Their adventures as impostors, stowaways and hunted madmen progress to a delirious climax at a performance of "Il Trovatore" in what is evidently intended to be the Metropolitan. Harpo, the mischievous pixie, is up to his old habit of getting in everybody's way. Chico is managing an ambitious Italian tenor against the tenor's will and better judgment. Groucho, you see, is a phony musical impresario who has attached himself to a dignified lady in the hope of separating her from a portion of her $8,000,000. You will discover the answer at the Capitol: the Marx Brothers weren't in them.The Marxist assault on grand opera makes a shambles of that comparatively sacred institution. You may have wondered what the trouble has been with the operatic films. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind have given them a resounding slapstick to play with and they wield it with maniacal delight.Even when their gags sound as if they were carved out of Wheeler and Woolsey with an axe, the boys continue to be rapturously mad.
If "A Night at the Opera" is a trifle below their best, it is also considerably above the standard of laughter that has been our portion since they quit the screen. The merry Marx boys, whittled down from a quartet to a trio, have arrived in town with the loudest and funniest screen comedy of the Winter season.
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