Three quarters of a century on now, we can safely say the Marx Brothers will always be funny. Only a comedic Scrooge can suppress a chuckle when Groucho rolls his googly eyes toward a pompous waiter and queries from beneath his painted-on moustache, “Do you have any milk-fried chicken?  Good, then squeeze the milk out of one and bring me a glass.” 

...Or when silent Harpo stands before a mirror, unhinges the jaw on his rubber face, and waits, arms spread wide, for operatic sound to pour forth ... Or when Chico, in his hammy Italian accent, claims to be a stranger to Italy, unable to pronounce local names. 

These are all dynamite  ham ups from their 1935 classic, A Night at the Opera—which is playing at the U. District's quirky independent cinema house at the North end of the Ave, the Grand Illusion.

Rosa and Ricardo are two young opera singers. They are deeply in love, but Ricardo needs a chance to prove his talents and get out from the chorus onto center stage, where the mad egotist Lassparri is stealing all the attention and trying to steal Rosa’s affections. The Marx Brothers aid the two young lovers, in part by wreaking hijinks havoc at an opening night performance.

I should add, A Night at the Opera is looking timeless 74 years later because it's so timely. 1935 was a year of sharp economic distress worldwide, and it shows.  “How many men do you suppose are drawing a handsome salary these days?” asks Groucho. 

Later, he and Chico tear up a contract piece by piece because of its arcane capitalist language: “The party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the party of the first part.”  “’At’s a no good!” 

This and other jabs at the financial industry and government provide a nice reminder that we’ve had it worse before, and it was okay to laugh about it then.