It was Andrea's first Marx Brothers movie, A Night At the Opera. I haven't seen a Marx Brothers movie since college.
In Milan, Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho), business manager for wealthy dowager Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont), has arranged with Herman Gottlieb (Sig Ruman), director of the New York Opera Company, for Mrs. Claypool to invest $200,000 in the opera company, allowing Gottlieb to engage Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter Woolf King), the "greatest tenor since Caruso".
At the opera house in Milan, chorister Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones) is in love with the soprano, Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle), who is also being courted by Lassparri who angles to have Rosa cast as the female lead in Gottlieb's New York production.
Driftwood, Mrs. Claypool, Rosa, Lassparri and Gottlieb all set sail from Italy to New York aboard an ocean liner and if all this seems straightforward enough, that's because I'm not adding the anarchic bits involving characters played by Chico (Fiorello) and Harpo (Tomasso) Marx and various shenanigans that ensue. Not to mention that Groucho's Driftwood is in constant motion looking to con every dollar he can out of Mrs. Claypool.
Even if you've never seen A Night At the Opera, there's a good chance you have seen a clip of the stateroom scene.
Driftwood plans a rendezvous with Mrs. Claypool in his stateroom. Then he finds out how small it is (a third class cabin, about the size of a janitor's closet), and that he, his steamer trunk, and the bed barely fit in it. Driftwood discovers that Fiorello, Tomasso, and Ricardo have stowed away in his steamer trunk and discarded his clothes. Fiorello insists on eating ("We getta food or we don't go"). Driftwood calls a steward ("I say, Stew") and orders dinner.
Driftwood: And two medium-boiled eggs.
Fiorello: (inside room): And two hard-boiled eggs.
Driftwood: And two hard-boiled eggs.
Tomasso: (inside room): (honk)
Driftwood: Make that three hard boiled eggs.
This continues until Fiorello and Tomasso each have ordered about a dozen hard-boiled eggs and Driftwood has ordered about everything else.
Fiorello and Tomasso have to hide out in the room while a parade of people walk in, asking to either use the cabin, or to perform their regular duties. Crammed into this little space at the end of the scene are Driftwood, Fiorello, Tomasso, Ricardo, two cleaning ladies who make up the bed, a manicurist, a ship's engineer and his fat assistant, a girl passenger looking for her aunt, a maid (Maid: "I come to mop up." Driftwood: "You'll have to start on the ceiling.") and four waiters with trays of food.
Driftwood: "Is it my imagination, or is it getting crowded in here?").
All told, there are 15 people inside a room the size of a broom closet and all of them come tumbling out into the hallway when Mrs. Claypool opens the door.
A Night At the Opera also contains this classic scene as Driftwood and Fiorello discuss a contract.
Fiorello: Hey, wait, wait. What does this say here, this thing here?
Driftwood: Oh, that? Oh, that's the usual clause that's in every contract. That just says, uh, it says, uh, if any of the parties participating in this contract are shown not to be in their right mind, the entire agreement is automatically nullified.
Fiorello: Well, I don't know...
Driftwood: It's all right. That's, that's in every contract. That's, that's what they call a sanity clause.
Fiorello: Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You can't fool me. There ain't no Sanity Clause!
A Night At the Opera actually features real opera with scenes from I Pagliacci and Il Trovatore featuring Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones who were both trained opera singers. There's also a couple of big production song numbers with the song Alone, when the steamship leaves Italy, and the song Cosi Cosa at the Italian buffet.
These musical sequences do not involve the Marx Brothers and are played straight. That's a big risk for the ostensible stars of the movie to take a back seat to other performers. But given the kinetic nature of the brothers' comedy performances, these breaks are most welcome to give us a break before the next round of insanity begins.
There is a musical respite in the form of Harpo Marx who plays an extended solo number on a harp with a high level of practiced skill and talent.
But when Groucho and his brothers are on, they are a major laugh riot. Watching the Marx Brothers in action is like watching a live action Bugs Bunny cartoon.
OK, that's that for our weekend foray into classic cinema. In my next post, Andrea and I abscond from the Fortress of Ineptitude to see a movie of more recent vintage.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and also, there ain't no sanity clause.
Now go have a couple of hard boiled eggs.
HONK!
Make that three hard boiled eggs.
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