Otis B. Driftwood: You didn't happen to see my suit in there, did you?
Fiorello: Yeah, it was taking up too much room, so we sold it.
Otis B. Driftwood: Did you get anything for it?
Fiorello: Uh...dollar forty.
Otis B. Driftwood: That's my suit all right.
Otis B. Driftwood: And now, on with the opera. Let joy be unconfined. Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons, and necking in the parlor.
My first Marx Brothers movie! Very exciting. Firstly, because they are so famous. Secondly, because now I know what the RiffTrax guys mean when they compare Jasper to Harpo.
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| Harpo Marx and Jasper from Twilight. |
These guys (Grouch, Harpo and Chico star in this movie) are extremely talented, almost scarily so. Watching Harpo play the piano and then the harp so astoundingly well is amazing.
Don't hate me, but this type of humor is not up my alley. It's too slapstick to me. Reminds me a little of Charlie Chaplin. I can appreciate the talent, but it doesn't make me laugh. That's not to say it's not funny. Tyler finds these guys hilarious. Their shticks are well thought out and executed, with a lot of physical comedy. Groucho is very witty. My step-dad astutely compared him to Alan Alda in MASH, and I can definitely see the similarities (I prefer Alan Alda, though). Here are a few Hawkeye Pierce from MASH quotes and a few Otis B. Driftwood from A Night at the Opera quotes:
Hawkeye Pierce: I'd vouch for this man's character, Lieutenant, but he doesn't have any.
Otis B. Driftwood: I saw Mrs. Claypool first. Of course, her mother really saw her first but there's no point in bringing the Civil War into this.
Frank Burns: Can't you ever be serious?
Hawkeye Pierce: I tried it once, but everybody laughed.
Lassparri: Never in my life have I received such treatment. They threw an apple at me.
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, watermelons are out of season.
Margaret Houlihan: [having appendix problems] Pulse is rapid, temperature's up. I can't stand it anymore.
Hawkeye Pierce: I'm ready. Your tent or my father's Chevy?
Mrs. Claypool: Get off that bed. What would people say?
Otis B. Driftwood: They'd probably say you're a very lucky woman.
This particular Marx Brothers movie sees Groucho trying to make money off his favorite dowager (Margaret Dumont, also featured in Duck Soup, which will be reviewed later and is the better movie in my opinion). Meanwhile, Harpo and Chico try to get to America by stowing away in Groucho's trunk along with lovestruck tenor, Ricardo, who wants to join the lovely opera singer, Rosa, in New York. It all ends with a night of lunacy at the opera house. You have to suspend disbelief if you want to enjoy it, because none of it makes any sense whatsoever.
Overall, tone of this movie just reminds me a little too much of watching Looney Tunes when I was kid. I end up furrowing my eyebrows and wondering when the hijinks will end.
Check it out (or Duck Soup), because I think it's good for all film buffs to see one Marx Brothers movie, and now I can proudly say I have.
This post brings to mind a quote from a last year's Oscar winner, Argo:
Lester Siegel: The saying goes, "What starts in farce ends in tragedy."
John Chambers: No, it's the other way around.
Lester Siegel: Who said that exactly?
John Chambers: Marx [Referring to Karl Marx].
Lester Siegel: Groucho said that?
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