Black & White World

A Night at the Opera (1935)

You never forget your first.  I have the fondest spot in my heart for this, my very first Marx Brothers film.  I know that Duck Soup is viewed as their masterpiece, and the Zeppo movies at Paramount are generally regarded as stronger than their work at MGM.  I can’t help any of that.  A Night at the Opera is the first one I ever saw, and it’s still my favorite.  I was hooked from the moment I saw Chico playing “All I Do Is Dream of You” on the piano, and I never looked back.

Having a better knowledge now of the Marxes films at Paramount, which were far more chaotic and surreal, I can see how MGM made subtle changes to their characters—in particular, Harpo was turned into a bit of a sad sack.  It’s similar to how MGM rewrote Buster Keaton’s character and turned him into a sad clown, instead of the grimly determined comic hero he was in his own independent films.  Without Zeppo to balance out the other brothers’ lunacy, Groucho is given some moments of seriousness, and Allan Jones had to be brought in for the romantic scenes.  I can see where Night at the Opera signaled the beginning of the end—their movies got progressively worse after this.  But there’s still a good deal of the old magic left here.

Favorite bits include the Groucho/Chico contract scene ("You can’t fool me, there ain’t no Sanity Claus!"), the orchestra playing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and of course the classic stateroom scene.  “Is my Aunt Minnie in here?” Margaret Dumont (as usual), Kitty Carlisle and Sig Rumann provide great support.  Allan Jones is a bit boring (let’s face it, so was Zeppo), but at least he has a nice singing voice.

1. I saw Mrs. Claypool first. Of course, her mother really saw her first but there’s no point in bringing the Civil War into this.

   CLASSIC!! If there’s anything better than the Marx Bros I’ve never seen it. Glad to see you love them too.

   Posted by Duke  on  12/10  at  08:13 PM

2. I remember seeing various Marx Bros movies as a kid. I thought they were zany but never appreciated them until I got in college. I took a date to see The Cocoanuts and was hooked forever. On both the Narx bros and her. I married her and bought everything I could find about them. Not the same evening I saw the movie though.

   The first few films were all based on plays. When they started doing original material for movies the quality went down. I think the stage gave them the opportunity to fine tune the sketches to perfection. Also very few writers could do such cutting satire. Like you mention Harpo was revised too. He went from an almost demonic force of nature to a pitiful creature that was beaten by bullies. His impish, wild nature went away and so did his uniqueness I think.

   I still like thier movies including this one. I saw it on the big screen too, as I have them all. I don’t think anything makes me laugh harder.

   Posted by Duke  on  12/15  at  01:02 AM
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