Name | Monkey Business |
---|---|
Caption | theatrical release poster |
Director | Norman Z. McLeod |
Producer | Herman J. Mankiewicz (uncredited) |
Writer | S. J. PerelmanWill B. Johnstone |
Starring | Groucho Marx Harpo Marx Chico Marx Zeppo Marx Thelma Todd |
Music | John Leipold (uncredited) |
Cinematography | Arthur L. Todd |
Distributor | Paramount Pictures |
Released | 19 September 1931 |
Runtime | 77 minutes |
Language | English |
Country |
The film features a fight scene at the end in which Groucho acts as a commentator.
This is the first Marx Brothers film not to feature Margaret Dumont: this time their female foil is comedienne Thelma Todd, who would also go on to star in the Marx Brothers' next film, Horse Feathers. (Supposedly, Todd burst into tears when she was told she would be working with the Marxes.) A few years after the release of Horse Feathers, Todd died in unexplained circumstances. A line of dialogue in Monkey Business coincidentally seems to foreshadow Todd's death. Alone with Todd in her cabin, Groucho Marx quips: "You're a woman who's been getting nothing but dirty breaks. Well, we can clean and tighten your brakes, but you'll have to stay in the garage all night." In 1935, Todd died in her car inside a garage, apparently from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.
Early on in Monkey Business, the Brothers—playing stowaways concealed in barrels—harmonize unseen while performing the popular song "Sweet Adeline". It is a matter of debate whether Harpo joins in with the singing. (One of the ship's crew asserts to the captain that he knows there are four stowaways because he can hear them singing "Sweet Adeline".) If so, it would be one of only a few times Harpo used speech on screen, as opposed to other vocalizations such as whistling or sneezing. At least one other possible on-screen utterance occurs in the film A Day at the Races (1937), in which Groucho, Chico, and Harpo are heard singing "Down by the Old Mill Stream" in three-part harmony.
This was the first Marx film to be filmed in Hollywood. Their first two films were filmed at Paramount Pictures' Astoria Studios in Queens, New York.
Upon alighting from the ship, the Marx Brothers' real life father (Sam "Frenchie" Marx) is briefly seen in a cameo appearance, sitting on top of luggage behind the Brothers on the pier as they wave to the First Mate.
The concept of the Marx Brothers being stowaways on a ship would be repeated in an episode of their 1933 radio series Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel in the episode "The False Roderick" and would also be recycled in their later MGM film A Night at the Opera (1935). Also, the essence of Groucho's joke, "Sure, I'm a doctor—where's the horse?" would serve as an integral element for their later MGM movie A Day at the Races (1937). Also, the uproarious medical examination that Harpo and Chico give opera singer Madame Swempski (Cecil Cunningham) would later be repeated in A Day at the Races.
Category:1930s comedy films Category:1931 films Category:American films Category:Black-and-white films Category:English-language films Category:Films directed by Norman Z. McLeod Category:Marx Brothers (film series) Category:Paramount Pictures films
cy:Monkey Business (ffilm 1931) de:Die Marx Brothers auf See es:Pistoleros de agua dulce fr:Monnaie de singe (film, 1931) it:Monkey Business - Quattro folli in alto mare nl:Monkey Business (1931) no:Monkey Business pt:Monkey Business (1931) fi:Neljä nolattua neroa (elokuva) sv:Fyra fräcka fripassagerareThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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