[Revisit Review]
It might be sacrilege, but I have to say it: Sam Wood's A Night at the Opera isn't very good. Though the film does contain some of the Marx Brothers' best work (and let's be honest: even mediocre Marx Brothers is worth the cost of admission), the film fails to come together as a whole. MGM wouldn't get their Marx Brothers formula down right until their next film, A Day at the Races (1937). The neutering of the Brothers' anarchic spirit, the addition of too many sappy musical numbers, the abrupt start (obviously a symptom of the film being re-edited by the studio during World War Two), and the bizarre choice to make the Brothers almost supporting characters in their own movie make A Night at the Opera an average film. And average isn't good enough for the Marx Brothers.
7/10
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