365+ movies in 365 days: Day 21 - A Night At The Opera

Tonight I went to the opera with the Marx Brothers. A Night At the Opera was the first film the brothers made at their new home MGM Studios and the first they made without Zeppo. Aside from their standard comedy bits the film contains some musical numbers including scenes from Verdi's Il Trovatore.

The film was different in tone from their prior films. In their earlier work at paramount they rain anarchy down on anyone who wandered into their path. In this film there are distinct good guys whom the brothers help and bad guys who bear the brunt of their madness.

Broken up by the musical numbers the film does not have the non-stop comedic chaos of films like Duck Soup, but it does have some of the most memorable bits they have ever done including the contract scene and the stateroom scene.

I have not seen the film in 20 years and I appreciated the musical numbers now, more than I did then. The film is drop dead funny even without Zeppo. It is considered one of their best ranked second after Duck Soup by most critics.
At The Movie House rating **** stars