Topic: At the Circus (1939) The Marx Brothers

[metaldams]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KUWfVx3A67M

      I plan on watching and reviewing this film on Saturday and will edit it into this spot, but as a warm up, I found a clip of Groucho on the Dick Cavett Show from 1969 discussing a funny story with the gorilla suit in AT THE CIRCUS and the performing "Lydia the Tatooed Lady."  It's a fun clip, I hope you all enjoy and have a Happy New Year.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031060/?ref_=nv_sr_1




https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXx6NBt2Cc

Trailer


      OK, it's Saturday, now for the review!  Overall, AT THE CIRCUS is a good but not great movie.  I still maintain every Marx Brothers movie is worth seeing and they never made a turkey, but they obviously had some periods that are stronger than others, and AT THE CIRCUS is not the brothers' strongest period.  The big let down in this film, though, is the romantic couple.  It's not that the the romantic couples of previous films are the reason why we watch The Marx Brothers, but in the first two MGM films, at least the romantic couples act like adults.  Kenny Baker and Florence Rice are given the most wishy-washy parts, and I want to throw projectiles at the screen during "Two Blind Loves."  The, worst part, however, is later in the film when Kenny Baker states he will think about his girl for six days a week, look for work on a Sunday knowing he won't find it that day so he can dream about her for another six days.  Hey guys, become unemployed, find a girl, and use that line on her, we'll see how far it gets you.  A perfect example of what I mean when I say they don't act like adults.  The best part of the romantic couple is earlier on when Florence Rice is doing that stupid musical number with the horse, and Eve "Peerless Pauline" Arden made a derogatory remark about the number and sneered when Kenny Baker said the audience seems to enjoy a number with a horse.  Ms. Arden is supposed to be playing the villain, but from that point forward, she became a hero in my eyes.  She speaks for me!

      OK, enough negativity about the romantic couple, there is still a lot of fun Marx Brothers stuff.  Speaking of Ms. Arden, her scene with Groucho as they walk on the ceiling is a classic.  I love the barely concealed little cat and mouse game they play with one another trying to get the pocketbook full of money.  The part where Ms. Arden sticks the pocketbook in her bosom gives Groucho the opportunity to wonder how he will get it without offending The Hays Office is one of my all-time favorites, and much later on, Shemp will wonder the same thing with Jean Willes in GYPPED IN THE PENTHOUSE. 

      The scene in the midget's house is a lot of fun too, starting with Groucho trying to act tough and physically threaten the much smaller host.  I think that's the only time I ever saw Groucho act tough, which in this case, speaks wonders of his character.  The bit where Chico is too dumb to realize Groucho is trying to get a cigar out of the midget so he keeps offering his own cigars is wonderfully milked, and Harpo sneezes at the end, the impact destroying the furniture in the little house.  I have to wonder, is that Harpo's real sneeze, or someone else's?

      The scene where Chico and Harpo are in the strongman's bedroom is fun for the amount of destruction against the room, but I really have to suspend my belief that they wouldn't get caught.  I'm willing to do so, just as I am later in the film when the entire circus tent can be set up on a front lawn without anybody noticing.  The final circus scene is fun.  I usually hate back screen faked slapstick comedy after I've been spoiled by the realistic chases of prime Keaton and Lloyd, and back screen faked slapstick comedy is what we get here.  However, I will make an exception because I find Margaret Dumont being tossed out of a cannon and screaming endlessly as she's on a trapeze getting her skirt pulled down to be absolutely hysterical.  There's something so funny about seeing her portray roles where she loses dignity, she's a Marx Sister as far as I'm concerned.

      Harpo again has his African American following, the musical numbers not being quite as entertaining as in A DAY AT THE RACES, but as an old Elvis fan, I did notice Harpo's solo was of "Blue Moon," a song Elvis did in his early Sun days.  Pretty cool.

      Finally, I have to mention "Lydia the Tattooed Lady."  They managed to squeeze a Paramount style song into an MGM film, and the world, and Groucho's career, is better for it.  I love the number, but it must have come across much differently to 1939 audiences than a modern one.  In 1939, a tattooed lady was an oddity, something you'd see at, well, the circus!  These days, it's impossible not to find one.  I'm in my mid thirties and just about every women in my life has some ink on her, and I imagine for guys younger than me it's even more so the case!  You can't avoid it these days, so like I say, the impact of the song then as opposed to now is much different.  It was also a little risqué for the time, having to imagine where to look on Lydia to see all these world wonders.  A fun number overall in spite of the changing times.

      I like AT THE CIRCUS overall, it just doesn't measure up to the several movies that preceded it.

7/10

[Larrys#1]

This movie is ok, but not the greatest. The one funny part in this film that I like is when Groucho is asking Atom for a cigar in order to obtain evidence and Chico keeps messing things up by offering his cigar. Another funny part is the beginning part with Groucho and Chico where Chico won't let Groucho in the train unless he "gotta the badge." The musical numbers are starting to get more romancy, but the "Lydia" musical number was quite enjoyable. Just goes to show that musical numbers do work if they're comical and not romantic. And I don't know about anyone else, but Groucho's wig looks a bit ridiculous. He will continue to wear it in the next film until he finally decides to ditch it in THE BIG STORE. Of course, the wig doesn't make me like or hate this movie more, but it's just a very weird thing I noticed. I suspect Groucho was getting self conscious about his receding hairline, but then later on, he finally was like "screw it" and just accepted the fact that he's going bald.

Overall, an ok movie, but would've been better without the romantic story on the side.

8/10

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Do I understand correctly that this, Go West and The Big Store were all box-office duds?

[metaldams]

Do I understand correctly that this, Go West and The Big Store were all box-office duds?

      I don't know if they were flat out bombs or not, but I do know they were not as successful as their first two MGM films.  ROOM SERVICE, according to Wikipedia, lost a little bit of money, but that's due to what RKO had to pay the brothers as well as the rights to the play itself.

      Anybody else have info on the box office of the final three MGM's?  My search came up blank.

Edit:  Found something.  Here's a quote from Wikipedia about THE BIG STORE, which doesn't bode well for the previous two films.

"The film made a profit of only $33,000. Nonetheless, it was among the more profitable Marx Brothers films of this time."

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

That answers the question, I think.  In Hollywood it's tough to make a profit of less than $33K.

[Seamus]

Man, this one is pretty dire.  You guys do an admirable job working up some qualified praise for this one, but almost nothing about AT THE CIRCUS worked for me.  Most of the comedy scenes (when we finally start getting some actual comedy about 15 minutes in) were pretty weak by Marx standards.  The badge scene, the cigar scene, and the scene with Chico and Harpo searching the strong man's room all wore out their welcome pretty quickly, with the only laugh being Groucho's "I haven't had any problem getting them" line.

Groucho's quips throughout this one are pretty sub-par.  They just struck me as a little too easy and obvious most of the time, although he's delivering them with gusto and doing the best he can with the dialogue he's given.  And Chico and Harpo just don't get any good, well-written scenes to work with.  I dunno, I just got an overall sense of laziness from this one.  Even the dastardly villain plot just sort of peters out (when the end credits rolled I thought, 'Oh, so is everything cool now?").  It's like the script needed one more pass to punch up the dialogue and tighten up the plot, and they just didn't bother.  Surprising that the same script writer would produce something so much better next time around with GO WEST (maybe as a result of returning to the Thalberg strategy of road-testing and polishing the material before filming?).

On the plus side, after nearly an hour of mediocrity, Margaret Dumont finally makes her appearance, and it's interesting to see Groucho - and the screenwriter- temporarily raise their game for the introduction in her bedroom.  It's almost like having Grouco and Dumont together inspired the writer to finally deliver the goods, and the result is some of Groucho's best dialogue in the movie.  For a few precious minutes the old Groucho is back.

The circus finale left me cold too.  I generally agree with Metal about back-screened slapstick (unless it's a W.C. Fields car chase), and shooting Margaret Dumont out of a cannon just felt like desperation.  Your Margaret Dumonts are best used as targets for witty insults, not cannon fodder.

Basically, Groucho's gorilla suit anecdote on the Dick Cavett show was more entertaining than the movie itself (that entire interview is hysterical).

[Dr. Mabuse]

Though it has a few classic moments (notably Groucho's rendition of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady"), the lackluster "At the Circus" ranks among the Marxes' weakest films. A contributing factor to the depressing atmosphere is the annoying presence of romantic lead Kenny Baker, whose terrible songs and insipid "Oh, boy!" cheerfulness have no place in a Marx Brothers film. It's sad to see Groucho, Harpo and Chico brought down by poor material as well as a lack of creative input. Harpo, in particular, is diminished by the MGM gloss. Not even Margaret Dumont's presence can salvage this half-hearted attempt at comedy.

5/10

[HomokHarcos]

With Irving Thalberg dying MGM went through a creative change. Thalberg preferred more ambitious projects, while Louis B. Mayer preferred lighter series films like Maisie, Dr. Kildare and Andy Hardy. Some of the series that were more like A movies such as The Thin Man and the Marx Brothers would have lower production values than before. I find their movies start to get even weaker.

At the beginning of the movie Eve Arden is the comic foil to Groucho Marx. Eve Arden is one of my all-time favorite comedic actresses, so I have no complaints there. Later on Margaret Dumont appears and livens up the movie. There are some good Marx bits such as the scene where Chico keeps lending Groucho his cigarette, and when Chico won't let Groucho onto the bus. You could argue it doesn't really fit their style, but I'm for it. Where this movie fails is with the romantic couples. I think these might be the worst in any Marx Brothers movie.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Where this movie fails is with the romantic couples. I think these might be the worst in any Marx Brothers movie.

Kenny Baker ruins it. Where's Zeppo when you really need him?

[Allen Champion]

Irving Brecher keeps confusing Groucho with Bob Hope--the wiseass coward.   Not the real Groucho!  Also, the Marxes aren't incompetent, and they aren't Patsies (except in vaudeville, when Harpo was "Patsy Brannigan").   Kenny Baker shares the "honors" with William Janney of BONNIE SCOTLAND as "worst wuss masquerading as a man in a classic comedy."

[metaldams]

Irving Brecher keeps confusing Groucho with Bob Hope--the wiseass coward.   Not the real Groucho!  Also, the Marxes aren't incompetent, and they aren't Patsies (except in vaudeville, when Harpo was "Patsy Brannigan").   Kenny Baker shares the "honors" with William Janney of BONNIE SCOTLAND as "worst wuss masquerading as a man in a classic comedy."

Kenny Baker in the same sentence as William Janney?  (shudders)

[Dr. Mabuse]

Good vs. evil.

[NoahYoung]

I consider this the best of the final 3 M-G-M films. I'd rather have Margaret Dumont show up late in a film than not at all. I have always loved the LYDIA song, and Chico's piano solo in this one has always been one of my favorites.

In terms of the romantic couple -- who cares? As long as there is enough of the brothers in the film I'm happy. I grew up watching these on TV, together with the Abbott & Costello films, and to me, it was the same as commercial breaks, of which there were many. My eyes always became glued to the screen after commercials and/or non-Marx scenes.

To me the biggest weakness is the fact that they are part of a circus. In one of the books on the Marx Bros. that I bought as a kid, and still have, the author rightly claims that they belong in a circus, so having them there is already a mistake. The film does get better, however, when they start to clash with Dumont and high society by bringing the circus to her house! Now that's funny.

As an aside, when MADAGASCAR came out, and I took my wife and kids to see it, after the movie I gave them my analysis on the mistake they made. I compared it to AT THE CIRCUS. I was enjoying MADAGASCAR when the animals were loose in Manhattan. They don't belong there, so the situations were funny. Once they went to, .... well...Madagascar, to me the movie was a letdown. That's where they belonged. A fish out of water is funny -- a fish in water is not. Of course no one knew what the heck I was talking about, and didn't care. But I snobbishly said that if the makers of the movies had studied comedy films, like I did, they would have kept them in Manhattan. Didn't they ever study the Marx Bros. or the Stooges? Well, I guess they had to send them to Madagascar, since that was the name of the movie. 

Despite that, I enjoy AT THE CIRCUS simply because it has the Marx Bros. in it -- circus, sappy lovers, or not.

[metaldams]

Viewing the romantic couples as commercial breaks - I like that analogy!

[HomokHarcos]

I consider this the best of the final 3 M-G-M films. I'd rather have Margaret Dumont show up late in a film than not at all. I have always loved the LYDIA song, and Chico's piano solo in this one has always been one of my favorites.

In terms of the romantic couple -- who cares? As long as there is enough of the brothers in the film I'm happy. I grew up watching these on TV, together with the Abbott & Costello films, and to me, it was the same as commercial breaks, of which there were many. My eyes always became glued to the screen after commercials and/or non-Marx scenes.

To me the biggest weakness is the fact that they are part of a circus. In one of the books on the Marx Bros. that I bought as a kid, and still have, the author rightly claims that they belong in a circus, so having them there is already a mistake. The film does get better, however, when they start to clash with Dumont and high society by bringing the circus to her house! Now that's funny.

As an aside, when MADAGASCAR came out, and I took my wife and kids to see it, after the movie I gave them my analysis on the mistake they made. I compared it to AT THE CIRCUS. I was enjoying MADAGASCAR when the animals were loose in Manhattan. They don't belong there, so the situations were funny. Once they went to, .... well...Madagascar, to me the movie was a letdown. That's where they belonged. A fish out of water is funny -- a fish in water is not. Of course no one knew what the heck I was talking about, and didn't care. But I snobbishly said that if the makers of the movies had studied comedy films, like I did, they would have kept them in Manhattan. Didn't they ever study the Marx Bros. or the Stooges? Well, I guess they had to send them to Madagascar, since that was the name of the movie. 

Despite that, I enjoy AT THE CIRCUS simply because it has the Marx Bros. in it -- circus, sappy lovers, or not.

That’s s common complaint I’ve heard for At the Circus. Randy Skretvedt was also saying recently that they belong in a circus and it wasn’t the best film scenario.

Madagascar was a movie I grew up watching, and I also liked the New York part best.

[NoahYoung]

I guess I'm old enough to be your father, then, HomokHarcos.
I'm glad there are some youngins who enjoy classic comedy.
I grew up watching all these classic comedians, though they were way before my time, too. In the days before cable, A&C, Marx Bros, Stooges, L&H, etc. got plenty of air-time. If it weren't for that I probably wouldn't have discovered them. I have see all these guys as far back as I can remember.

Someone once said -- I don't remember who -- something to the effect that the Marx Bros. were never in a movie worthy of their talent.

[metaldams]

I guess I'm old enough to be your father, then, HomokHarcos.
I'm glad there are some youngins who enjoy classic comedy.
I grew up watching all these classic comedians, though they were way before my time, too. In the days before cable, A&C, Marx Bros, Stooges, L&H, etc. got plenty of air-time. If it weren't for that I probably wouldn't have discovered them. I have see all these guys as far back as I can remember.

Someone once said -- I don't remember who -- something to the effect that the Marx Bros. were never in a movie worthy of their talent.

I’m old enough to be his Dad too - but a young Dad!     Yeah, we’ve got a few posters in their twenties here.

My opinion of the team not in many movies worthy of their talent are Abbott and Costello.  I guess it can be said of the Marx Brothers minus their top few, but I think they definitely raise up any weaker material they get.

[HomokHarcos]

I’m old enough to be his Dad too - but a young Dad!     Yeah, we’ve got a few posters in their twenties here.

My opinion of the team not in many movies worthy of their talent are Abbott and Costello.  I guess it can be said of the Marx Brothers minus their top few, but I think they definitely raise up any weaker material they get.

I'm curious when Umbrella Sam was born. Judging from his posts I have a feeling we might be almost the exact same age.

[metaldams]

I was born 364 days after Chaplin died, which means I was breathing air at the same time as Zeppo.

[NoahYoung]

Groucho died when I was 12.
Bud Abbott died when I was 9.
Chaplin died when I was 12.
Moe and Larry died when I was 10.
When I was a kid, I thought Zeppo had died before films like GO WEST were made, and that's why he was missing. 

[Umbrella Sam]

HomokHarcos, we’re around the same age (I’m about a year older judging from your profile). MADAGASCAR was a movie I remember seeing when it first came out. It’s interesting Noah, because you brought up my exact problem with the movie even back then: in New York, the characters seemed like they were in a position to be funny, but as soon as they got to Madagascar, it became this generic “finding yourself” story. I always preferred the TV spinoff, THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR, as that actually took place in New York.

It’s funny. I don’t remember what section it was, but I remember seeing an older post on this website once talking about a bunch of “modern” shows at the time that the posters hated...and literally half of them were shows I grew up with.

[metaldams]

It’s funny. I don’t remember what section it was, but I remember seeing an older post on this website once talking about a bunch of “modern” shows at the time that the posters hated...and literally half of them were shows I grew up with.

Some of the threads from 10 - 15 years back are a trip and a half.