Monday, 28 September 2026 at 9 pm
Directed by: Sam Wood / Edmund Goulding
b/w, 91 min, USA, 1935
Manager Otis B. Driftwood introduces his client, the wealthy widow Mrs. Claypool, to Herman Gottlieb, the director of the New York Opera, and persuades her to invest $200,000 in the opera house. The financial injection allows Gottlieb to hire the famous Italian tenor Rodolfo Rasspalli, who is rumoured to be the greatest tenor since Caruso. In the opera house itself, a young chorus singer, Ricardo Baroni, is also hired; he is in love with the soprano Rosa Castaldi, whom Rasspalli is courting…
After the film Duck Soup and the expiry of their contract with Paramount, the Marx Brothers founded their own production company, but they nevertheless made their next two films, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races, under another prestigious Hollywood major, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The chief producer there was the creatively talented Irving Thalberg who, unlike the brothers' previous, anarchoid films, insisted on a more coherent narrative and on the more likeable traits of the characters the brothers played. He also insisted on a romantic subplot, non-comedic musical numbers and gags at the expense of the obvious villains, rather than the system institutions the brothers had primarily favoured.
A Night at the Opera is a satire on the world of opera, and includes the famous scene with a crowd of people in a tiny ship's cabin. The romantic subplot and musical interludes were seen by many as an unnecessary distraction from the film's comedic focus, but in any case, A Night at the Opera was a commercial success and also gained artistic acclaim, as best demonstrated by the fact that it was included in the United States National Film Registry in 1993. It is also worth mentioning that the film is notable for being the last film in which Zeppo Marx appeared. included it in its National Film Registry as a work of special cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance. It is also notable for being the first of their films without Zeppo Marx, as he had left the brothers.
Commentary by: Damir Radić
Tickets for the screening on 28 September 2026 at 9 pm can be purchased online HERE, as well as at the Surogatkino KIC box office one hour before the start.