A Night at the Opera

A Night at the Opera (1935)

11 mistakes - chronological order

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Continuity mistake: When Driftwood enters the stateroom for the first time, he dances into the room, with his cigar is in his mouth, but in the next shot, showing Driftwood still dancing into the room, his cigar is in his hand. (00:31:10)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Harpo is climbing out of the brig and goes to the open window of the famous aviators, he is shown climbing in the room from the outside with the rope he's climbing on draped across his chest. When he gets into the room the rope has disappeared!

Continuity mistake: In the contract scene towards the beginning, Groucho and Chico, after the second part, start tearing away subsequent parts without reading them aloud. They tear off one because Chico doesn't like it (the third), one because Groucho won't like it (the fourth), and two because Groucho's word is not good enough for Chico (the fifth and sixth). At this point they should be at the seventh part, but when Groucho reads again he begins with "the party of the eighth part..."

Continuity mistake: When Gottlieb discovers Driftwood in his opera box and the latter escapes by climbing to another, Gottlieb leans against the wall and calls him a "Schweinhund." The shot then cuts to the orchestra, but the box (with Mrs. Claypool in it) is still visible and Gottlieb has somehow vanished.

Plot hole: When the three Marx Brothers are causing mayhem at the performance of "Il Trovatore," although we see scenes from several different acts of the opera, there seems to have been no intermission (or all the trouble would have gotten sorted out then, instead of at the end). You have to be at least a little familiar with "Il Trovatore" to notice this.

Continuity mistake: When Groucho tells Chico that he wants to hire the singer his cigar is in his mouth. A shot later it disappears.

Sacha

Audio problem: After Chico and Harpo first meet there's a man at the opera playing a drum. Not only is he out of sync with the sound we hear, but he is mimicking the blows.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During the first scene where Groucho and Claypool seat back-to-back, the chairs are sometimes right next to each other or in different positions.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During the crowded cabin scene, Harpo puts his foot on the manicure's tray. In the close-up, the tray has turned 180ยบ, note the position of the bowl.

Sacha

Otis B. Driftwood: Signor Lassparri comes from a very famous family. His mother was a well-known bass singer. His father was the first man to stuff spaghetti with bicarbonate of soda, thus causing and curing indigestion at the same time.

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