Monkey Business (1931) Review

What do you do when you’ve had two smash hit movies adapted from Broadway plays? In the Marx Brothers’ case, they headed West for their first Hollywood film. The result is a movie that is very different from the previous two while cranking the insanity to eleven on a scale of one to ten. A wafer thin plot usually sinks a movie, but the Marx Brothers manage to stay afloat in this truly madcap comedy set on an ocean liner.

A mere four years after the revolutionary The Jazz Singer ushered in sound for movies, Monkey Business showed just how important the new technology was for comedy. There is no way the Marx Brothers would have been a success on the silver screen without hearing the machine gun patter of Groucho, the puns of Chico, or the harp playing of Harpo. Zeppo was always going to be along for the ride and could have been mute.

 

The movie begins with a creative way to present the credits: they roll on screen pasted on barrels. If you look closely, you can see that the photos were cut out and varnished on. So why barrels?

I’m tempted to say, “Why not?”

But there is a reason for them…

Animal Crackers (1930) Review

Following up their other Broadway hit turned motion picture, the Marx Brothers once again hit pay dirt at the box office with their second film. But a skimpy plot serves only to bridge one silly gag after another with plenty of songs thrown in for good measure. While not as good as their first film, there are plenty of laughs to be found.

After the success of The Cocoanuts transitioning from stage to screen in 1929, Paramount was eager to repeat the formula especially since Animal Crackers was already running on Broadway. Victor Heerman was brought on board to direct with the hopes he would be able to keep the wild brothers under control.

All that did was lead to another clash between Groucho and a director. What resulted was essentially a stage production put on camera with little directorial creativity. Fortunately, the Marx Brothers were more than able to carry the film despite that large handicap.

The movie begins with a display of a newspaper after the credits end. To make sure we ignorant savages understand what is being presented, close up shots of pertinent information are shown. From that we are meant to glean, the setup involves an explorer, Captain Geoffrey T. (for Edgar) Spaulding, and a famous painting arriving at a wealthy socialite’s estate. Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) is a widow of some means. Which means Groucho will be soon hitting on her.

Since this was an early talkie, we are subjected treated to the sight of the butler singing as he instructs the staff on how to handle the guests. It goes on far too long before seguing to Roscoe Chandler (Louis Sorin) arriving with his prize painting by Beaugard. Don’t bother searching, the painter and painting are fictional. I suspect people searching for them on the Net would have amused the Marx Brothers a great deal.

The Cocoanuts (1929) Review

This wildly inconsistent movie catapulted the Marx Brothers to fame on the eve of the Great Depression and heralded a new form of utterly insane humor. Long before Monty Python or even the Goon Show, the Marx Brothers brought savage wit, inspired lunacy, and irreverence toward all authority to the big screen. Over eighty years later,  are they still funny?

The Marx Brothers burst onto the scene and achieved stardom quickly, or so it probably seemed to the American people of the 1930’s. Instead, the Marx family had spent many years traveling and performing while grooming their sons for success on the Vaudeville circuit. Sons of immigrants, they were part of a Jewish invasion of American humor, much like the British invasion of pop thirty years later.

The Cocoanuts was their first film and an adaptation of a smash hit on Broadway, not to mention anywhere else they toured with it. Fast talking, absurd sight gags, and a mocking hostility toward authority were their trademarks and Americans ate it up. Yet superstardom would not have been possible for them except for that great innovation in cinemas: sound. The timing was perfect for Groucho’s quips and Chico’s flimflamming to hit the big screen. Then there was Harpo’s mute horn honking and harp playing to add to the madness. Oh yeah, there was Zeppo to play straight man, if anybody noticed him at all.