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.
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.