A Night at the Opera Overview:

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

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

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 sto... Read full article


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Quotes from

Fiorello: [Disguised as one of the world's greatest aviators] So now I tell you how we fly to America. The first time we started we got-a half way there when we run out a gasoline, and we gotta go back. Then I take-a twice as much gasoline. This time we're just about to land, maybe three feet, when what do you think: we run out of gasoline again. And-a back-a we go again to get-a more gas. This time I take-a plenty gas. Well, we get-a half way over, when what do you think happens: we forgot-a the airplane. So, we gotta sit down and we talk it over. Then I get-a the great idea. We no take-a gasoline, we no take-a the airplane. We take steamship, and that friends, is how we fly across the ocean.


Otis B. Driftwood: Say, I just remembered, I came back here looking for somebody. You don't know who it is, do you?
Fiorello: It's a funny thing, it just slipped my mind.


Otis B. Driftwood: You didn't happen to see my suit in there, did you?
Fiorello: Yeah, it was taking up too much room, so we sold it.
Otis B. Driftwood: Did you get anything for it?
Fiorello: Uh... dollar forty.
Otis B. Driftwood: That's my suit all right.


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Facts about

When the movie was to be edited for length, Allan Jones' song "Alone" was almost cut. Jones pleaded his case to producer Irving Thalberg, who replied, "The Marx Brothers know their comedy, and you know songs. I'll keep it in." "Alone" went on to become the only hit song from a Marx Brothers film.
The opera performed as the movie's climax is Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore.
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #85 Greatest American Movie of All Time. It was the first inclusion of this film on the list.
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National Film Registry

A Night at the Opera

Released 1935
Inducted 1993
(Sound)




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Also directed by Sam Wood




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Also produced by Irving Thalberg




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