Monkey Business (Marx Brothers)

"Stockholders, huh? Well, you look like a couple of stowaways to me."
"Well, don't forget, my fine fellow, that the stockholder of yesteryear is the stowaway of today."

Four stowaways (Chico, Groucho, Harpo, and Zeppo) are making the Captain (Ben Taggart)'s life difficult. Hidden among the cargo, they sing "Sweet Adelaide" and send notes to the Captain complaining. They outsmart and outrun the crew, escaping from the cargo hold and going on their own adventures.
Groucho meets and insults the Captain,

"If this is the Captain, I'm gonna have a few words with him. My hot water's been cold for three days. And I haven't got room enough in here to swing a cat. In fact, I haven't even got a cat."

Later he ends up in the cabin of gangster Alky Briggs (Woods) where he tries to romance Alky's wife Lucille (Todd). Zeppo falls for Mary Helton (Hall), daughter of Alky's rival Joe Helton (Fellowes). When both Zeppo and Groucho hide in Alky's room, he gives them guns and hires them to help scare Helton.
Meanwhile, Harpo hides in a Punch and Judy puppet show (as one of the puppets) to outsmart the First Mate. Eventually he finds Chico and they end up impressing Big Joe Helton, and he hires them as bodyguards. The plot doesn't really matter... it doesn't need to make sense or be plausible, it just sets up the next joke for the Brothers.


The first Marx Brother film written for film (The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers were originally stage shows for the Marx Brothers, then adapted to film). The plot isn't memorable, but the Brothers make it work. The Brothers are consistently referred to as "the stowaways" and never mentioned by name... but they don't need names to create chaos both on deck and on shore. Zeppo gets a romance... Harpo clowns around in some memorable sight gags: the puppet show mentioned earlier and fighting with Chico... Chico has some good lines with Groucho and plays the piano (Harpo plays his harp as well)... and Groucho mystifies the masses with his quick one-liners. Funny enough to be ranked among the greatest Marx Brother films, but not the best.

To read another review of this film (and other Marx Brother films) go to this site: http://theageofcomedy.laurelandhardycentral.com/monkbiz.html

Monkey Business (1931) 77 minutes
Director: Norman L. McLeod
Starring: Groucho Marx as Groucho
Harpo Marx as Harpo
Chico Marx as Chico
Zeppo Marx as Zeppo
Rockliffe Fellowes as Big Joe Helton
Harry Woods as Alky Briggs
Thelma Todd as Lucille Briggs
Ruth Hall as Mary Helton