Groucho-Chico-Harpo At the Circus!

It's a good month for us Marx Bros fans this December, as Warner Archives have just released a brand new 4k restoration (albeit on 1080p BD) of At the Circus, which we're told has been made from "the best preservation elements."  Hopefully it doesn't prove to be one of the last releases from Warner Archives, because there's still more Marx Brother films that haven't made it to HD (not to mention so many other WB catalog titles).  But for today, let's just enjoy this.

Admittedly, 1939's At the Circus is post-peak Marx films.  This is them on the decline, but early enough in the decline that it's still plenty of fun.  This doesn't contain any of their best, wittiest work, but the brothers are still cheerfully game.  The routine of Chico keeping Groucho off the train because he doesn't have a badge feels like their earlier material, and Harpo is working with a new animal in practically every scene, culminating in him riding a live ostrich!  And the scene in the circus midget's house is classic 30's comedy.  The circus itself isn't particularly funny, but it's at least making the effort with big, elaborate production numbers, including a large orchestra, an elaborate trapeze act and they even shoot Margaret Dumont out of a cannon... at a rampaging gorilla!

What more could you possibly want?  Romance?  Well, that's this movie's weakest point.  People always knock the love stories in Marx Brothers movies, but it's particularly soppy here.  Their attempt to turn "Three Blind Mice" into a romantic duet called "Two Blind Loves" has to be the worst song in any of these movies.  But this is also the movie where Groucho sings "Lydia the Tattooed Lady," one of his most beloved songs of all time.  And Harpo's musical number is one of the studio's most ambitious arrangements... although it certainly hasn't aged well in terms of racial representation.  I often mistake this for being the one where they get into blackface (it's not... that's A Day At the Races), but apart from that single detail, it definitely feels like a fairly successful attempt to recapture the success of "All God's Chillun' Got Rhythm" in the best and the worst ways.  ...II suppose the gender politics of Florence Rice adopting the role of Kenny Baker's tamed horse in the big reprise is a little eyebrow raising as well.  Welcome to the 30s!

So Warner Bros first released At the Circus on DVD as a double-bill with 1938's Room Service in 2004, both by itself and as a part of their 5-disc Marx Brothers Collection boxed set.  If anybody ever releases Room Service in HD (hopefully, one of these days), I'll circle back around and give it fuller coverage.  But in brief, Room Service is the theatrical adaptation originally written without the Marx Brothers' personas in mind, though they reverted at the last minute.  It co-stars Lucille Ball and Ann Miller and has some funny bits, but is another of their generally weaker films.  It's a flipper disc, and the Room Service side features the fairly fuzzy 1.33:1 transfer you see above and optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.  Extras include the trailer and, as Warner often throws in with their films from this period, an unrelated Our Gang short called Party Fever and a short Looney Tunes cartoon called Daffy Doc.

2004 Warner Bros DVD top; 2025 Warner Archives BD bottom.

So, returning to At the Circus, we're starting with a 1.31:1 transfer, which the new 4k scan widens to 1.37:1, while pulling out to reveal a little more picture along all four sides.  The DVD just had very light, sporadic print damage, but that's been cleaned up on the BD - note the white spot above Groucho's head or the black spot in front of Chico's chin, both of which are only on the DVD.  The DVD is a little clearer than the Room Service transfer, but still soft compared to the new blu.  It also has minor edge enhancement, which has since been cleaned up.  Detail is crisper and film grain is visible, although a little faint compared to what would surely be possible on a proper UHD disc.  In short, it's a solid upgrade, with more noticeable improvement than some of the early Paramount ones.

Both discs offer the original mono audio in 2.0, but the blu bumps it up to DTS-HD.  Both discs also offer optional English subtitles, though only the DVD also offers French and Spanish.

Jitterbug Follies
2004 Warner Bros DVD top; 2025 Warner Archives BD bottom.

There's not a whole lot for special features.  Both disc include the trailer, the Our Gang short Dog Daze and the MGM Cartoon Jitterbug Follies, featuring Count Screwloose and JR the Wonder Dog.  For the record, the fullscreen shorts have not been remastered and seem to have been copied as-is from one disc to the other, as you can see above.  The blu-ray then goes one small step further, though, adding the vintage Leo Is On the Air radio promo, which highlights many of the film's songs.

So it might've been nice if they'd sprung for an expert commentary like they did for some of the other Marx Bros films.  But apart from being a little light on special features, this is a very satisfying upgrade, and my fingers are crossed for more.