“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.”

Released in 1935, A Night at the Opera was an instant success and provided a perfect comeback vehicle for the iconic comedy team, who provided a steady stream of gags that kept audiences rolling in the aisles from beginning to end. It was the answer to Duck Soup, a film that (it is hard to believe, looking back) was considered a failure at the time. The result of this disappointment was a parting between the Marx Brothers and Paramount, and a new beginning with MGM and the legendary Irving Thalberg who allowed them creative control. And with a script by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, the brothers proceeded to ensure that every bit of comic timing was worked out to perfection beforehand.

They accomplished this by taking the whole show on the road before filming, honing each bit in front of a live audience while the scriptwriters looked on, taking notes and rewriting incessantly until they were left with a finely polished jewel. And once it was as good as they could possibly make it, that’s when the actual shooting of the film began. This manner of refined pre-production helped the Marx Brothers create a film that has withstood the test of time and become a true comedic classic.

In the film, Groucho takes on the role of a huckster named Otis P. Driftwood, who has taken on the task of trying to convert the wealthy Mrs. Claypool (Marx Brothers mainstay, Margaret Dumont) into a Milan, Italy socialite. To serve his purposes, he convinces Mrs. Claypool to invest $200K into the New York Opera Company. Herman Gottlieb, the Opera’s stuffy owner, takes the cash and proceeds to hire an overbearing Italian tenor named Rodolpho Lassparri. While Rodolpho has his romantic sites set on a beautiful soprano named Rosa, her interests lie in a member of the show’s chorus, the dashing Riccardo Baroni.

Driftwood mistakes Riccardo as the famous Lassparri and proceeds to sign the lad to a contract, through his agent, Fiorello (Chico.) This leads to the now-famous exchange, "The party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the party of the first part" With the contract finally negotiated, Driftwood, Claypool, Gottlieb, Lassparri and Rosa all proceed to sail back to New York, unaware of three additional stowaways – Fiorello, Riccardo and a dresser (stagehand) that was recently fired by Lassparri. All of this culminates with a visit by the three to Driftwood’s room, followed by a plethora of crew members in what has come to be known as the classic “stateroom scene” Musical numbers and other madcap antics ensue before the whole herd finally arrives in New York, leading up to the climax where Driftwood, Tomasso and Fiorello proceed to inflame the local police, wreck the opera in the process, then somehow, after all is said and done, save the day – all in one evening. Whew.

If all of this seems heavy on the confusion and light on the comedy, all that can be said is that it simply needs to be seen to be truly appreciated. Descriptions simply cannot due justice without the comic genius of the Marx Brothers to fill in all the gaps. And A Night at the Opera has never failed audiences with its unique brand of zany humor – not in 1935 and not to this day. It was a hit from the time it was originally released and continues to serve as one of the finest representations of Marx Brothers humor - a legendary comedy whose iconic status is assured through history.