At The Circus (1939)

Circus owner Jeff Wilson (Kenny Baker) plans are ruined when gets ten thousand dollars stolen by bad guys John Carter, Goliath, and Professor Atom (James Burke, Nat Pendleton & Jerry Maren) the night he was to become solvent (he was also intending to get married the day after.)

Jeff's friend Pirelli (Chico) and strong man assistant Punchy (Harpo) call up disbarred attorney J. Cheever Loophole (Groucho) to help.

Loophole interrupts an investigation which does not seem to be going anywhere when he finds out Jeff's aunt (Margaret Dumont) is loaded.

Now passing himself as a famous conductor’s agent he woos her and secretly switches the night’s party entertainment with her nephew’s circus and manages to get a check for ten thousand which should still save the show.

Still wishing to get ownership the circus, the bad guys attempt sabotage and unwisely let Gibraltar (Charles Gemora) loose not realizing the gorilla was an aware witness to the initial crime.

Chico gets one piano piece, and the interplay between him and Groucho is fine, with Chico frustrating or stupidly undoing all of Groucho’s work: The midget interrogation with all three inside a miniature room is especially good.

Groucho gets to sing the very suggestive Lydia the Tattooed Lady, a now classic bit, plus seduction scenes with Margaret Dumont (natch) and an upside-down Eve Arden.

Harpo gets the fine Swingali number which first segues into Swing Low Sweet Chariot and finally into a Blue Moon harp solo (which does not integrate well with the rest of the movie but is still a good musical sequence.) He also gets a few nice silent bits aided by surreal props (a living leopard skin loincloth, water-squirting horn, etc.)

Instead of being the agents of chaos of the Paramount years, the MGM plot has already relegated Marx Brothers role to supporting a couple’s romance and rescuing heroes; and even with the obtrusive love story and slow songs, and despite the high point of the MGM years having already been reached, this movie is still fine.

The advantage of having the participation of a boring couple is that they won't compete with the Marx Bros. The advantage of having Zeppo be the love interest is better integration with his fellow players; but those days were already long past.

Also with Florence Rice, Fritz Feld, and gags by Buster Keaton.

Seems everyone is wearing a wig here.