A Night at the Opera

1935's A NIGHT AT THE OPERA was the first Marx Brothers film made for MGM and the first without Zeppo, often deemed the least funny of the troupe.  I think he has been unfairly marginalized, but this film does not necessarily suffer his absence, though his straight man persona might've suited the role of Ricardo Baroni, a singer hungry for success and the hand of soprano Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle, in one of her few screen roles).  Allan Jones does a serviceable job as Ricardo, ably joining in with the witty, often physical humor Groucho, Chico, and Harpo bring to this farce written by several screenwriters and directed by Sam Wood, by many accounts not such a funny guy.

We don't get to the titular opera until the last third or so of the movie.  Much of the fun occurs on board a ship bound to NYC from Italy.  The "Stateroom" scene is quite astonishing and deft.  You've heard of coeds cramming into VW Bugs and telephone booths? Ha! They have nothing on the main characters as they share a tiny cabin with cleaning ladies, an engineer and his assistant, a manicurist, a maid, several waiters, and others.  Right before, Groucho's (playing a shifty business manager named Otis B. Driftwood) ordering of room service is something I want to quote in a restaurant, complete with honking horn.  The only thing that outdoes it is the "Contract" scene, which has the wonderful classic line "There ain't no sanity clause!"

As great as the gags are, A NIGHT AT THE OPERA's pace falters as it gives attention to its old hat plotting, with minutes spent with nary a joke.  I wanted Groucho to appear more often with his hit and run wit, as he had done in earlier pictures. His opening scene here is also great, and promises more than the movie ultimately delivers.   The anything goes spirit of the Marx Brothers was toned down here.  Not fatally. It's just that things are more, traditional, in a good guy gets the girl sorta fashion.  There are also vocal (not so good) and instrumental (very good) solos that pad the running time.  This would've been a truly solid seventy minute feature that runs a bit over ninety.  But fans absolutely can't miss it.