A Night at the Opera (1935) | |
| Director(s) | Sam Wood, Edmund Goulding (uncredited) |
| Producer(s) | Irving Thalberg (executive uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Comedy, Musical |
| Top Topics | Fame, Mistaken Identity, Romance (Comic), Romance (Musical), Slapstick |
Featured Cast:
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).
.A Night at the Opera was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1993.
BlogHub Articles:
Musical Monday: A Night at the Opera (1935)
on Aug 10, 2026 From Comet Over HollywoodIt?s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. This week?s musical: A Night at the Opera (1935) ... Read full article
A Night at the Opera (1935) – Updated
By 4 Star Film Fan on Dec 29, 2015 From 4 Star FilmsThat’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) (1)
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) (2)
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 ButtonAs 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
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Quotes from
Otis B. Driftwood: I was talking to myself, and there's nothing you can do about it. I've had three of the best doctors in the East.
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.
Henderson: What is that bed doing there?
Otis B. Driftwood: I don't see it do anything.
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Facts about
In Leonard Maltin's commentary on the current DVD release, he states that there was a longer opening sequence. Starting with a title card that places the movie in Milan, Italy, there was then a musical number in which people on the street were "passing along" the melody line of a song, as in the Maurice Chevalier vehicle Love Me Tonight. The song was followed into the restaurant where Mrs. Claypool was waiting for Otis B. Driftwood. Maltin says the scene was cut during World War II to remove references to Italy, and unfortunately, the main negative was cut as well, so the scene is now lost. This was why the stated running time of the movie was three minutes longer than it is now.
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.
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