Monkey Business - Quattro folli in alto mare

MONKEY BUSINESS (Paramount, 1931), directed by Norman McLeod, and written by S.J. Perelman, presents those four zany Marx Brothers in their third feature comedy. Following their previous efforts in THE COCOANUTS (1929) and ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930), each based on their 1920s stage works filmed at Paramount's Astoria studios in Long Island, NY, MONKEY BUSINESS, produced in Hollywood, was the team's first original comedy and one of their most funnier outings. While no relation to the 20th Century- Fox 1952 comedy starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers, except in title only, and having nothing to do with monkeys, this presentation does get right down to business when comedy is concerned.

Here Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo play four stowaways aboard ship bound for the states who, after being discovered hiding in barrels singing "Sweet Adeline," they are pursued by First Officer Gibson (Tom Kennedy) and his crew, which has the foursome running all over the ship, eluding authorities and driving practically everybody out of their minds. Eventually the four stowaways separate, with Chico and Harpo posing as barbers; Groucho acting as the captain, invading the sanctity of the captain's quarters where he and Chico makes themselves at home by eating his meals; Harpo later chasing the young ladies as well as entertaining little children at a puppet show while at the same time making a fool out of Gibson. Harpo even finds time making friends with a frog, but keeps it under his hat. As for Zeppo, in between chases, he finds time escorting a young lady named Mary (Ruth Hall) around the deck. Afterwards, they all encounter rival gangsters, Groucho encounters Alkie Briggs (Harry Woods), after being found with his wife, Lucille (Thelma Todd) in her state room. Briggs, however, takes a liking to Groucho and offers him a job, along with Zeppo, as his personal bodyguards. Chico and Harpo encounter Briggs' rival, Joe Helton (Rockcliffe Fellows), Mary's father and Zeppo's love interest, each becoming Helton's bodyguards as well. After docking in New York, the Marx Brothers find they must get past custom officials to get off. After obtaining the passport belonging to the popular French entertainer, Maurice Chevalier (who does not appear), they pass themselves off as Chevalier, singing one of his current hit songs, "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me," but to no avail. How the silent Harpo gets by with this must be seen to be believed. While the final 25 minutes shifts over to a swank party given by Kelton to introduce his daughter, Mary, to high society, the Marxes join in the function with dysfunctional tendencies as Groucho insults the guests, Chico and Harpo entertain with their traditional piano and harp interludes, while Briggs and his gang sneak in, posing as musicians, to carry out their plot of kidnapping Kelton's daughter, Mary, by holding her hostage inside a barn.

Virtually plot less in a sense, MONKEY BUSINESSS plays like an extended comedy short that would have worked equally well had it starred the Three Stooges. MONKEY BUSINESS is pure Marx Brothers nonsense that appears to be every bit as funny today as it possibly was way back in 1931. Anything goes with this film, including many memorable shipboard moments including Groucho's comedic dance with Thelma Todd; Groucho doing his bit by posing as a reporter interviewing and insulting the cultured Madame Pucchi (Cecil Cunningham, in a manner somewhat similar to Margaret Dumont, Groucho's frequent foil and straight-woman). GROUCHO: "Is it true you're getting a divorce as soon as your husband recovers his eyesight? Is it true you wash your hair in clam broth? Is is true you used to dance in a flea circus?" MADAME PUCCHI: "This is outrageous! I don't like this innuendo." GROUCHO: "That's what I always say. Love flies out the door when money comes innuendo."; the Chico and Groucho exchange regarding Christopher Columbus: GROUCHO: "Columbus sailed from Spain to India looking for a short cut," CHICO: "Oh, you mean a strawberry short cut?;" Harpo coming out from a barrel of hay in the barn and seen kissing a calf, and much more.

As with most of the Marx Brothers films produced by Paramount, MONKEY BUSINESS is pure comedy at best. Had this been done over at MGM, where the Marx Brothers would be employed (1935 to 1941), MONKEY BUSINESS most definitely be toned down some in comedy antics with extended romantic subplots and straight-forward and lengthy musical numbers. MONKEY BUSINESS has none of that. Unlike most Marx Brothers comedies, their characters in MONKEY BUSINESS have no background, no professions and no spoken character names (the closing cast credits them with their first names only). They are just unusual stowaways trying to keep themselves from being caught and taken to the brig. However, in this case, MONKEY BUSINESS has its full quota of belly-laughs. Nothing really drags and nothing provided is unnecessary. And whatever scenes may not be of importance or interest to the viewers, it passes by very quickly.

MONKEY BUSINESS, hailed as one of the top 100 comedies by the American Film Institute, has become a perennial favorite to many Marx Brothers enthusiasts. After many years being presented on commercial television on the afternoon or evening to after midnight hours, it became available on video cassette through MCA Home Video in the 1980s, and to cable television on several channels, from the Comedy Channel shortly prior to 1990, then to American Movie Classics (1991-1992), and, a decade later, on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 17, 2001). Regardless of its age, MONKEY BUSINESS, for all its silliness, continues to bring laughter to a new generation of movie lovers whenever shown, thanks to those funny men billed as The Marx Brothers. Because of them, no ocean voyage would ever be the same again, which is why no self respecting ship should ever set sail without them either. Bon Voyage. (***)

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.

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 flies a chance?"

**** out of ****

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.

How does one review a plotless movie? In "Monkey Business," the Marx Brothers spend the first hour running around on a ship, then they crash a fancy party, then they fist-fight gangsters in a barn. Is there connecting material? Well, yeah - of the thinnest sort imaginable. Does the lack of a coherent plot hurt the film? Not really. Bottom line: it's hilarious. Groucho in particular steals the show with his weird combination flirting/insulting routines.

It's worth noting that, while I laughed a lot at "A Night at the Opera," I laughed even more at this movie. In fact, I was in exquisite pain by the end. Of course, "Opera" actually makes some sense, so it might still be the better movie.

Definitely the best Marx Brothers film that doesn't feature Margaret Dumont, and the strongest showcase for the brothers' talents as physical comedians.