111. A Night at the Opera (1935)

Stars:  Groucho Marx (Otis B. Driftwood), Chico Marx (Fiorello), Harpo Marx (Tomasso), Kitty Carlisle (Rosa Castaldi), Allan Jones (Ricardo Baroni), Margaret Dumont (Mrs. Claypool)

Director:  Sam Wood

Awards / Honors

• #12 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs list (2000)
• #85 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list (2007)
• In 1993, A Night at the Opera was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Genre:  Comedy

Running Time:  1 Hour, 33 Minutes

Format:  DVD (not yet available on Blu-ray)

Odyssey Rating:  5 Stars (John - 5 Stars, Beth - 5 Stars)

John's Take

You have to respect comedy film that even 40+ years after its release, still inspires two rock bands to name albums after it (Queen and the German heavy metal band Blind Guardian).  Neither Beth nor I had seen this movie before our little Odyssey began.  It has since become the “surprise hit” of the list.  This movie, considered one of the best of the Marx Brothers movies (along with Duck Soup -- # 66 on our list), is truly hilarious.

I feel sort of bad since I am now entering my second short post in a row, and both posts are for movies that I really liked, but I think this is just a case where the movie speaks for itself and anything I say is extraneous.  Jokes come fast and furious in this film.  Beth and I found ourselves having to pause and rewind the movie a bit to hear the jokes that we missed because we were laughing. 

I have said in earlier posts that if one has to use the “for-its-time” caveat to describe a movie, then perhaps it wasn’t really a great movie to start out with.  I think his movie drives that point home.  The spiritual predecessor of Airplane!, Naked Gun, and all the other Zucker & Abrahams comedies, it hasn’t missed a beat despite being 75-years old. 

In the movie, Groucho Marx's and Margaret Dumont's characters are boarding an ocean liner, Dumont asks Groucho, "Have you got everything?" Groucho replies "I've never had any complaints."  You won’t hear any from me either, Groucho.  A Night at the Opera gets a standing ovation and a rating of 5 Stars.

John