At the Circus
At the Circus is a 1939 comedy film starring the Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo and Chico) released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in which they help save a circus from bankruptcy. The film contains Groucho Marx's classic rendition of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". The supporting cast includes Florence Rice, Kenny Baker, Margaret Dumont, and Eve Arden. The songs, including "Lydia the Tattooed Lady", "Two Blind Loves", and "Step Up and Take a Bow", were written by the team of Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, who'd recently furnished the songs for another MGM film that same year, The Wizard of Oz.
Plot
Goliath, the circus strongman and the midget, Little Professor Atom, both employed by Wilson's Wonder Circus, are accomplices of bad guy John Carter who is trying to take over the circus from its owner Jeff Wilson. Julie Randall, Jeff's girlfriend, performs a horse act in the circus. Jeff has hidden $10,000 in cash (equal to $ today), which he owes to Carter, in the cage of Gibraltar the gorilla. When Jeff goes to retrieve the money to give to Carter from Gibraltar's cage on the circus train, Carter has Goliath and Atom knock Jeff unconscious and steal the $10,000.
More details
| author | Ben Hecht Irving Brecher |
|---|---|
| director | Edward Buzzell |
| editor | William H. Terhune |
| genre | comedy |
| keywords | bad guy circus act circus train float hide midget shoot strongman symphony orchestra walk |
| musicBy | Harold Arlen |
| producer | Mervyn LeRoy |
| productionCompany | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| publisher | Loews Cineplex Entertainment |