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Rating: Groucho: "do you accept tips?"
Waiter: "yes sir"
Groucho: "do you have 15 dollars in change?"
Waiter: "yes sir"
Groucho: "then you don't need the 10 cents I was going to give you!"
The cutting humor of the Marx brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, here for the first time without Zeppo) remains fresh after years, decades, it will be so even for centuries. After the pinnacle of their career ("Duck Soup", 1933, in Italian "La guerra lampo"), Sam Wood directs the three Marx brothers in the work that will give the title to the most famous Queen album, maintaining a very high comedic rhythm throughout the entire film, which remains enjoyable even in 2011, a good 76 years later; indeed, while many of Groucho and his brothers' films appear today as a discontinuous collection of brilliant gags interrupted by slow segments incompatible with the type of film we are now used to consuming, this is one of those rare occasions where no pauses are felt, the demented sequence of ideas remains compact, solid, a gem of non-sense, a monument to intelligent laughter.
Because a person's intelligence is primarily measured through their comedic and, above all, self-ironic sense. Otis T. Driftwood (Groucho) is a theatrical impresario who convinces the wealthy Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont, often referred to by Groucho himself as the "Marx sister") to invest a large sum of money in favor of the New York opera house to hire the greatest tenor of the moment, the gruff Rodolfo Lasspari (Walter Woolf King). Thanks to the antics of Fiorello (Chico), he ends up mistakenly hiring the extra Riccardo Baroni (Allan Jones, in the role that would have been Zeppo's), who is in love with the soprano Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle), and they all set sail for America. In the end, they all lived happily ever after.
After targeting their satirical cannons against militarism and the growing Nazi menace in Europe, here the Marx brothers unleash their usual ironic bite against the self-righteous society, its schemes, and instead celebrate the humble art, which often remains in the shadow of the big names chosen for the public. The roles are always the same: Groucho sarcastic and sharp, Chico silly and surreal, Harpo mute and unpredictable, Margaret Dumont the ideal cushion for any joke that comes to their minds ("I'm not a gold digger, when I heard Mrs. Claypool had 7 million dollars, I asked her to marry me, then when she said she had 8, I still didn't stop loving her!").
Here we have some of the most memorable moments from the Marx brothers' repertoire, like the contract signed between Groucho and Chico (similar to the letter to the lawyers of "Animal Crackers"), the ship cabin that keeps filling with people, Chico's nonsensical speech upon landing ("what should I say?" "that flying makes you crazy" "and if they don't believe it?" "start talking and you'll see they'll believe it..."), the usual big mess at the end as a release of their comedy, somewhat like the big brawl of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. In addition to the usual musical interlude where Chico entertains at the piano and Harpo at the harp (no coincidence, his stage name).
Dedicated to those who appreciate the truest form of comedy, the absolute comedic zero. I don't know what most people think, who perhaps know Groucho only as Dylan Dog's sidekick (but even that is something), but I tend to reflect a bit while watching "A Night at the Opera" again for the umpteenth time and simultaneously thinking that now we anxiously await the release of "The Hangover Part II" (although, perhaps, I'll watch it too).
Freddie Mercury had good taste, there's no denying it.
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