The most entertaining this to me about early Hollywood movies, which I define as pre-1939, since that the first really big year I can point to, is that they are still trying to figure out what a movie is. How long should they be? What should the plot structure look like? How talky should they be? Should they be like filmed plays or spectacles that couldn’t be reproduced live? It’s exciting seeing people make the rules. Ultimately, I don’t catch up on that many early films because I don’t enjoy sifting through the failed experiments, but one day, I’d like to be one of those people. I think of this because A Night at the Opera is a kind of movie where they’re still figuring things out. It’s a normal feature length. There’s a loose plot, but it’s mainly a series of Marx Brothers vignettes. It’s a fun movie though it does feel a little thin.
Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend
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