At the Circus

1939 movie

Rating: 13/20

Plot: The Marx Brothers (Karl, Ballso, and Guitfizzle) investigate the theft of a circus owner's money.

Monkey? Check. Little person? Check! Groucho, Harpo, and Chico? Check, check, and check. OK, it seems like we have all the elements for a classic comedy, right? Well, not exactly. Somebody forgot to write a script with anything funny in it. This was pretty flat, and although there are some moments when it all almost gets good, it's so far away from the best Marx movies that I'd say it's not even worth watching. It's too bad, too, because the circus could have been the perfect setting for some Marx mayhem. As always, the songs in these, with the possible exception of Groucho's song about a tattooed woman, almost made me want to take my own life.

International House

1933 ensemble comedy

Rating: 14/20

Plot: A buttload of people gather at a hotel in China to see the unveiling of a new invention--television! A buttload of mildly humorous happenings occur!

I almost gave this a bonus point for Cab Calloway's jazzy ode to marijuana. I enjoyed some of the risque humor in this although I don't believe I laughed a single time. Things were best when W.C. Fields or George and Gracie were on the screen. The former's physical comedy and double entendres are a lot of fun, and I liked watching the latter's rapport. I don't believe I'd ever seen Burns and Gracie before. There's not much to see with the rest of this unless you're a fan of too-typical 1930s movie humor and/or nearly incoherent plots. That plot is really jumpy, almost like we were missing half of the movie or the actors/writers made the whole thing up as they went along. But definitely not in a good way. Although far from great comedy, this is worth watching. I watched it at school on my big screen while I was probably supposed to be doing something else.