After two films based on their
Broadway
successes, the Marx Brothers proved in MONKEY BUSINESS that they could
wreak havoc even more effectively with material written directly for
the screen. The film's lame excuse for a plot has the brothers as
ocean-liner stowaways who become henchmen for some of the most
unthreatening gangsters you've ever seen. But if you don't
notice
any plot amidst the Punch and Judy and Gookie shows, the one-a-snoops
too much, and the Maurice Chevalier impressions, it doesn't matter
much. Not structurally perfect, and the film sputters a bit
once
the setting shifts to dry land, but MONKEY BUSINESS is nevertheless as
funny a film as the Marxes ever made. The sight gags are
impossibly outrageous, and even throwaway lines like "Don't forget the
butter" seem as quotable as "Are these your gloves? I found
them
in your room." - JL
MONKEY BUSINESS is the purest of all Marx
Brothers films. There is no plot, just incident,
and a wisp of a love story between Zeppo and the lovely Ruth
Hall. The boys don't even have funny fictional made-up names,
but
rather are listed in the credits by their funny real-life made-up names
of Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo. The four are given a
handful
of sets to work on and scores of gags, jokes, puns and one-liners to
unleash on whomever they happen to meet. It is a movie so
filled
to the rafters with comedy, even Zeppo gets two cute gags of his own.
Director Norman Z.
McLeod and
the writers,
which included noted humorist S. J. Perelman, never let up;
as
soon as one comedy routine ends, another one begins, sometimes
separated by an isolated sight gag by Harpo or a one-liner from Groucho
or Chico. Even a scene
featuring the two rival gangsters of the story doesn't slow things
down, because in their effort to be absolutely serious, they are almost
as funny as the Marx Brothers. ½ -
JB
The
Marx Brothers The Age of Comedy
ADD ANOTHER
QUOTE AND MAKE IT A
GALLON
"And I? I'm the fellow that talks so much. Fancy
meeting
you
here after all these drinks."
WELL, THEY TOLD
ME IT WAS MY FATHER
The man pictured above behind the top-hatted Harpo is Sam "Frenchie"
Marx, proud father of the Marx Brothers.