A NIGHT AT THE (SOAP) OPERA – Act IV
As the curtain rises on Act IV, we pick up where we left off in Act III:
We’ve come at long last to the denouement (aka the point in the presentation where it’s time to wrap up the plot before the popcorn runs out): Fiorello and Tomasso abduct and gag lead tenor Alasprairie during the onstage uproar and take him to a site out of sight, where he’s fit to be tied. Gottliebchen is in a bind: a replacement tenor is needed to quiet the affronted audience, as well as those seated in the rear. Ricardo Macaroni happens to be handy. Gottliebchen gives in. Ricardo and the lovely Rosa Grossa sing an aria. The audience is enthralled. Miraculously, everything has worked out in….
THE END?
But as we all know, it’s not the end until the fat lady sings — a requisite which is unaccountably missing in this opera. Fortunately for our fannies, the fat lady who doesn’t sing in this opera did sing to end this earlier opera, which will serve our purpose here:
Now that’s what I call leaving on borrowed time.
mlrover 8:58 am on February 16, 2020 Permalink |
I love that they aimed the fruit over her head. My favorite was always when Harpo played.
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mistermuse 10:56 am on February 16, 2020 Permalink |
Harpo’s playing always provided just the right balance of “catch-our-breath” between what would otherwise have been non-stop zaniness — not to mention that his playing was excellent in itself.
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tubularsock 1:50 pm on February 16, 2020 Permalink |
Tubularsock loved that as well and found it interesting how she showed such confidence they’d miss. Wonder how many times they had to run through that without a mistake hit.
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mistermuse 9:23 pm on February 16, 2020 Permalink
They did hit their initial target (Trentino) several times without noticeable effect before turning their attention to her, so I suspect that the “fruit” was made of something relatively soft (I was going to say foam rubber, but I checked and found that foam rubber wasn’t invented until 1937 — 3 years after DUCK SOUP was filmed). In any case, it does look like they missed her on purpose.
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magickmermaid 6:17 pm on February 16, 2020 Permalink |
The Marx Brothers were unequaled! Still just as funny today. 🙂
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mistermuse 9:43 pm on February 16, 2020 Permalink |
Absolutely! And A NIGHT AT THE OPERA lends itself perfectly to being satirized like a soap opera. I can’t think of another film which could as easily “inspire” the writing of these posts.
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masercot 8:22 am on February 17, 2020 Permalink |
Just leave out the sanity clause next time…
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mistermuse 5:02 pm on February 17, 2020 Permalink |
I think Trump has already removed all sanity clauses.
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JosieHolford 8:45 pm on February 18, 2020 Permalink |
Not for nothing they were known as comic genius.
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barkinginthedark 10:26 pm on February 19, 2020 Permalink |
love the Marx bros…the first Beatles. continue…
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mistermuse 12:58 am on February 20, 2020 Permalink |
I guess you could make that comparison, though I’ve never thought of the Beatles’ films in that way before.
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