Marx Brothers movies are hard to review, because you can't apply the same criteria to them as you can to other movies. The Marx Brothers created an entire method for delivering screen comedy; they created the rules and the logic, and you either accept that logic or you don't.
I have to base my opinion on "A Night at the Opera," therefore, on whether or not I laughed, and I didn't, much. I smiled and chuckled here and there, but I just didn't think this movie was that funny. I had a phalanx of film scholars on one of the DVD's special features telling me how funny certain classic bits in this movie are: the "sanity clause" routine, the stateroom scene, etc. But as actually played out, these scenes are moderately amusing but not much more. They have the feel of those Saturday Night Live skits that would be funnier if they were only about 5 minutes shorter. Supposedly, "A Night at the Opera" was the first of a new kind of Marx Brothers movie, more structured and with more dramatic conflict. The only other movie I've seen by them to compare this to is "Duck Soup," and I say give me the anarchic Brothers any day and dramatic structure be damned.
There is one sequence in this movie that I loved, and that's when Chico and Harpo step out of character and display their skill on the piano and harp, respectively. These musical interludes are a much-needed respite from the atrocious, warbly songs performed by the film's male and female love interests.
I would recommend any Marx Brothers movie for the same reason I would recommend Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton or Astaire/Rogers films. They're part of cinematic history, and they played a large role in defining the art form at a specific point in its development. But that's not to say you will necessarily enjoy them as much as audiences at the time did.
Grade: B-
I have to base my opinion on "A Night at the Opera," therefore, on whether or not I laughed, and I didn't, much. I smiled and chuckled here and there, but I just didn't think this movie was that funny. I had a phalanx of film scholars on one of the DVD's special features telling me how funny certain classic bits in this movie are: the "sanity clause" routine, the stateroom scene, etc. But as actually played out, these scenes are moderately amusing but not much more. They have the feel of those Saturday Night Live skits that would be funnier if they were only about 5 minutes shorter. Supposedly, "A Night at the Opera" was the first of a new kind of Marx Brothers movie, more structured and with more dramatic conflict. The only other movie I've seen by them to compare this to is "Duck Soup," and I say give me the anarchic Brothers any day and dramatic structure be damned.
There is one sequence in this movie that I loved, and that's when Chico and Harpo step out of character and display their skill on the piano and harp, respectively. These musical interludes are a much-needed respite from the atrocious, warbly songs performed by the film's male and female love interests.
I would recommend any Marx Brothers movie for the same reason I would recommend Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton or Astaire/Rogers films. They're part of cinematic history, and they played a large role in defining the art form at a specific point in its development. But that's not to say you will necessarily enjoy them as much as audiences at the time did.
Grade: B-