EDWARD BUZZELL
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5.
USA, 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Screenplay by Irving Brecher. Cinematography by Leonard Smith. Produced by Mervyn LeRoy. Music by Franz Waxman. Production Design by Cedric Gibbons. Costume Design by Dolly Tree, Valles. Film Editing by William H. Terhune.
Lesser effort from the Marx Brothers, who had officially run out of steam by this point. Kenny Baker plays an eastern seaboard aristocrat who has turned his back on his family’s money in order to pursue a career as the owner of a travelling circus. He’s in trouble when a no-good business associate demands his loan of 10,000 dollars returned to him and then tries to block his paying him back so as to take over the business himself. Baker’s assistant Chico hires a lawyer (Groucho) who specializes in “trouble” to investigate the matter and, of course, a whole slew of mayhem occurs before the explosive finale. Some pretty funny moments, particularly when Harpo gets friendly with a sea lion, but it’s thrown together far too haphazardly and isn’t nearly as hilarious as some of their other films.
