The Marx Brothers ended their Paramount contract with "Duck Soup" which is debatably considered their best film along with "A Night at the Opera" which began their tenure at MGM. Both are terrific in their own way, although "A Night at the Opera" has a bit too much high brow music included which may date it a bit. The premise has Groucho aiding wealthy matron Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont) into getting into society by being an opera sponsor. Kindly opera diva Kitty Carlisle can't stand her hideously nasty leading man Walter Woolf King who is initially seen abusing wardrobe assistant Harpo. A duet of "Alone" with unknown singer Allan Jones makes Carlisle try to push for him to join the New York City Opera, and Groucho arranges for Jones to stowaway. Of course with Ms. Dumont aboard the ship, this leads to the famous scene of Groucho's stateroom being overcrowded with hysterical results, and an equally insane opera sequence in the end where King gets his just rewards and Jones and Carlisle to get together.

There are so many incredible moments in this that are not plot related but they are so deliciously funny that they don't slow the film down at all. A big production number ("It's a Wonderful World", sung partly in Italian) performed by Allan Jones is as lavish as anything that MGM did in their musical department and gets even better when Chico (as Jones' agent) plays a very amusing version of "All I Do is Dream of You" which leads into Harpo's harp performance.

Like in "Monkey Business", Chico and Harpo are stowaways along with Allan Jones who has stepped in for the retired Zeppo, and once again, they've got a very funny way of getting off the ship without being caught. This leads to villain Walter Woolf King going out of his way to get them arrested and thus prevent Jones fron taking over. But the Marx Brothers and their pals have ways of getting out of a jam, taking down the snobs in the process. This is classic farce at its best, and even with dated material, it still stands the test of time.