Style Change
A Night at the Opera began a new era for the Marx Brothers' style of comedy. Whereas their previous comedies at Paramount Pictures consisted of a constant barrage of zany, free-for-all jokes sandwiched in between something resembling a plot, A Night at the Opera was calculated comedy. Producer Irving Thalberg insisted on a strong story structure, making the Brothers more sympathetic characters, interweaving their comedy with romantic plots and non-comic spectacular musical numbers. The targets of their mischief were largely confined to clear villains. Thalberg's logic was that the Marxes could get "twice the box office with half the laughs," believing their films would attract a wider audience.
Another idea of Thalberg's was that before filming would commence on an upcoming picture, the Marx Brothers would try out its material on the vaudeville stage, working on comic timing and learning what earned a laugh and what did not. He was keen to plant gags accordingly so the laughs could be timed correctly. Interestingly enough, the famous "stateroom" scene was nearly eliminated because it was not getting any laughs. One evening the Marx Brothers threw away the script and ad-libbed the whole thing. As a result, a weak scene was transformed into one of their all-time classics.
In A Night at the Opera, the Brothers' characters were refined. Groucho made more sense, and less trouble. Chico gained intelligence, and Harpo regressed into more of a child. The film dives straight into a plot and accompanying comedy, with every scene having a definitive beginning, middle, and end. The end consisted of a grand finale in traditional MGM musical fashion, something lacking from the Brothers' Paramount efforts, which would consist of gag upon gag without a satisfactory payoff.
Perhaps most notably, A Night at the Opera established a formula that would be used for every subsequent film the Marx Brothers made at MGM:
- opening scene with Groucho
- a friendship created between the romantic hero and Chico
- Chico and Groucho going through several verbal routines
- Harpo joining as Chico's partner
- lush surroundings as a backdrop to the Brothers' lunacy
- a fall from grace
- a rebound on a grand scale in which everything is righted
Read more about this topic: A Night At The Opera (film)
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