A Night at the Opera (1935) - film review

By donating money to Otis B. Driftwood, an opera promoter of dubious repute, wealthy widow Mrs Claypool hopes to buy her way into high society. Whilst in Milan, Driftwood signs up an unknown chorus singer, Riccardo, mistaking him for the great tenor Lassparri.  The latter is signed up for the New York opera company by another promoter, Gottlieb.  Driftwood manages to smuggle Riccardo, his agent Fiorello and Lassparri’s former dresser Tomasso on board a steamship headed for the United States.  Riccardo is doubly grateful, because he is reunited with Rosa, another opera singer with whom he is in love.  Having been sacked by the New York opera, Driftwood resolves to take his revenge by sabotaging the opening night performance of Il Trovatore.  In the process, he hopes to do a good turn for Richardo and Rosa...

Along with Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera ranks as the greatest of the Marx Brothers’ films, a masterpiece of inspired comic madness/genius that can never fail to reduce an audience to hysterics.  This was the first film that the Marxes made after their move from Paramount to MGM and is a far more polished work than their previous films, slightly less anarchic but just as funny.

At this stage, the Marx Brothers were down to three, as Zeppo, the straight man and juvenile lead, had decided to leave the team to pursue a career as a theatrical agent.   Zeppo’s role in this and the subsequent Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races (1937) was played by the then unknown Allan Jones, whose obvious singing talents were put to good use.   Once again, Margaret Dumont appears as the stooge / love interest for Groucho, the role for which she is probably best known. 

Much of the success of A Night at the Opera is down to Irving Thalberg, MGM’s head of production who sought the highest possible standards in all of the films he produced.   It was Thalberg who persuaded the Marx Brothers to work for MGM and was not discouraged when their most recent film, the aforementioned Duck Soup, was not the commercial success that had been envisaged.   Determined to get the best out of his new recruits, Thalberg lent them the services of some of his best screenwriters and came up with a brilliant idea to proof test their gags.  Before shooting the film, the Marxes would try out their comic routines on stage in front of an audience, to gauge their reaction.  This enabled the comedy trio and their screenwriters to hone the jokes to perfection, ensuring that the film was as funny as it could possibly be.

Ironically, the one comedy routine that failed to get a positive reaction in these audience trials was the famous state room scene, which is now regarded as one of the greatest comedy sequences in the history of cinema.  Thalberg was convinced the scene would work far better on film than on the stage and insisted that it be retained.  His instinct was right.  There is no funnier moment in any Marx Brothers film than the one when the door to the state room cabin is opened and a human tsunami comes crashing into the ship corridor.

Another memorable routine is the one where Groucho and Chico argue over a contract and repeatedly tear strips off the contract until all they are left with is what Groucho terms the sanity clause, at which point Chico quips:  "You don’ta fool me.  There ain’ta no Santa Clause."  This is reputedly the gag that got the biggest laugh when the film was first seen in the 1930s. 

In true Marx Brothers fashion, the film ends in madcap anarchic farce, with the Marxes knocking down the pillars of the establishment like ninepins and firing a salvo or three for the little man (presumably decapitating him by mistake in the process).   Combining the impeccable production standards offered by MGM with the unbridled talent of the funniest comedy team in history, A Night at the Opera is film comedy elevated to the level of fine art.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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