Une nuit à l'opéra

"A Night at the Opera" is one of those films you can see dozens of times and laugh just as hard as you did the first time. The brothers get mixed up with an opera company and a divo and diva in love - Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle, and trying to get the two to perform together.

The one-liners come so fast - you keep thinking you'll remember them, but one is funnier than the next. I do remember what Groucho says when he sees the gypsy Azucena in the opera, however. "How would you like to feel how she looks?" The stateroom scene is, of course, a classic, and my favorite part is when Groucho tells the housekeeper, "I want two pillows on that bed" and Harpo sound asleep and being moved everywhere, including onto a tray of food.

But nothing beats the last half hour - the performance of "Il Trovatore" with Harpo using the stage ropes like Tarzan, and Chico playing baseball in the orchestra while Groucho sells peanuts. They have replaced part of the overture with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

Allan Jones plays the tenor Ricardo Baroni who is hoping for his break. Why they cast the blond Jones as a tenor named Baroni - well, there you go. He sings very well and is quite handsome. Kitty Carlisle is the diva waiting, petite and pretty and singing music out of her vocal type, with the exception of "Alone." "Stridono lassu" and Leonora in Trovatore were both much too heavy for her. She does sing well and what a woman - she's still alive and recently performed at a New York supper club recently at the age of 95.

The only problem with any Marx Brothers film is that when they aren't in front of the camera, suddenly their films become very slow. Because I was trained in opera and have some interest in it, this was less the case than with some of their other films. They were too magical, too energetic, and too darn funny to ever share a spotlight with anyone else. Thank goodness they did, though, as they left us with many treasures. This is one.

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (MGM, 1935) directed by Sam Wood, re-introduces the Marx Brothers to the screen following their five years at the Paramount studio (1929-1933) to MGM, this being the start of a new beginning and the end to their wild world of comedy. It also brings forth their most popular comic foil of all, Margaret Dumont, from their Broadway to Paramount days, and the return to a formula story and time out for musical interludes either by the brothers or the romantic lovers originally done in their initial films of THE COCOANUTS (1929) and ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930). Aside from now being The Three Marx Brothers (Zeppo who has since retired), their characters have been toned down a bit, which helps. However, at MGM, with this, their best film for the studio, Groucho and Harpo become victims instead of instigators, with such notable scenes as Harpo employed as a dresser for an abusive opera tenor (Walter Wolfe King) who slaps, hits and uses a whip on him (at one point off camera) whenever getting out of line with his buffoonery, and Groucho, who always wins out in every situation physically and verbally, getting kicked down four flights of stairs, which indicates they are not always indestructible, yet remain in character from the old days whenever possible. Chico retains his wiseacre Italian character, remaining notably the same from his previous efforts, however, things will start to change not for the better for him and his brothers in the movies to follow.

Plot summary: Introduction takes place in Milan, Italy, where Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho) agrees to represent dowager Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont) into society by arranging for her to invest $200,000 to Herman Gottlieb (Sig Ruman), director of the opera company so that he can afford to bring opera singers Rudolpho Lassparri (Walter King) and Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle) to New York City. Rudolpho loves Rosa, but she is more interested in Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones), an unknown singer working as a chorus-man, but with the help of Fiorelli (Chico), acting as his manager, and his partner, Tomasso (Harpo), the trio head for America by becoming stowaways on the S.S. Americus, hiding out in Driftwood's tiny stateroom in order for Ricardo to get his big chance as a singer. After Driftwood and his cronies arrive in at the Metropolitan Opera House, thanks to them in disrupting Rudolpho's performance that the art of opera will never be the same again.

The musical program: "Alone" (sung by Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones) by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed; "Cosi-Cosa" (sung by Allan Jones) by Bronislau Kaper, Walter Jurmann and Ned Washington; "All I Do is Dream of You" (by Brown and Freed/piano solo by Chico Marx); "Alone" (harp solo by Harpo Marx); and selections from Il Trovatore by Guiseppi Verdi: "Di quella pira," "Miserere," "Anvil Chorus," "Stride la Vampa" "Strido lassu" and "Miserere." Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle doing their duet, "Alone," him on the pear and she from the boat dock, Chico's fast finger piano playing, and Harpo's harp solo in a serious manner as he performs to a little old lady (facial shadow front only) who looks on approvingly, may not be highlights, but are truly memorable moments.

Highlights: Whenever anyone goes into discussion regarding A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, the first thing that comes immediately to mind is that famous state room scene involving Groucho, Chico and the sleeping Harpo, with various others involved, crammed together until the door opens, having them all falling out like dominoes. This hilarious bit is one that's remembered best with fondness and admiration. However, there are others worth noting: The opening where Dumont awaits for Groucho at a restaurant for an hour only to find him at the table behind her eating with another lady, is priceless; Groucho and Chico contract exchanges that becomes a "sanity clause"; arrested stowaway Harpo's attempt in escaping his detention cabin by crawling out of a porthole and hanging onto a rope outside only to be dumped into the ocean; Jones, Chico and Harpo in bearded disguises posing as celebrity aviators to give speeches on coast-to-coast radio, with the silent Harpo covering up his muteness by constantly drinking glasses of water; the disappearance of beds in Groucho's hotel room while the plainclothesman detective (Robert Emmett O'Connor) investigates; and of course, the climactic opera chaos by the Marxes, with one great bit with the orchestra playing the overture to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" after coming to the page with the planted song sheets, with Groucho acting as a vendor yelling "Peanuts! Peanuts!" to the patrons. A classic with Callas.

The supporting players: Newcomer Allan Jones steps in for the role that might have been offered to Zeppo. He is a likable actor with a fine singing voice who performs well opposite Kitty Carlisle (another recruit from Paramount and rare screen appearance, being best known as the TV panelist in the long running quiz show, "To Tell the Truth").

Footnote: It is quite evident that prints that have been circulating since commercial television days isn't complete. Missing footage is quite evident during the opening minutes of the story where the movie originally began with a musical number prior to the restaurant scene involving Groucho and Dumont. At present, this, along with other cut footage, no longer exists. Timed at 96minutes, the 90 minute version is the one available on Turner Classic Movies, VHS and DVD formats. Maybe one of these years a completely restored print of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA will suffice, but for now, this will have to do.

In closing: Get out those opera glasses and have yourself a grand night at the opera. (***1/2)

I must admit that I am very light in personal knowledge of MArx Brothers films,and aside from the general information,imagery and quotes(the majority of which came from the irrepressible Groucho)that have been used and attributed in Western culture over the last seventy or eighty odd years,I have a very scant referential knowledge of their legendary body of film work.

With that in mind,when I saw the public library had a copy of this film in its stacks,it was a no-brainer for me. And it was a largely pleasing film experience as well.

The storyline seems to be somewhat insignificant: Brothers MArx are scattered about the goings on at a Venetian Opera company as it moves from Europe to New York City. They conspire to break a humble but talented tenor into the main role of the traveling show,as he is mooning over the young ingénue(Kitty Carlisle Hart,WELL before becoming the grand dame of TV Panel game shows!). But aside from the fair amount of music(hey,this IS,after all set in an Opera,so it goes to reason),this is mostly a physical comedy,laced with plenty of Groucho's standard one-liners. From watching his dealings with various straight people,from old stand-by MArgaret Dumont as his society-climbing wife,to the various lugs who signify authority(Theater directors,producers,society bigwigs,ship crew,policemen,local magistrates,etc.),Groucho is not only able to keep the humor legendarily fast and loose but also keeps the tempo of the dialog from bogging(I even noticed a sort of inspiration the creators at WArner Brothers got for Bugs Bunny from Groucho's witticisms!).

Maybe not the best of the Marxes films--though I still don't have a real gauge of opinion on this yet--but it's a fantastic starter film to build familiarity.

"A Night at the Opera" is great Marx Brothers entertainment. It has comedy, music, and a good cast - everything except Zeppo, who by this time had left the act. It fully deserves its reputation as one of the two best Marx Brothers films, along with "Duck Soup".

"A Night at the Opera" is probably slightly less funny than "Duck Soup" (it is no criticism to say that of any film), but it has more of a story to connect the great comic bits. There is a good supporting cast in both films - here Sig Ruman is especially funny, in addition to the perennial Margaret Dumont. It also has several fairly long musical interludes - some are operatic, but the most entertaining is Chico and Harpo's impromptu shipboard entertainment.

Of course, the real attraction in any of these films is the comedy, and there are some memorable bits in this one. The contract negotiations between Chico and Groucho, and the scene in Groucho's stateroom, are especially hilarious, and you have to see the stateroom scene more than once to catch everything. And for sustained zany humor, the climactic sequence at the opera might be the funniest part of all.

This is certainly a must for Marx Brothers fans.

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.