Rating: 
Summary: A Night at the Opera
Review: A great movie. The second best Marx Brothers movie (Duck Soup is #1, but it's a close call). Easily one of the top five funniest movies of all time. Best structured Marx Brothers movie. Two scenes rank as the funniest of all time. "The party of the first part" is so funny you will cry. Ditto for "The Stateroom Scene". And Chico's speech after the boat lands is a great one. A CLASSIC.
Rating:
Summary: What a night!
Review: A Marx Brothers' movie for me is never about the plot. The plot is just the connective tissue used to get from one outrageous comedy piece to another. It's the pieces themselves that carry the weight of the picture. And my-oh-my are the pieces here astounding.Everyone points to the stateroom scene, and justifiably so. It's the epitome of the Marx Brothers' style: Chico's mischief, Harpo's innocence/devilishness, and Groucho's bemused commentary. For me, the funniest moment of the scene occurs even before anyone enters the room, when Groucho tries to order room service from the steward. His joke about tipping ("Do you have two fives?" "Yes sir." "Good, then you won't need the ten cents I was going to give you."), and Chico and Harpo's desire for hard-boiled eggs have me on the floor laughing every time. There are many such masterful moments here. Of course, the "sanity clause" scene, which seems to go on forever, producing laugh after laugh after laugh ("Bartender, two beers." "I'll have two beers, too."). The opening scene when Groucho is late for dinner. Harpo falling down the spiral staircase, and continuing around even after he's hit the bottom. And the riotous demolition of the opera at the end (when the orchestra plays 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame', I just lose it!). It's all madness, and it's all hilarious. I, like many other Marx Brothers' fans, loathe the musical numbers that break up the comedy. Here we get a generous dollop of that pap when the lovers sing to each other. But the saving grace, and a real surprise, is the scene where Chico and Harpo take turns at the piano. Chico's deft and subtle clowning is brilliant, and offers a perfect contrast to Harpo's manic performance. It is one of my favourite scenes in the movie.
Rating:
Summary: GO ON, THERE AIN'T NO SANITY CLAUS
Review: A Night at the Opera was the first Marx Bros. movie for MGM after leaving Paramount and its one of their best. Certainly a top 3 with Animal Crackers and Duck Soup.
Groucho Marx (Otis Driftwood)tries to make a quick buck when he hears that a young tenor can be brought up for a extraordinary price. So him and his crazy friends Chico and Harpo tries to persuade the manager of the opera company to sign up a young talent. However this young talent is also so deeply in love with one of the operatic shows.
The film features two of their best bits: The overcrowded stateroom, and Groucho explaining the Opera Contract to Chico and talking about the "Sanity Clause" prompting Chico to respond, "Aww go on there ain't no Sanity Claus!" Classic.
Groucho's one liners are probably the best comic lines on film, and Harpo's silent antics are a delight, while Chico is up to his same old tricks. The three work brilliantly while director Sam Wood and the writers work in some good musical acts and classic comedy bits.
Of course the ever put-upon Margaret Dumont is back for more abuse from Groucho as Mrs. Claypool. Wonderful stuff!
Rating: 
Summary: High Notes
Review: According to film lore, Louis B. Mayer (head of M.G.M. film studios) loathed the Marx Brothers and particularly disliked this film, which takes aim at the high-class world of opera-- a world Mayer believed should be sancrosact. Although the film lacks the hard-edged hysteria of earlier Marx Brothers films made a Paramount, it does benefit from a solid dose of M.G.M. gloss: never had a Marx Brothers film LOOKED so good in a purely cinematic sense. Unfortunately, this gloss included a heaping helping of romantic subplot which has the effect of undercutting the brothers' screen time, as well as several insignificant musical scenes; this, however, is merely a fly in an otherwise balmy ointment. Whether you prefer the Marx Brothers work at Paramount to their work at M.G.M. is largely a matter of individual taste. Both styles have much to offer.
Rating: 
Summary: Tiresome
Review: Almost everything I write about stuff for Amazon gets either ignored or negative responses. I hardly expect this to fare any better. My original intent was to buy the 7 disc set of the Marx Bros (also just released), I grew faint-hearted near the deadline and canceled it and ordered the only 3 I wanted: Opera, Races and Casablanca. I think the first 5 "lost" Marx Bros movies (I have them on DVD and treasure them, all but Duck Soup, with a screenplay by one of their song-writing teams) are (so far) their funniest. Chaos, pandemonium, idiosyncrasies, personality. Either I was despondent when I watched this flick or else the Marx Bros' antics had worn thin for me. (I remember loving all their movies 30 years ago.) I was bored, saw what was supposed to be funny and didn't think it was. There were a few witty remarks, but those came from either Kaufman or Ryskind, not the Marx Bros. And on that subject, I never (at least not before The Solid Gold Cadillac) thought I'd ever watch or read a Kaufman play and not think it was hilarious. I did not think this was hilarious. The opera they featured at the end was Verdi's Il Trovatore, I don't like that opera anyway, particularly the mezzo gypsy song, particularly all of it. I thought the whole movie was watery, thin, dull and not the best of the Marxes, and not particularly funny. I just opened Casablanca. Tomorrow morning I'll take a crack at it, though I remember much of it now. I remember (and make the connection between that movie and this) that Harpo had gone from being an innocent who chases girls to a character who gets knocked around a lot by the heavies. I don't like the change. The characters, the (well, I said it already) idiosyncrasies and personalities of the brothers just weren't there in this movie. Sigh. I have 2 more to go.
Rating:
Summary: Tiresome
Review: Almost everything I write about stuff for Amazon gets either ignored or negative responses. I hardly expect this to fare any better. My original intent was to buy the 7 disc set of the Marx Bros (also just released), I grew faint-hearted near the deadline and canceled it and ordered the only 3 I wanted: Opera, Races and Casablanca. I think the first 5 "lost" Marx Bros movies (I have them on DVD and treasure them, all but Duck Soup, with a screenplay by one of their song-writing teams) are (so far) their funniest. Chaos, pandemonium, idiosyncrasies, personality. Either I was despondent when I watched this flick or else the Marx Bros' antics had worn thin for me. (I remember loving all their movies 30 years ago.) I was bored, saw what was supposed to be funny and didn't think it was. There were a few witty remarks, but those came from either Kaufman or Ryskind, not the Marx Bros. And on that subject, I never (at least not before The Solid Gold Cadillac) thought I'd ever watch or read a Kaufman play and not think it was hilarious. I did not think this was hilarious. The opera they featured at the end was Verdi's Il Trovatore, I don't like that opera anyway, particularly the mezzo gypsy song, particularly all of it. I thought the whole movie was watery, thin, dull and not the best of the Marxes, and not particularly funny. I just opened Casablanca. Tomorrow morning I'll take a crack at it, though I remember much of it now. I remember (and make the connection between that movie and this) that Harpo had gone from being an innocent who chases girls to a character who gets knocked around a lot by the heavies. I don't like the change. The characters, the (well, I said it already) idiosyncrasies and personalities of the brothers just weren't there in this movie. Sigh. I have 2 more to go.
Rating:
Summary: Some say their best.
Review: Although I think "Duck Soup" is the funniest movie ever made, "A Night at the Opera" is probably each of the brothers at their best. Groucho zings and sings to the dismay of anyone who is unlucky enough to provide him the opportunity. But in this movie, his timing and air are perfectly tuned to insult yet keep just a hair away from the mean side.
Harpo gives the villains expert come-up-ingness and goes from angelic to demonic with unadorned glee. He keeps the Grouch and Chic chemistry together seamlessly and of course plays wonderfully as always.
Chico is the toughest clown for me to figure out since he goes from comic to straight man and back again and you never know which one you're going to get. But in this movie his wit outshines them all, whether he's not going to believe in the "Sanity Claus" or if he's figuring out how to out-outwit Groucho in his take for being a manager.
All this and a story with some good singing by Kitty Carlyle and Allan Hale and Margaret Dumont dowages perfecly.
And two hard boiled eggs...
Rating:
Summary: By far the best of the Marx Brothers movies.
Review: An incredibly funny film, Groucho and the gang are really at their best here along with their old foil Margaret Dumont. One of the best sight gags of all time occurs when Mrs. Claypoole opens the door to Groucho's room aboard ship, really has to be seen to be appreciated.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT BAD, NOT GREAT
Review: EVERYBODY EXAGERATES HOW GOOD THIS MOVIE IS.IT IS NICE,WITH SOME EXELENT SCENES, BUT IT'S SATURATED WITH TERRIBLY LONG AND SLOW SONGS.IT SIMPLY ISN'T AS WILD,OUTRAGEOUS AND DINAMIC AS THE PARAMOUNT FILMS.WHILE YOU WATCH IT, ASK YOURSELF, IS IT AS GOOD AS "MONKEY BUSINESS" OR "DUCK SOUP? GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT.
Rating:
Summary: "How'd ya like to feel the way she looks?!"
Review: I agree with the unamed Northern CA viewer below who mentioned the importance of story and plot continuity- even when featuring the most screwball of comics. If "A Night At The Opera" is more sentimental and romantic than its Zeppo-ized predecessors, it's also less of a photographed vaudeville sketch show also. Many of the Marx Brothers' comic routines were first tried out on the Broadway stage, and the funniest ones were what ended up in their movies. But their earliest films were less plot-driven and more sketch-driven also. I appreciate the fact that in the case of "Opera," the writers took the time to integrate a plausible book and plot (financing for the opera and the 'big chance' for the singers) into the insane antics of the 3 Marxes. Just because they were a support system for two romantic leads doesn't mean they were any less broad, inventive, or hilarious. The crammed stateroom take and the wrecked opera are proof positive of this. And considering that Chico and Harpo performed musically in every film they did, I don't know that there is much more music in this one outside of the opera itself. It's a smash hit at barely 90 minutes.
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