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A Night at the Opera Overview:

A Night at the Opera (1935) was a Comedy - Musical Film directed by Sam Wood and Edmund Goulding (uncredited) and produced by Irving Thalberg.

SYNOPSIS

Probably the finest hour in the Marx Brothers' stellar career, this was their first film for MGM and their first without Zeppo. It was assembled after Irving Thalberg's dictate that the show go on the road before it went in front of the cameras. The result was a polished, blissful union of critical and commercial smash. It features the seminal Marx Brothers juxtapositions of high society and absurdly crooked con men, in this case Groucho trying to waylay the fortune of perennial nemesis Dumont by persuading her to invest in an opera company. The stowaways in the jammed stateroom scene is one of the greatest bits of comedy ever put on film.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

A Night at the Opera was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1993.

A Night at the Opera BlogHub Articles:

A Night at the Opera (1935) – Updated

By 4 Star Film Fan on Dec 29, 2015 From 4 Star Films

That’s in every contract, that’s what you call a sanity clause.” – Groucho You can’t a fool a me there ain’t no sanity clause” – Chico The Marx Brothers had a set formula, where everyone else played the drama straight and they do what ever they want. S... Read full article

Review: A Night at the Opera (1935)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Dec 29, 2015 From 4 Star Films

“That’s in every contract, that’s what you call a sanity clause.” – Groucho “You can’t a fool a me there ain’t no sanity clause” – Chico The Marx Brothers had a set formula, where everyone else played the drama straight and they did whateve... Read full article

Review: A Night at the Opera (1935)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Dec 29, 2015 From 4 Star Films

“That’s in every contract, that’s what you call a sanity clause.” – Groucho “You can’t a fool a me there ain’t no sanity clause” – Chico The Marx Brothers had a set formula, where everyone else played the drama straight and they did whateve... Read full article

A Night at the Opera (1935, Sam Wood)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 2, 2015 From The Stop Button

As good as the Marx Brothers are in A Night at the Opera–and George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind’s strong script is important too–director Wood really brings the whole thing together. The film has its obligatory musical subplot and romantic leads. Wood knows how to balance those e... Read full article

A Night at the Opera (1935)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 14, 2013 From 4 Star Films

Starring the Marx Brothers, this vehicle for their comedy has Groucho, Harpo, and Chico trying to help two lovers earn  positions at the opera. Along the way Groucho tries to marry a rich patron and Chico and Harpo run from the law as stowaways. This film which could be seen as having a dramatic s... Read full article

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A Night at the Opera Quotes:

Fiorello: [beginning a speech disguised as one of the aviators] Friends.
Otis B. Driftwood: Go fast. I can see a man with a rope out there.
Fiorello: How we happen to come to America is a great story, but I no tell that.
Otis B. Driftwood: You're willing to pay him a thousand dollars a night just for singing? Why, you can get a phonograph record of Minnie the Moocher for 75 cents. And for a buck and a quarter, you can get Minnie.
Otis B. Driftwood: Let's go in my room and talk the situation over.
Mrs. Claypool: What situation?
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, er... what situations have you got?
Mrs. Claypool: I most certainly will not go to your room.
Otis B. Driftwood: OK, then I'll stay here.
Mrs. Claypool: All right, all right, all right! I'll come, but get out.
Otis B. Driftwood: Shall we say, uh, ten minutes?
Mrs. Claypool: Yes, ten minutes, anything. But go!
Otis B. Driftwood: Because if you're not there in ten minutes, I'll be back here in eleven. With squeaky shoes on!
Otis B. Driftwood: [to Tomasso, who's knocked out Lassparri] Nice work I think you got him. Ah, smelling salts? That will bring him to. You're sorry for what you did eh? That shows a nice spirit. Now he's coming along. He'll be fine.
Otis B. Driftwood: Could he sail tomorrow?
Fiorello: You pay him enough money, he could sail yesterday.
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A Night at the Opera Facts
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.
Producer Irving Thalberg would often call people in for meetings, and then keep them waiting in his office for hours while he attended other meetings on the MGM lot. One day, during pre-production for A Night at the Opera, Thalberg kept The Marx Brothers waiting for several hours in his secretary's office, while he was in his own office making phone calls. When Thalberg's secretary went home for the day, the brothers decided they'd had enough. They pushed the office file cabinets against Thalberg's door, trapping the producer in his office. Afterwards, Thalberg kept his appointments with the Marx Brothers, but would often interrupt his meetings with them and step out to attend other meetings - again keeping the brothers waiting for hours. One day, Thalberg came back from another meeting to find Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, and Harpo Marx sitting in his office completely naked, and roasting potatoes on sticks in his office fireplace. Thalberg sat down with them, had a potato, and never missed or interrupted another meeting with the Marx Brothers.
In exasperation after several attempts to have Groucho Marx read one of his lines in the manner director Sam Wood had requested, Wood exclaimed, "I guess you just can't make an actor out of clay." Groucho Marx instantly responded, "Nor a director out of Wood."
According to MGM's dialogue cutting continuity, the film originally began (after the opening credits) with the image of a "boat on canal." A superimposed title reads: "ITALY - WHERE THEY SING ALL DAY AND GO TO THE OPERA AT NIGHT." What follows is a musical number featuring bits and pieces from Ruggero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" performed by "everyday" Italians. A street sweeper sings part of the prologue ("Un nido di memorie...") as he greets a man who then hands out opera tickets to a group of children emerging from a store; the kids respond with "la-la-la-la-la, verso un paese strano." A "captain" comes down a set of steps, salutes a sentry, then bursts into "Vesti la giubba." There's a lap dissolve to a hotel lobby, where a "baggage man" is rolling a trunk and crooning about "nettare divino" (divine nectar). He's joined in song by a waiter who then enters the dining room, where he sings as he serves a man who also gets in a few notes. The waiter then crosses over to speak to Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont), marking the beginning of the film in existing copies.
Harpo Marx did many of his own stunts. He later said it was a silly thing for a 47-year-old non-stuntman to have done.
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