A Night at the Opera (1935)

A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.

Directors:

Sam Wood, Edmund Goulding (uncredited)

Writers:

George S. Kaufman (screen play), Morrie Ryskind (screen play)

Stars:

Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Groucho Marx	...	Otis B. Driftwood
Chico Marx	...	Fiorello
Harpo Marx	...	Tomasso
Kitty Carlisle	...	Rosa Castaldi
Allan Jones	...	Riccardo Barone
Walter Woolf King	...	Rudolfo Lassparri (as Walter King)
Sig Ruman	...	Herman Gottlieb (as Siegfried Rumann)
Margaret Dumont	...	Mrs. Claypool
Edward Keane	...	Ship's Captain
Robert Emmett O'Connor	...	Police Sergeant Henderson (as Robert Emmet O'Connor)

Storyline

The Marx Brothers take on high society. Two lovers who are both in opera are prevented from being together by the man's lack of acceptance as an operatic tenor. Pulling several typical Marx Brothers' stunts, they arrange for the normal tenor to be absent so that the young lover can get his chance.

---

Plot Keywords:

marx brothers | harp | ship cabin | bare chested male | national film registry | 

---

Taglines:

Don't miss it! The funniest picture ever made!

---

Genres:

Comedy | Music | Musical

---

Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

The famous "stateroom scene" was originally conceived as a way of getting a cheap laugh by having Groucho Marx, crowded out of his room, changing his pants in the corridor. After this was not liked by test audiences, the scene was improvised on the spot. A total of 15 people were in the scene: Driftwood (1); the stowaways Fiorello, Tomasso and Riccardo [who were in the trunk] (2-4); two chambermaids (5-6); an engineer who comes to turn off the heat (7); a manicurist (8); the engineer's burly assistant (9); a young woman looking for her Aunt Minnie and asking to use the phone (10); a cleaning woman (11); and four staff stewards bearing trays of food (12-15). They all tumble out when Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont) opens the door.

---

Goofs

During the antics on stage during the opera, a battleship backdrop falls into the scene. But just seconds later, the battleship backdrop has vanished.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Waiter: The gentleman has not arrived yet?
Mrs. Claypool: No, he has not.
Waiter: I'm afraid the dinner will be spoiled.
Otis B. Driftwood: What difference does it make? It's too late to dine now.
Otis B. Driftwood: Oh, boy?
Bellboy: Yes, ma'am?
Otis B. Driftwood: Will you page Mr. Otis B. Driftwood, please? Mister Otis B. Driftwood.
Bellboy: Paging Mr. Driftwood! Mr. Driftwood!
Bellboy: [Driftwood's dinner companion giggles out loud] Mr. Driftwood! Mr. Driftwood!
[...]

---

Alternate Versions

A colorized version exists

---

Connections

Referenced in Duck Dodgers: Of Course You Know, This Means War and Peace: Part 1 (2004)

---

Soundtracks

Il Trovatore: Di quella pira
(1853) (uncredited)
Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvatore Cammarano
Sung by Walter Woolf King
with The MGM Symphony Orchestra

User Reviews

Relentlessly hilarious and outrageous musical comedy that still works very well

Amusing and entertaining Marx picture , it has a lot of funny material and unfortunately intrusive songs . Groucho's wisecracks and the incomparable Chico and Harpo carry the movie . It deals with a sly business manager named Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx) and two (Chico Marx as Fiorello and Harpo Marx as Tomasso) wacky friends of two (Kitty Carlisle as Rosa and Allan Jones as Ricardo) opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies . Later on , Marx Brothers anarchize the opera , insulting and mocking the guests and players . Their actions include some on stage antics during the stage debut , as they arrange for the normal tenor to be absent so that the young lover named Ricardo can get his chance .

Classic Marx film with many funny sequences , this is the most sustained bit of insanity , full of crazy gags , antics and amusement , being now deemed a satiric masterpiece ,and one of the biggest hits . Although it suffers from staginess and musical comedy plotting but gives the zany threesome plenty of comic elaboration . Enough gags for give several movies , but our favorite is still the cabin scene . Despite the abundant songs and silly as well as sappy love story the movie maintains itself very well . This is a fun comedy as hilariously amusing as the films they made at Paramount with Zeppo . This is a M.G.M production lavishly financed by Irving Thalberg . Excellent Harpo Marx , as usual , he even did many of his own stunts , he later said it was a silly thing for a 47-year-old non-stuntman to have done . Groucho said that this was his favorite among his movies . The Marx Bros (minus Zeppo) are in peak form in this vintage musical comedy with co-star the legendary Margaret Dumont , including sparkling dialogs with Groucho . Furthermore , Sig Ruman makes his first of three appearances in The Marx Brothers films. However , this is the first Marx Brothers film made without brother Zeppo Marx, it started a new trend of The Marx Brothers movies featuring a Zeppo-like supporting character who carries the love story and sings the song . The motion picture was well directed by Sam Wood . Sam Wood, freshman The Marx Brothers director in this film, was a perfectionist , the scene in which Harpo Marx hangs from the rope was filmed so many times that Harpo Marx's hands became cut and swollen from the rope . Don't miss it , one of the funniest picture ever made by Marx Brothers

Other important films starred by Marx Brothers -many of them Broadway farce plays transfered by scenarists into vehicle for the Brothres- , they are the followings : ¨Animal crackers¨, ¨Duck soap¨ that was a flop when first released but today considered a masterpiece , ¨Horse Feathers¨, ¨At the circus¨, ¨Day at the races¨ , ¨Room service¨ , ¨Go West¨, ¨Love Happy¨ and ¨Night in Casablanca¨, though in 1946 the Marx formula was wearing thin . Any film with Groucho , Chico , Harpo and Zeppo is well worth seeing .

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

15 November 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Night at the Opera

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$2,537,520

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,956,700

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min 91 min (1948 re-release)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1