with Rosa. Can they make it to New York before the autorities and Gottlief find them?
This is one of the most iconic and popular Marx Brothers films (along with Duck Soup). After Duck Soup performed poorly at the box office, Paramount Studios terminated their contract with the brothers and Zeppo left the act. Two years later, they started making films with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Irving Thalberg served as the producer, and created a new format for their films: tone down the crazy and bring in romantic leads to anchor the film. Sam Wood stepped in as the director (for this film and the next one, A Day at the Races). The film was a success and led to more Marx Brothers films at MGM studio, with A Day at the Races keeping the same team behind the scenes.
The Brothers performed bits from the movie on vaudeville to test audience reactions and gauge the amount of time needed between jokes. The jokes in this film are memorable and have taken on a life of their own in popular culture. Decades later the film is still funny. The stateroom scene, pictured above, is the real stand-out here, as they keep stuffing people into Groucho's tiny room.
Kitty Carlisle, who played Rosa Castaldi, and Allan Jones, who played Ricardo Baroni, were singers and performed all of their own songs in the film. Walter Woolf King, who played Rodolfo Lassparri, was also a trained singer, but he did not sing in the film. His songs were performed by Metropolitan Opera tenor Tandy MacKenzie. The songs include classic opera staples, along with some original songs. The song "Alone" became a hit for both Castaldi and Jones. The songs are ok, but you don't watch a Marx Brothers film for the music... the comedy is the true winner here.
For me, this ranks as in the top 2 of the Marx Brothers' films, after Duck Soup.
You can find another review of this film (and the other Marx Brothers films) at http://theageofcomedy.laurelandhardycentral.com/niteoper.html.
A Night at the Opera (1935) 93 minutes
Director: Sam Wood
Starring: Groucho Marx as Otis B. Driftwood
Harpo Marx as Tomasso
Chico Marx as Fiorello
Kitty Carlisle as Rosa Castaldi
Allan Jones as Ricardo Baroni
Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Claypool
Sig Ruman as Herman Gottlief
Walter Woolf King as Rodolfo Lassparri
Robert Emmett O'Connor as Sergeant Henderson
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