The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.
Writing
Groucho's insults are weaponized poetry. 'You big bulb!'
Practical Effects
The stateroom scene: 15 people in a closet, zero CGI.
Acting
Harpo's silent chaos speaks louder than dialogue.
Director
Sam Wood
Groucho Marx
Otis B. Driftwood
Chico Marx
Fiorello
Harpo Marx
Tomasso
Kitty Carlisle
Rosa
Allan Jones
Ricardo Barroni
Sig Ruman
Gottlieb
Walter Woolf King
Lassparri
Robert Emmett O'Connor
Henderson
Margaret Dumont
Mrs. Claypool
Edward Keane
Captain
Evelyn Selbie
The Fortune Teller in 'Trovatore' (uncredited)
Purnell Pratt
The Mayor of New York (uncredited)
Jonathan Hale
The Stage Manager (uncredited)
Otto Fries
Otto the Elevator Operator (uncredited)
Gino Corrado
First Porter (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The staterroom scene was meticulously timed to 6 minutes of perfectly choreographed chaos—Wood filmed it in one day after weeks of rehearsal.
This was the Marx Brothers' first MGM film after Paramount; Irving Thalberg insisted on a coherent plot and romantic subplot, which ironically made their anarchic comedy hit harder. The 'lesser' Marx films that followed lost this balance.
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