Pretty Good

Lack of good storyline.

Absolutely the worst movie.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Featuring a plot involving (surprise) a troubled business venture/missing money and some side characters with nefarious intentions, A very good course corrective after the lackluster Room Service - there is a plot but its more about the set pieces (Harpo and Chico in the guys bedroom as they disastrously look for money, Groucho stuck with his feet on the ceiling, any time Harpo and an animal be it in a suit or not) - though it still lacks the spark of their earlier films. "Lydia" reaches the lofty heights of their great nonsense songs and fits the circus... An oddly placed reprisal of the black characters surround Harpo and have a jumpy musical number from Day at the Races (which was the odd weak part of that movie) not so much.In short, it does its job well enough if not spectacularly, however its almost worth ranking with the best for Groucho, upon noticing his wallets been pickpocketed and stuffed between her breasts and knows he has to get it out, says "how can I get it out and stick to the Hayes code?" One of the biggest laughs I've had in years.

'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.

After 30 years, I just rewatched this latter-day Marx Brothers movie. After being loaned to RKO for Room Service, the Marxes return to M-G-M without their beloved mentor there, Irving Thalberg, having died during their last hit picture there, A Day at the Races. That movie was very enjoyable, if a little long. This one is much shorter, if not as funny. Still, there's more than enough highlights here: a couple of Chico and Groucho scenes like the "need-a-badge-to-get-on-train" and "new-cigar-needed-but-from-suspect-not-Chico", Groucho's number of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady", Harpo's number with some cool black singers mixed with his as-always touching harp solos, Chico's piano playing, and, of course, Groucho's wisecracks with Margaret Dumont, the unofficial fourth Marx brother now that Zeppo left by this time. Oh, and funny enough reunion with Nat Pendleton from Horse Feathers. Also, Fritz Feld has an amusing bit as a symphony conductor. The romantic leads of Kenny Baker, who I know from old broadcasts of radio's "The Jack Benny Program", and Florence Rice don't intrude too much so I didn't mind them or their singing. Oh, and Eve Arden was also a hoot opposite the one and only Groucho. So on that note, At the Circus is worth a look for any Marx fans out there, still.

Most Marx Brothers fans agree that their best film moments can be found in their 1929-1937 period, and that their career went a bit downhill after that, starting with "Room Service". Generally, I also agree with that opinion, though there are definitely many worthwhile moments in their last six films as well. And from those six, "At The Circus" is arguably the best (the only other possible contender is "A Night In Casablanca"). Although it suffers from the same flaws that plagued their other films of the period - mainly long, redundant (and, in at least two cases, even repeated (!)) musical numbers, and a frantic climax that is more chaotic than funny - it also gives them some good material (the badge skit, the reconstruction of the crime, the "entrapment" of the midget, etc.) and has a more energetic air than, say, "Room Service" or "The Big Store". Their frequent co-start Margaret Dumont doesn't appear until about an hour in; the two romantic leads are largely forgettable, but long-legged Eve Arden is notable for doing some of her acrobatic stunts herself. **1/2 out of 4.