Monkey Business (1931)

Most Marx Brothers fans agree that their first five films, made for Paramount, were generally better than their remaining eight. Among their early films, however, "Monkey Business" is probably the one that is most rarely mentioned (OK, maybe it is mentioned more often than "The Cocoanuts"). There is a reason for that: although this may be the single most anarchic Marx outing, it is not one of their best. Anarchic also means disorganized, and this has its good and its bad points: there is almost no plot to get in the way of the comedy (good), but there is also a missed opportunity to go further with the idea of the Groucho-Zeppo and Harpo-Chico teams working for rival gangsters (bad). There are no musical numbers involving secondary characters (good), but there is a piano solo and a harp solo back-to-back in the last 15 minutes (bad structure). Seeing this film today, it is Harpo's physical comedy that seems the most timeless in my opinion. Sure, Groucho could deliver his lines incredibly fast and some of those lines were decades ahead of their time, but Harpo is the life of the film's most memorable bits, like the puppet show or his impersonation of Maurice Chevalier. He is like a visitor from another planet, where people are allowed to do all the things we want to do but can't. He's extraordinary. (**1/2)

Fmovies: Here's more typical Marx Brothes zaniness....and plenty of it, with a few instrumentals thrown in (Chico on piano nd Harpo on harp) near the end.

Most of this "story" is just madcap chases with the four boys (yes, Zeppo is in here, too) being stowaways aboard a ship.

The last part of the film shows a swanky party where Zeppo's girlfriend is kidnapped and the bothers go to rescue at an abandoned barn. That's a very funny scene and better than the boat segment, although a bit short. I'd like to have seen more of that latter scene.

However, those earlier boat scenes are good, too, with a lot of clever puns which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was still a lot of solid entertainment in the Marx Brothers tradition. To my surprise, I found myself missing Margaret Dumont as Groucho's main foil. Thelma Todd takes over that part here.

Monkey Business contains three or four of the Marx Brothers' best sketches. Possibly the funniest Marx Brothers scene, too, where all four of the brothers take turns impersonating Maurice Chevalier, whose passport they've stolen. If you're a Zeppo fan - and, hey, who isn't - this is his biggest part (although I haven't seen Horse Feathers yet). He ends up being the leading man, if you can believe that! Well, he's still not very funny, even if he did elicit two laughs from me. That's two more than he'd ever gotten before! 9/10.

Monkey Business fmovies. After filming their Broadway shows Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers in New York, the Marx Brothers headed to Hollywood to make Monkey Business. This was their first original screenplay, and it shows how difficult it was to write for the team. Starting with the premise that they are stowaways aboard a ship, much of the film consists of the ship's officers chasing them around the deck, which quickly becomes tiresome. Add to this mix a satire on popular gangster movies of the day (Little Ceasar and Public Enemy), and you have a funny, but rather confusing movie. Of course Groucho is going to pursue beautiful Thelma Todd (even the fact that she's a gangster's wife doesn't deter him), but it's more fun watching him make love to Margaret Dumont, since we know the only thing he could possibly be interested in is her money. My favorite scene in the movie is the one where Groucho wants to be a gangster's bodyguard. "Let's say there are two men trying to attack you and two men trying to defend you, why, that's 50% waste. Why can't you be attacked by your own bodyguard, your life'll

be saved, and that's 100% waste. You've still got me and I'll attack you for nothing. So it's settled, I'm to be your new bodyguard. In case I'm going to attack you, I'll have to be there to defend you too. Now let me know when you want to be attacked and I'll be there ten minutes later to defend you." Unfortunately, this brilliant comedy writing is diminished by jokes which seem to be left over from the Brothers' vaudeville act, circa 1917. At one point, Groucho tries to give Chico a history lesson by telling him the story of Columbus. Columbus sailed on a vessel, and of course you know what a vessel is. Chico: "Sure, I can vessel (whistles a tune). When he tells him Columbnus' men were going to mutiny at night, Chico replies: "Nah, no mutinies at night. Mutinies Wednesdays and Saturdays." Zeppo gives his usual wooden performance while romancing the daughter of Joe Helton. Groucho always felt that Zeppo never got an opportunity to show what he could do. "He had talent, but there were three brothers ahead of him." Yet his successors, the bland Alan Jones, the awful Kenny Baker, and the hideous Tony Martin, fared no better (if you can stand it, listen to Tony sing "The Tenement Symphony" in The Big Store; it's perhaps the worst piece of music ever written). In short, this is an enjoyable outing for Marx fans, not their best, but worth watching.

In all my years of criticing films, I have never found a team of comedians more funny, more satirical, or more flexible as the four original Marx Brothers. Their comedy and their formula works in ways that no other comedy team has ever worked, and results like this, their third and, IMHO, funniest film, prove what film historians already know: Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo are some of the most influential Hollywood legends to ever live!

"Monkey Business" works because all of the brothers are given the same amount of screentime, and each of their characters were very important to the plot. In movies before and after this picture, more emphasis would be spent on different brothers in each film (i.e. Groucho in "Animal Crackers," Harpo in "Love Happy"), and the other bros would have little to do but stand their with their mouths open. Not so in this. They are all main characters here, and each of them are allowed to stick to their own unique formulas that they are best at: Groucho with his wisecracks, Chico with his conning, Harpo with his silent antics, and Zeppo the straight man with his women-swooning.

As far as plotline goes, the four brothers play themselves, stowing away on an ocean-liner and constantly avoiding the captain and his crew by any means neseccary (and I do mean by any means!). The story itself is a very serious one, and it could have passed for a pretty good, if by-the-numbers gangster movie: There are two dueling mob bosses on this boat, one of which is trying to come clean after making his fortune. He has a beautiful young college daughter, and he is trying to get his life straightened out. The other mob boss has a failing marriage with a beautiful young wife (Thelma Todd), and he by no means is trying to reform. He wants his part of the other boss's money, or else he plans on kidnapping the daughter and holding her for ransom.

So what we have here is a pretty standard, serious plotline....The writers were very smart in choosing to make it one, so that it would eventually become all-the-more funny. Suddenly, into this serious movie, the Marx Brothers are dumped into the scene, and everything becomes chaotic. Groucho falls for the bad guy's wife. Zeppo falls for the good guy's daughter. Harpo falls for any girl in a dress. Chico falls for a cow. Chico and Harpo are hired to protect the goodguy. Groucho and Zeppo are hired to kill him. In the meantime, they are still on the run and are constantly trying to foil the plans of the Captain, who wants to put them in irons. The results of their slapstick are all the better now, because they are surrounded by a bunch of straight men who are acting in a very serious film...and it is their job to make it funny.

There is no greater film that better demonstrates just how genius the Marx Brothers' brand of comedy truely is. Groucho's constant insults and depression puns, Harpo's....whatever you call what Harpo does.... Chico's conning and comebacks, and Zeppo's romantic Renniasance man ("Mary, I'll never leave you," he promises his love before deserting her as he runs away in terror at the sight of the approaching the Captain) all make this the greatest of comedies. It also features probably their greatest screen moment: All four must do a Chevalier impression to get off the boat, and the results are....well....interesting.

Don't miss this movie if you want your sides to split in half!

"Would you mind getting off that flypaper and giving the

Nothing fancy, but plenty of anarchic fun, "Monkey Business" won't disappoint anyone who likes the Marx Brothers. While a little less riotous than their very best movies, it features a couple of extremely funny sequences, with the favorite probably being the 'Maurice Chevalier' scene. (As you watch that scene unfold, you start wondering how Harpo is going to play it, and it's quite clever when you find out.) Harpo has another fine scene when he gets tangled up in a puppet show. Zeppo gets a little more action than usual, and the others have some great moments, too. This one certainly should not be missed by any fan of Groucho and company.