At the Circus
87 min. / B&W / 1.37:1 / DTS HD MA 2.0 Mono / SDH
Warner Archive Blu-ray $24.99
Available from Movie Zyng
The 1970s were a renaissance era for appreciation of the comedy films of the Marx Bros. and W.C. Fields, but all these years later, they seem to have been forgotten or cast aside by all but the most fervent movie comedy buffs, which is of course a shame, because they’re as funny, wicked, and unique now as they ever were. In the case of the Marx Brothers, vaudeville giants who conquered the Broadway stage and then delivered 13 motion pictures, their first five films – the Paramount years – are now owned by Universal. In 1935, they were lured to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by Irving Thalberg for what turned out to be five additional films, with three independent productions rounding out their film career before Groucho, Harpo, and Chico Marx split up and moved on to TV and live appearances, with Groucho of course becoming a television legend with the comedy ersatz quiz show You Bet Your Life.
Their first MGM offering, A Night at the Opera (1935), is a gem, a perfect mix of comedy, romance, and song as envisioned by Thalberg to double the box office receipts of their last Paramount picture, Duck Soup (which it did). Thalberg died suddenly at the age of only 37 during the production of the Marxes’ follow-up, A Day at the Races (1937), and Groucho later said that while he continued to make pictures, “the fun had gone out of them.” It was two years (and one RKO release, Room Service) later that the Marxes returned to MGM for a new film, produced by Mervyn Leroy, directed by Edward Buzzell, and written by Irving Brecher, none of whom were particularly suited to the assignment. The task of young screen lovers – Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle in Opera and Mr. Jones with Maureen O’Sullivan in Races – here falls on popular radio singer Kenny Baker and on ingénue Florence Rice, whose film career was, shall we be kind, nondescript.
The surprising result is actually not awful (something I wouldn’t say about their next MGM films, Go West and The Big Store) and if you’re not overly familiar with the team through their earlier gems, it’s quite an acceptable comedy, although the plot - the “clothesline on which the comedy sequences are hung” according to Thalberg – is painful to even recount, so we’ll make it quick: a young man owns a circus, a shyster steals $10,000 from him so he’s going to lose the circus and won’t be able to marry his girlfriend, and his buddy Chico calls in a lawyer, Groucho, to investigate the theft, which was carried out by the villain’s accomplices, the circus strong man, midget, and aerialist. Harpo? Well, he’s Harpo. You know or you don’t. Groucho seems more interested in weaseling $10,000 out of wealthy Margaret Dumont than solving the crime anyway. Look, what did you expect? Their previous MGM movies were written by George S. Kaufman, and this one... wasn't.
The songs by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg are mostly not good, but then, they were busy writing songs for MGM’s Wizard of Oz so can be forgiven, especially because Groucho’s solo novelty number – Lydia the Tattooed Lady – is brilliant and the one thing everyone remembers from any of the last six Marx Bros. movies. The song would be reprised many times over the years, including just a year later in The Philadelphia Story!
It’s a shame that the love story is so sappy (“Most men get their sweetheart one ring for their engagement. I got you three rings!”) but film favorites Nat Pendleton, Margaret Dumont, and Eve Arden are all in their pitching for support, Chico and Harpo have fine musical numbers, and in general, not-good Marx Bros. is better than a lot of good movies with lesser personalities.
We’re delighted to report that the film looks and sounds great on Blu-ray, and contains some interesting 1939 bonuses: Dog Daze, one of those latter MGM Our Gang comedies where the adults teach the kids a lesson is no great shakes, but Jitterbug Follies is a rare MGM cartoon directed by cartoonist Milt Gross featuring his character Count Screwloose, as nutty, loud, and weird a cartoon as we’ve seen in a long time. A very interesting and lengthy radio broadcast promoting At the Circus is also included, as is the trailer.
If you love the Marx Bros., this is a good pick up.
