Sam Wood: A Night at the Opera (1935)

The Marx Brothers made several films before the 1935 'A Night at the Opera' -film. Some of those based on stage productions and some were written for screen. This film was the first film made for MGM and the producer had his demands...

And it was good. Groucho, Chico and Harpo were all great and the movie stayed in pieces. This was also the first picture with just three of five brothers. The two younger brothers (Zeppo and Gummo) were on stage in early years and Zeppo were in the first five films. They both build a career in talent agency.


In this film the brothers are not so anarchic. The producer thought that it made them a bit unsympathetic. Perhaps that was a wise move? Anyway this film is luckily as funny as the best of their early works are.

Bernardo Bertolucci: Last Tango in Paris (1973)

Bernardo Bertolucci is an interesting auteur who has done some fine movies and then... some not so great. But. He is a true Moviemaker!

'Last Tango in Paris'/'Ultimo tango a Parigi'. This film was huge succes in its time and it brought wonderful Marlon Brando once again in public. (At the same time with Coppola's 'Godfather' (1972).) And Brando is of course magnificent. The story goes that Brando refused to memorize his lines and instead of that made his own and hanged them in cards around the set.

For co-players playing with Brando is not a nice thing. Brando takes his room. No one remember Jean-Pierre Léaud, Truffaut's alter ego, from this movie. And then there was Maria Schneider. Everybody wrote about the plot and directing, filming, music or Brando for good reasons but not a word about Maria Schneider. And that was so wrong... I felt in love with Maria in those days and I thought that she was great in this movie. And so she was!