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#660 - At the Circus
Edward Buzzell, 1939
When a circus owner is put under pressure by debtors, two of his more reckless subordinates seek out an attorney to help save the circus.
I'm willing to entertain the possibility that making Duck Soup the first Marx Brothers film that I ever watched was all but guaranteed to make it so that every film of theirs I watched after that would guarantee diminishing returns, even with their other big-name films like A Night at the Opera or Horse Feathers. As such, it's probably no surprise that getting into their later films from the late-'30s and early-'40s would quite possibly yield the most diminished returns of all. The Marx Brothers may be comedic legends, but that doesn't mean that their films weren't prone to following a rather rigid formula where the only real variations between films ended up being the setting and character names. Groucho's the shifty wise-cracker full of one-liners, Harpo's the mute clown pulling off all sorts of sight gags, and Chico functions as an intermediary who plays off the both of them in whatever way is necessary. The plots were also formulaic as they tended to involve a variety of familiar factors such as a greedy villain, a photogenic young romantic couple who served as the good guys and who were helped in their goals by the brothers, musical numbers, a bombastic set-piece for the finale, and so forth. At the Circus invokes just about every single one of these factors in telling a tale that involves a failing circus and a plan being hatched by the brothers to have it be unwittingly financed by a wealthy dowager (Marx regular Margarent Dumont) in order to save it from being liquidated.
Considering the era in which the Marx Brothers were releasing their films, it's perhaps not too surprising that they don't really aim for anything more than just some straight laughs, but At the Circus is pretty bereft of them. There is the occasional clever moment, such as Groucho making an aside to the audience as to how he's going to get out of a tricky situation without violating the Hays Code, but it feels so dry for the most part that the film is often left floundering between clever quips. While Groucho's quick-witted nature definitely provides the bulk of the amusement, I find that Harpo's antics tend to grate on me more and more with each new film of theirs that I watch to the point where even his decision to just play lilting melodies on a harp for several straight minutes lacks any charm. Even the promise of an appropriately all-out finale that involves setting up a three-ring circus within the grounds of Dumont's palatial mansion (complete with an orchestra getting cut adrift and a loose gorilla) does little to stop this from being an extremely dull effort from a comedy trio whose reputation is clearly built on films other than this one.
Edward Buzzell, 1939
When a circus owner is put under pressure by debtors, two of his more reckless subordinates seek out an attorney to help save the circus.
I'm willing to entertain the possibility that making Duck Soup the first Marx Brothers film that I ever watched was all but guaranteed to make it so that every film of theirs I watched after that would guarantee diminishing returns, even with their other big-name films like A Night at the Opera or Horse Feathers. As such, it's probably no surprise that getting into their later films from the late-'30s and early-'40s would quite possibly yield the most diminished returns of all. The Marx Brothers may be comedic legends, but that doesn't mean that their films weren't prone to following a rather rigid formula where the only real variations between films ended up being the setting and character names. Groucho's the shifty wise-cracker full of one-liners, Harpo's the mute clown pulling off all sorts of sight gags, and Chico functions as an intermediary who plays off the both of them in whatever way is necessary. The plots were also formulaic as they tended to involve a variety of familiar factors such as a greedy villain, a photogenic young romantic couple who served as the good guys and who were helped in their goals by the brothers, musical numbers, a bombastic set-piece for the finale, and so forth. At the Circus invokes just about every single one of these factors in telling a tale that involves a failing circus and a plan being hatched by the brothers to have it be unwittingly financed by a wealthy dowager (Marx regular Margarent Dumont) in order to save it from being liquidated.
Considering the era in which the Marx Brothers were releasing their films, it's perhaps not too surprising that they don't really aim for anything more than just some straight laughs, but At the Circus is pretty bereft of them. There is the occasional clever moment, such as Groucho making an aside to the audience as to how he's going to get out of a tricky situation without violating the Hays Code, but it feels so dry for the most part that the film is often left floundering between clever quips. While Groucho's quick-witted nature definitely provides the bulk of the amusement, I find that Harpo's antics tend to grate on me more and more with each new film of theirs that I watch to the point where even his decision to just play lilting melodies on a harp for several straight minutes lacks any charm. Even the promise of an appropriately all-out finale that involves setting up a three-ring circus within the grounds of Dumont's palatial mansion (complete with an orchestra getting cut adrift and a loose gorilla) does little to stop this from being an extremely dull effort from a comedy trio whose reputation is clearly built on films other than this one.