Night at the Opera, A (DVD)

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Finally, no tribute to the best Marx Brothers' movies can be complete without mentioning the celebrated American playwright who helped write many of them, George S. Kaufman, the same fellow who authored "Dinner at Eight," "You Can't Take It With You," "The Man Who Came to Dinner," and "George Washington Slept Here." To have such a distinguished comic dramatist on your side can't hurt.

With a great cast, some of the funniest lines in movies (Henderson: "I see the table is set for four." Driftwood: "That's nothing. My alarm clock is set for eight"), pleasing music, and a goofy story line, "A Night at the Opera" is a comedy gem. Some younger viewers may find it's not racy enough or not politically incorrect enough or not hip enough for them, but for me the movie was all of those things when it was made and has simply improved with age.

Video:
It's obvious that Warner Bros. obtained the very best print of the film they could find and transferred as well as could be expected. The absence of any lines, scratches, or age spots also indicates they may have cleaned it up a bit, too. The black-and-white contrasts are vivid, with blacks especially deep. The only flaw is that there is a fine grain visible most of the time that gives the overall appearance of the picture a slightly gritty look. In other words, the video is fine and better than I've ever seen it, but it's still not perfect.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 1.0 monaural soundtrack does a great deal to clarify the audio compared to my old videotape of the movie, but it doesn't clean it up enough not to notice a small degree of background noise. The problem I always had with the tape was the high amount of noise and the generally muffled vocal passages. These issues have largely been rectified on the DVD, and dialogue is now rendered more clearly audible. Just don't figure on much in the way of dynamic range or frequency extremes; this is a pretty old sound recording, and only so much can be done with it.

Extras:
I was delighted by the extras Warner Bros. included on the disc. They may not be as numerous or as extensive as on some more flashy, two-disc DVD releases, but they make up for sheer quantity in their quality of entertainment. First, there is an audio commentary with film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, who waxes enthusiastic at every turn but provides a wealth of technical and historical information about the film, too. Equally enlightening is an all-new, thirty-three minute documentary, "Remarks on Marx," that includes background and reminiscences about the Brothers from comedians, comedy writers, and film experts. Then, there's a brief interview with Grouch Marx taken from television's old "Hy Gardiner Show" in 1961. The highlight of the bonuses, though, is Robert Benchley's 1936 Academy Award-winning short subject, "How to Sleep," the droll, deadpan comic author an absolute crack-up. Also of nostalgic interest is a second vintage short, "Sunday Night at the Trocadero," with Reginald Denny. The extras conclude with twenty-six scene selections; a theatrical trailer; English as the only spoken language; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Parting Thoughts:
I hope I've made my point that "A Night at the Opera" is one of the highlights of Hollywood film comedy. Whether or not it's the best of the Marx Brothers' comedies will remain a matter of opinion, but for me it right up there at the number-one spot.

"A Night at the Opera" may be bought alone or in a five-disc box set that includes all seven of the movies the Marx Brothers made for MGM. Although the MGM Marx Brothers movies became tamer and tamer after "A Night at the Opera," they all provide at least a few good laughs. "A Night at the Opera," "A Day at the Races" (1937), and "A Night in Casablanca" (1946) may all be had separately, but you have to buy the whole box to get the double features of "Room Service" (1938) and "At the Circus" (1939) and "Go West" (1940) and "The Big Store" (1941). For me, it would be worth the investment.

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