At the Circus (1939)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The first Marx Brothers film produced by MGM after the death of Irving Thalburg, their prior MGM producer and mentor. It's often been written that their last 3 MGM pictures don't remotely measure up to their first two, nor their 5 films at Paramount. I think this criticism is largely unjustified. Sure, lots of things don't make any sense, but that's the Marx Brothers for you, not to mention many other comedians. Ask the kids whether they like these films any less. If you basically like the Marx Brothers, give this one a shot, despite some rather minor failings.Jeff Wilson(Kenny Baker) is in big trouble. He's mortgaged his circus to a loan shark for $10,000., and the lender demands full payment within a few days, or he will lose the circus. Jeff can't ask a loan from his superwealthy widowed aunt,Mrs. Dukesbury,(Margaret Dumont)because she considers circuses low class entertainment, and has disinherited him for that reason. Jeff miraculously comes up with the $10,000. from his patrons, but it's stolen by henchmen of the lender(Mr. Carter). The brothers try various methods of recovering the money, but to no avail. Thus, when Groucho learns of the existence of wealthy Mrs. Dukesbury, he rushes to her mansion, brazenly sidesteps the doorman, and enters her bedroom. He finagles her into giving him $10,000. to provide the entertainment for her huge society dinner, substituting Jeff's circus for her choice of a French orchestra. Later, when she sees the circus set up on her lawn while the guests are eating, she faints, assuming that the guests will think ill of her. But the guests like the substitution until one of Carter's henchmen lets the gorilla(man in a gorilla suit) out of its cage to terrorize the guests. The gorilla chases the goon and the brothers up ropes to trapezes. After much excitement, the gorilla has a pleasant surprise for Jeff and friends. In the music department, Groucho sings his famous "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady". Harpo plays the familiar "Blue Moon" on his harp, and Chico plays "Beer Barrel Polka" on the piano. Kenny Baker and/or Florence Rice, the obligatory romantic young couple, sing "Two Blind Loves", and "Step Up and Take a Bowl". Harpo and an African American troupe sing or dance to "Swingali". Some reviewers complain that the musical numbers are poor and intrusive of the comedy. I don't see it that way. "The Wizard of Oz" was being produced at about the same time. The composers of the present film ,Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, were hustled over to the "Oz" set to compose "Över the Rainbow", etc., before the present film was finished. Nonetheless, they did compose all the new music for the present film. Also, Jerry Marengli, who played "The Little Professor", would play one of the lead munchkins in the "Öz".One of the fascinating things for me was Eve Arden and Groucho hanging upside down from the ceiling, supposedly being held by suction cups on the bottoms of their shoes. I don't see how this could have been faked, but I can't believe those rather small suction cups could reliably hold that much weight. Fred Astaire supposedly danced on the ceiling and walls of his room in "Royal Wedding". They had a revolving room to allow this accomplishment.Eve Arden's pseudonym: Peerless Pauline, presumably was derived from one of the pseudonyms of Pauline White, who made many film shorts 15-25 years earlier, concerning various dare devil and acrobatic stunts. Betty Hutton would star in the later film "The Perils of Pauline".Net Pendleton, who played Goliath, was a professional wrestler early in his career before switching to acting. He usually played tough guys, good or bad. He was a football player in the Marx film "Horsefeathers". Margaret Dumont, a very frequent player in the Marx films, is at her funniest in this film, I believe. Sure, she could easily be accused of overacting, but it makes her funnier and more distinctive.

'At the Circus' is without a doubt one of the Brother's lesser films if we are comparing it to the heights of their career. It's a odd picture which I don't think really understood the talents of the Marx Brothers and how to best utilize them to their full effect. The Brothers are always entertaining and always have their moments but 'At the Circus' does not put them in the best positions to deliver their humor. It mainly has to do with the thin plot but also MGM's insistence on molding the Brothers to their formula.One does not go into the Marx Brothers films to enjoy a gripping narrative. In all honesty it can be argued if the Marx Brothers films were ever really about anything. The Marx Brothers are always about a formula and rhythm. The formula was chaos. The Brothers are at their best when they upset the established order and ridicule snobby figures who think they have great dignity. Stefan Kanfer makes an excellent point in his biography of Groucho that 'At the Circus' is crippled by the fact that the circus is a lowbrow dirty place. The Brothers don't really loudly stand out. The picture has some nice moments in the circus. Harpo has fun pantomiming a strongman act and Chico and Groucho have a great bit about finding an incriminating cigar but the humor in the first part of the film isn't bold and it isn't loud. It's just a lot of standard fare. It just seems really sort of odd to place the Marx Brothers at a place like the circus. They are at their best when they cause chaos with the upper classes. I say this but the movie eventually has the good sense to bring Margaret Dumont back into the picture. When Groucho goes to Margaret Dumont's mansion it is as good as ever. And I can't blast the circus setting entirely. The Marx Brothers actually had the audacity to blast her out of a cannon at the end of it.The mixed bag is that this is an MGM production. MGM was the gold standard of Hollywood at this time and it does have moments where it helps 'At the Circus'. The set pieces are all huge and the scope is far bigger than the arguably superior Paramount pictures. Groucho and the boys would never have been able to play with a huge Circus and have a floating bandstand in an earlier film. The trade off is the love story that Irving Thalberg insisted had to be included in every Marx film. The problem is Thalberg is in his grave by this point. I think even he would admit that Kenny Baker and Florence Rice's duet of 'Two Blind Loves' was nightmarishly sugary. The Marx Brothers are always entertaining even in a lesser effort. 'At the Circus' is really middle of the road. They made worse movies. Personally I prefer seeing Groucho torment Margaret Dumont or Sig Ruman at the height of his skill with a more subversive edge. See 'Night at the Opera' instead which is what 'At the Circus' aspired to be.

The Marx Brothers themselves are a maniacal circus, so it is only fitting that they would be the stars of the MGM feature "At the Circus", and for a latter-day Marx Bros. film, this one is very good, in my opinion. Groucho as usual is uninhibited with wordplay, sexual innuendo, and insults for his consistent foil Margaret Dumont (but try not to be distracted by Groucho's awful hairpiece). Bearing the snazzy name of J. Cheever Loophole, Groucho supposedly portrays an attorney hired to help a traveling circus recover its stolen income. As circus employees, Harpo and Chico are allotted plenty of opportunities to apply their unique brands of comedy. And the two romantic leads, played by Kenny Baker (as Jeff Wilson, circus owner) and Florence Rice (as Julie Randall, performer) are very likable, except for that really corny musical number called "Two Blind Loves" that they sing together ("Step Up and Take a Bow" is considerably better). The rest of the cast, like the circus itself, is quite colorful.Probably the greatest highlight of "At the Circus" is Groucho's vocalizing one of his most beloved standbys for the remainder of his career: "Lydia the Tattooed Lady"! As you listen to Groucho (as Mr. Loophole) sing the tune, notice how everyone else around him (particularly Harpo) joins in the barrel of fun. Other highlights: Did I just say "barrel"? Well, Chico (as Antonio "Tony" Ferrelli) provides his one-of-a-kind ivory-tickling rendition of the Beer Belly, er, the Beer Barrel Polka, complete with his hard-to-resist smile and wink to the camera. (It amazes me that Chico was able to smile at all, what with the enormous wads of cash he blew away with his compulsive gambling.) Punchy (Harpo) plays checkers while a friendly seal "coaches" him. Loophole and Antonio go through a badge bit at the train station, during which the puns & horseplay never stop. While Loophole is trying to trap a cigar-smoking little person into a confession, Antonio is too dimwitted to realize that he is bungling Loophole's plan. The wild rope/trapeze chase at the end (to the musical accompaniment of "Tiger Rag") is hilarious, particularly with Gibraltar the gorilla starting the whole commotion. And although African-Americans today would be outraged seeing people of their race degrading themselves in this film, I must admit that "Swingali" is not a bad jazz number.A few gags in "At the Circus" don't really work, particularly the lengthy sequence of Tony and Punchy searching a bedroom belonging to an arrogant muscle man, but not to worry. For anybody who enjoys a good circus, this Marx Bros. film is a special treat, as sweet as the lemonade we might sip with all the popcorn.

I love the Marx Brothers, but that doesn't mean all their films are gems. By the end of the 1930s, their best pictures were all behind them. Although still entertaining, they slipped a bit in quality. This is one example, except I would still rate it as "decent" (hence, the '5' rating).One thing for sure: the comedy was a lot better than the music, although that was usually the case in most of their movies....but more so here. Even though I got my share of laughs, most the gags in this movie come in 5-10-minute "bits" and many of them go on too long. I still Chico provides the best humor among the boys. Except for "Lydia, The Tattooed Lady," the songs in here are weak and there are too many of them.Silly, but still fun to watch, generally-speaking. I just skip through most of the songs.