STUFF YOU GOTTA WATCH - At the Circus

AT THE CIRCUS

(1939)
With Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Margaret Dumont, Kenny Baker, Florence Rice, Nat Pendleton, Jerry Maren,. Fritz Feld
Directed by Edward Buzzell
Black and White
Reviewed by JL and JB

In many ways the beginning of the end of the Marx Brothers' screen careers, AT THE CIRCUS is nevertheless the best of the last three films the team made for MGM. When Irving Thalberg revived the Marx's careers in 1935 by making them semi-heroic figures, he diluted some of their trademark anarchy in doing so. Yet he was able to retain enough of their old personas to keep most fans happy. After Thalberg's death, MGM further diluted his dilution to the extent that the romantic leads became just as important as the Marx Brothers, Chico became a somewhat dimwitted kindly uncle-type who said things like "Aw, shucks" a lot, and Groucho started wearing a wig. The last trio of MGM films are so polished, so stiff and formal, you long for someone to come along and add some anarchy to the proceedings. Someone like...oh, I dunno, the Marx Brothers, perhaps? Nevertheless, AT THE CIRCUS contains about 20 minutes of great comedy, which is about 10 minutes more than their next film (GO WEST), and about 19 minutes more than the one after that (THE BIG STORE). - JL

Scriptwriter Irving Brecher fails to capture the Marx Brothers for much of the first half, leaving it up to songwriters E. Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen to provide Groucho with one shining moment, the novelty song "Lydia the Tattooed Lady", a ditty Groucho loved so much, he continued singing it for the rest of his life. In the second half of the film, Brecher suddenly remembers that he is writing for The Marx Brothers, not Abbott and Costello or The Three Stooges, and the comedy scenes improve greatly. It's still no MONKEY BUSINESS or A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, but there is enough fun stuff late in the film to make AT THE CIRCUS worth revisiting. But keep your finger poised on the fast-forward button. ½ - JB

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ADD ANOTHER QUOTE AND MAKE IT A GALLON

"Oh, Hildegard!"
"My name is Suzanna."
"Let's not quibble."

ELEPHANTS! AT YOUR AGE!

Nat Pendleton had previously appeared with the Marx Brothers in HORSE FEATHERS.

Songwriters E. Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, who composed three songs for AT THE CIRCUS, also wrote all the songs for THE WIZARD OF OZ the same year. Their novelty song, "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" became one of Groucho's favorite numbers, but the version Groucho sings here (and elsewhere for years onward) is missing this topical couplet which Groucho sung at least once on radio: "When she stands, the world gets littler/ when she sits, she sits on Hitler."

AT THE CIRCUS is halfway over before Margaret Dumont appears - not a good idea.