Night at the Opera, A

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I've probably seen the Marx Brothers' "A Night at the Opera" over two dozen times, and it never fails to make me laugh. The Brothers created an instant hit with the comedy in 1935 and an instant classic as well.

The Marx Brothers got their start in movies as Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo, filming their stage hit "The Coconuts" for Paramount in 1929. Then followed "Animal Crackers" (1930), "Monkey Business" (1931), "Horse Feathers" (1932), and "Duck Soup" (1933). But "Duck Soup," today often considered their best film, was a box-office bomb, and by this time Zeppo, playing the eternal straight man to his brothers' zaniness, quit the team. The Marx Brothers weren't sure if they'd ever work again. But Irving Thalberg, the young genius head of MGM, came to the rescue. He lured them to his studio, gave them a tighter script than they had ever performed in before, a rather silly subplot involving two young lovers (Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle), bigger production numbers, and a larger budget than the boys had ever seen. The combination worked, and "A Night at the Opera" became the most financially successful movie the Marx Brothers made, leading to six more movies at MGM before they retired the act in the mid 1940s.

Forever looking to puncture the ballon of pomposity, the Marx boys found a perfect object for their manic buffoonery in the often stuffy opera scene. In "A Night at the Opera" the Brothers manage to deflate every wealthy, snobby patron of the arts they can find, while at the same time managing never to denigrate the music of opera one bit. Indeed, the movie contains a good number of bits and pieces from Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci" and Verdi's "Il Trovatore" and probably introduced opera to any number of people who might not have appreciated it before. In any case, it's the people, not the music, the Marxes are after, and they do it with abandon.

Groucho plays Otis B. Driftwood, his typical fast-talking con artist with the quick quip trying to make an easy buck by swindling rich matrons, in this case a Mrs. Claypool, played by one of Brothers' perennial foils, Margaret Dumont. Ms. Dumont was ideal for these kinds of roles because she always played it so straight, never appearing to understand the jokes that were perpetuated at her expense. It's good acting. Also on the pompous side are a snooty opera singer, Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter King), who gets a good comeuppance by the movie's end; the manager of the New York Opera Company, Herman Gottlieb (Sig Ruman); a snoopy detective, Henderson (Robert Emmet O'Connor); and various New York City dignitaries.

Chico and Harpo play old friends, Fiorello and Tomasso, who are helping another old friend, Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones) win his girl, Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle), and snag a singing job for Ricardo with the NY Opera. As usual, Chico is the Italian-mangling punster, going on a mile a minute with double entendres, and Harpo is the mute clown in blond curls and trench coat.

The story line is divided into three parts of about the same length. Part one takes place in Italy, where all the participants meet up; part two is on an ocean liner heading for America; and part three is in New York City. Each part has its own share of classic gags, which I hesitate even to mention for fear of spoiling the fun for those who haven't seen them. But I will. A couple, anyway.

In part one, we have the famous "Sanity Clause" gag. It's possibly the single most memorable line from any Marx Brothers film ever. In part two, we have the stateroom scene. It's possibly the most memorable extended comic episode in any film, period. And in part three, we have the climactic opera sequence. It is complete anarchy and totally hilarious. As Groucho says of the old gypsy in "Trovatore," "Boogie, boogie, boogie!"

In addition to the music of Leoncavallo and Verdi, two new tunes were introduced to the public, songs that had been kicking around the MGM lot for a while and were made popular by the film. The first is "Alone," by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, sung by Ms. Carlisle. The second is "Cosi-Cosa," music by Kaper and Jurmann, lyrics by Ned Washington, sung by Mr. Jones. The songs do nothing to impede the general lunacy of the proceedings.

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