Romance de Circo

I have to agree with the two previous reviewers. I can't believe this film hasn't got more of a reputation than it does. It's a non-stop laugh from start to finish.

The players in Road Show look like they're having a marvelous time in this film. Hal Roach must have kept a really loose and happy set for these people to have put in the work they did.

Millionaire playboy John Hubbard gets cold feet at the altar and his gold digging bride gets him committed to an asylum. While there he meets Adolphe Menjou who's another millionaire there for a rest cure from his grabby family.

The two make an escape and wind up in a carnival owned by Carole Landis and from then on it's one mad plot situation after another.

Adolphe Menjou was a player of extraordinary range. In silent films with that waxed mustache he was usually villains, but in sound he played a good range of serious characters. Yet he had a funny side to him that when it was displayed could be hilarious. We saw more than hints of it in films like Broadway Gondolier and Gold Diggers of 1935. But here as the center of the film, he really explodes on the screen. I've never seen him funnier.

Possibly because it did not star any of the great comic actors, just a whole lot of good players doing their shtick, Road Show does not stand out in the Hal Roach list of comedy masterpieces. That's a pity because this shows what Roach could do without people like Laurel and Hardy to star in a film for him.

Don't ever miss this if it's broadcast again.

This isn't a comedy for intellectuals, as they will no doubt find the film too silly and full of cheap slapstick to enjoy. However, if you are not a film snob and you give it a chance (especially at the beginning), you'll probably have a few laughs and enjoy yourself.

The film begins with a man (John Hubbard) about to marry. However, he's having cold feet and pretends to be crazy. During his crazy act, he overhears his fiancée say that she can't stand him and is only marrying him for his money. Before he can do anything about this, she decides, out of spite, to play up that he really is insane and has him placed in a mental institution. So far so good, though the film lags a bit in the sanitarium due to too many "crazy people" jokes.

Hubbard can't get out despite his attempts to convince the chief of staff that he is sane. In this "rest home" for the rich, Hubbard meets Adolph Menjou--who isn't dangerous but certainly is rather crazy. Menjou LIKES living there but knows of a way out so they both escape together. Menjou's character is awfully broadly written at this point--laying on the mentally ill part a bit too thick, though he does settle down later in the film and is a good sidekick for Hubbard.

On the run, the two men meet up with Carole Landis and her traveling carnival. Things look great except that the awfully loud and untalented Patsy Kelly is with the carnival as well, though fortunately her role in the film isn't a big one. Plus, so much of the time she's avoiding the romantic overtures of George E. Stone ("Runt" from the Boston Blackie series), that she doesn't get that much of a chance to yell her lines. Landis welcomes the pair of escapees and they all become one big happy family. Things come to an interesting conclusion when Menjou directs him to the mansion of his rather cracked nephew, played by Charles Butterworth.

The film has a lot going for it other than the crazy jokes. The script is bouncy and fun, the supporting singers (The Charioteers) are amazingly fun to listen to and the film never gets dull. Certainly this isn't a great film, but it is fun--and isn't that what comedy is all about anyway?

FYI--Two things to look for: Adolph Menjou's amazing hat and Shemp Howard in a small role (before joining the Stooges in films) and he's billed as "Moe"!

Some old hollywood pros: menjou, landis, charles butterworth. Patsy kelly. The awesome flo bates, best known for rebecca. Even shemp howard. This was released in may of 1941, just prior to the u.s. Getting into world war two. In the plot, rich guy drogo gaines escapes marriage by pretending to be off his rocker. But the plan backfires when he ends up in a sanitarium... where he meets colonel carroway. They help each other out, and suddenly, we're in the middle of a traveling carnival. They are always behind on the rent and trying to stay one step ahead of the sheriff. Lots of old vaudeville bits. A couple songs beautifully done by the charioteers. It's fun. A circus adventure, complete with lions chasing people, and a fire! It's crazy but fun. Plot? What plot. We dropped that off at the bus station. Directed by the one and only hal roach, the king of early comedy. He was a young, smart guy, in the right place, just as hollywood was getting going. Worked his way up the ladder fast. He had worked with laurel and hardy, harold lloyd, and of course, the little rascals gang. Good, zany, fun.

I really thought that it was impossible for a film starring Adolphe Menjou to be this bad. Menjou was capable of ably playing a variety of characters from villain to tarnished hero, and he was also very able at playing comedy. However, even the talented Menjou cannot save this film. The plot is that young wealthy playboy Drogo Gaines (John Hubbard) gets cold feet on his wedding day, and decides to pretend he is insane. His jilted bride retaliates by having him committed. In the asylum, Gaines meets Carleton Carroway (Adolphe Menjou), and together the two escape and join a traveling carnival. In time, and through a series of comic misadventures, Gaines falls for Penguin Moore (Carole Landis), the beautiful leader of the carnival.

The problem is that besides Menjou, the players are just not that talented, and the jokes are just not that funny. Also, neither the overall plot nor the mismatched romance is very compelling. Cut down to 20 minutes or so, this might have been an OK 1940's comic short, but at 70 minutes it just seems to drag on forever. Hal Roach was capable of much funnier stuff. I would definitely pass on this one.

This 1941 Hal Roach production was a big hit with movie goers because the public were innocent and hard working people who enjoyed all the great humor that Hal Roach introduced from the 1920's, 30's and 40's. In todays standards this film would be horrible and a complete corny boring film. John Hubbard, (Drogo Gaines) plays the role as a playboy and gets out of a marriage by claiming he was crazy, because his bride was only a gold-digger and Drogo is placed in a mental institution. While Drogo is in the nut house he meets up with Col. Carleton Carroway, (Adolphe Menjou) who after a few weeks decides to escape with Drogo and they meet up with Penguin Moore, (Carole Landis), "I Wake Up Screaming", who owns a carnival and they decide to work and stay with Penguin and Drogo even gets involved with being a lion trainer. This is a nutty film, but a great look back at a film that was produced and directed when America was at war during WW II and the people needed a break from the horrible concerns and worry for the fighting men and woman in this horrible war.