Monkey Business

source: Monkey Business

This is the first of two Marx Brothers movies I had not seen previously (the other being The Big Store which I'll view soon). It's also the first they filmed in Hollywood instead of New York, the first not adapted from one of their Broadway shows, and the first time Harpo accompanies someone that's singing (Maxine Castle) when playing his harp. And Zeppo has even more of a role here than in previous movies though it's essentially straight and has him play the romantic lead to one Ruth Hall. Of course, the lion's share of the earned laughs goes to not only Harpo-especially when he's part of a children's puppet show or has his frog with him-but also to Chico-with yet another hilarious confused wordplay-and especially Groucho, who instead of Margaret Dumont to insult has Thelma Todd to charm and dance with. Oh, and all four brothers share a routine here: they accidentally, or not, have Maurice Chevalier's passport that they all try to fool the passport man into thinking they are all him with Harpo doing so by-well, watch the movie. In summary, Monkey Business is another hilarious Marx Brothers film. P.S. I was very pleasantly surprised when Groucho asked someone on the ship if he knew how many Frenchmen can't be wrong since the last picture I watched was called 50 Million Frenchmen.

Just as zany as monkeys going over Niagra Falls in a barrel, this concoction of fast-moving sketches moves so fast, you'll think you're heading over the falls, too. The four brothers are stowaways on a luxury cruise ship heading to New York and for a good 3/4 of this movie, they are doing their best to avoid being caught, even though a good deal of that time is conversing in marvelous double-talk with the ship's crew after them. They infiltrate the captain's quarters, Groucho insults a wealthy socialite (an unbilled Cecil Cunningham) and infiltrates the captain's quarters, and Harpo searches for his missing frog then attacks a passenger in the doctor's office who claims to have a frog in his throat. A magnificent puppet show has Harpo standing in for one of the puppets as crew members stand right near the puppeteer's box, then he makes a hysterical escape much to the viewing kiddie's delight. Like the later "Hellzapoppin'" and the Zucker Brothers movies of the 1980's, this requires repeat viewings to capture all of the gags or remind you of them, because they follow each other so fast, you will be dizzy trying to take it all in. There's the shell of a plot involving the kidnapping of a mobster's daughter once the ship docks in New York, and of course this leads to more zaniness with the presence of the brothers. There's a classy parody of the Maurice Chevalier craze with all four brothers (including the mute Harpo) trying to get off the ship while pretending to be Chevalier singing "A New Kind of Love". Sexy Thelma Todd, the almost forgotten comical star of a series of Hal Roach shorts, provides some "hot cha cha" as one of the ship's passengers who hides Groucho amongst her wardrobe which leads to some amusing dialog about Groucho being in the closet. This is one of those comedies you might consider buying (available with all of the brothers' Paramount films) because you might find yourself pulling it out on a regular basis.

This was the third Marx Brothers film but it was the first one written directly for the big screen and also the first one shot in Hollywood. It was actually banned in some countries because it was thought to encourage anarchy! Can you imagine - the Marx Brothers encouraging anarchy? If you follow the picture from start to finish there's not much of a plot or story here, but you do get a look at some of the amazing talent each of the Marx Brothers brought to the table. Groucho in particular is a whirling dervish of rapid fire banter that's always a pace or two ahead of the viewer, and I had to do a rewind when he offered that rather risqué line to a newspaper photographer - "Pictures? Here's a little sex stuff for your front page." Who would have imagined that for 1931? Chico managed to impress with his piano playing and Harpo somehow got a frog to jump into his hat not once but twice during the story, and it made me stop and wonder how many takes that might have taken. If there's any hint of normalcy to be derived from this band of brothers, I guess it would have to be Zeppo who despite the odd name, appeared to be of normal character and temperament. Put them all together though and you have some rather frenetic activity, what with rival gangsters stirring up trouble aboard ship and Harpo chasing after every gal who happens to come his way. The only thing missing as Groucho so astutely observed - "Where's all those farmer's daughters I've been hearing about for years?"

I know there's some controversy among Marx Brothers aficionados about which Marx Brothers films are better, the ones at Paramount or the ones at MGM. Thalberg at MGM demanded more of a structure. The Paramount films were largely based on plays performed by the Marx Brothers. Often it looks like someone turned on the camera and left. "Monkey Business," which includes Zeppo, is completely chaotic and hilarious. The brothers are stowaways on an ocean liner, hiding in pickle barrels. Most of the action is centered around the ship commander and staff attempting to catch them. Beautiful Thelma Todd appears as a mobster's wife who is unhappily married and wants to ha-cha-cha. There are many priceless moments, but when they all try to disembark by each stating that he's Maurice Chevalier and then breaking into song has to be the best. Harpo, of course, does all of this with a hidden recording that slows down as he's lip-synching. For Marx Brothers fans, and any one else who needs a laugh. And who doesn't these days.

Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo are stowaways on an ocean liner to America. They are chased by the crews and befriends two gangster. After landing in America, Big Joe Helton throws a party for his daughter Mary. Zeppo joins Mary. Groucho is welcomed by Big Joe. Harpo and Chico sneaks in. Gangster Briggs and his men kidnap Mary to control Big Joe. Lucille (Thelma Todd) is Briggs' girlfriend. The jokes are great and best of all, they don't stop. It starts out strong with the guys hiding in the barrels. This is one of the best from the Marx brothers. Also the addition of Thelma Todd as well as others is an improvement over their previous movies.

I happened to watch this immediately after the hysterical-yet-clunky Marx Brothers comedy Animal Crackers, and I have to say, there's a huge difference filmmaking-wise. Not bound by the limitations of early talkies, this movie has lots more complex slapstick such as chases and fights to keep the audience thoroughly entertained. Of the three Marx Brothers movies I've seen (other two being Animal Crackers and Night At The Opera), this had, in my opinion, Harpo's best visual humour. All his gags were very clever, and uses his talents as a comedian to his full potential. Groucho is his usual snarky self, including one memorable scene where he commentates a fight taking place at a barn. And of course their's Chico and Zeppo, who I never find too memorable. Bottom Line: There's tons of great slapstick and gags, definitely recommended for Marx Brothers fans.

Spoilers herein. The Marx brothers have three screen personages: the one we see here which is theatrical humor, the one which followed in which their mastered cinema, and one which we invented as we followed the maturing Groucho through his life. Of them, the first is the least funny, if the most accomplished. These young men were still mining their stage routines here and most of the good stuff went into their previous project. It is just a bunch of incoherent bits bridged with random movement. Works on a stage, where we don't worry so much about the visual, nor a coherent fabric - and where the immediacy of their presence is more visceral. These limitations make this the least worth watching of their major projects. Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 4: Has some interesting elements.

When it comes to comedy teams, some people insist that The Marx Brothers are the absolute greatest, while others seem to find them about as amusing as a sink full of dirty dishes. Myself, I'm sort of positioned in the very middle when it comes to being able to appreciate this particular, early-Hollywood foursome and their chaotic style of humor. For me, I find that The Marx Brothers' slapstick antics, their one-liners, their silly insults and innuendo only work to their advantage about half of the time. For the rest of the time The Marx Brothers' material is a real hit'n'miss thing where the situations often teeter pretty close to the point of falling flat on their face more often than one would expect. Personally, I don't believe that the scriptwriters fully understood how best to present The Marx Brothers in a favorable light to the movie-going public. And because of that they ended up with story-lines that, often enough, had a real lazy, off-kilter and slap-dash feel to them. (Well, at least that's the way The Marx Brothers' films appear to me) Perhaps if The Marx Brothers' films had been edited down from their usual 80-90 minute running times to, say, about 30 minutes of comedy-run-amok, then I think that they would have been a helluva lot more entertaining in the long run. Please, don't get me wrong. I'm not slamming The Marx Brothers. I can certainly appreciate what they had to offer, only, I think that it could've been done better in much-much smaller doses. I guess with The Marx Brothers being such a novelty (as they certainly were back in the 1930s), makes it quite understandable to me as to why they were so popular in their genre. Monkey Business' story concerns The Marx Brothers as stowaways on a luxury ocean-liner crossing the Atlantic from Europe to NYC. Once they are discovered by the ship's crew, the chase is on as the boys do whatever's necessary to avoid being caught, arrested, and, thus, thrown into the brig for the duration of the trip. As luck would have it, The Marx Brothers inadvertently get mixed up in a feud that's going on between two rival, big-shot gangsters who are also on board the same ship. Once stateside the daughter of gangster-Helton is kidnapped by the henchmen of gangster-Briggs. It is now up to The Marx Brothers to step into the middle of this (monkey) business and, hopefully, save the day.

Perhaps not my favourite, but just hilarious fun from start to finish. I do think it is better than Animal Crackers, which was great too, but the sound is an improvement here I feel. The script is great, with some deliciously acerbic one-liners from Groucho, and the story while perhaps straightforward is well structured with some very memorable sequences especially Groucho dancing with Thelma Todd and Zeppo getting tough with a gangster. Speaking of Zeppo, he is very underseen and underused in my view, and I just loved it that he had a chance to shine here and that he did. The film looks good as well, it goes at a snappy pace and the direction is spot on. And the acting with all four of the Marx brothers is most enjoyable. All in all, hugely enjoyable and for me one of the Marx brothers' best. 10/10 Bethany Cox