I love the Marx Brothers and Duck Soup is my favorite, even if this does come close. But Monkey Business hardly ever gets talked about like their other movies do (I'm looking at you Duck Soup, with all your discushions about political satire), which is a shame, as the ship-board part of the movie is one their best stretches of Marx comedy. Does anyone else agree this is their most underrated?
shareI'm not sure where you've come to the conclusion that MB is underrated. From all the sources I've ever read concerning the Marx's, MB has always been considered one of their best Paramount films. In fact, during the 70's when some Marx films were difficult to see due to rights issues (Animal Crackers) or badly deteriorating prints (Horse Feathers), MB was one of the more commonly shown of the Marx films. Duck Soup certainly did see a resurgence of popularity during the 60's due to it's anarchic political content, but I never got the impression that this caused opinion of MB to lessen in any way.
To me, the one that seemed to be underrated was Horse Feathers, mainly due to it's being out of circulation for so long due to the deterioration of the existing prints.
Well, nowadays when critics turn to discussing their movies, both Animal Crackers and Duck Soup are always mentioned, wheres this and Horse Feathers while funny films, don't seem to have the same standing among them as the afore mentioned.
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"Monkey Business" is my favorite Marx Brothers movie. Not only is it one of their best, it's their most distinctive.
It's their first movie with an original screenplay ("The Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers" were adaptations of their Broadway shows). It's the first of their films to be made in Hollywood. And it's the only film in which the brothers essentially play themselves.
And all four of them have plenty to do, even Zeppo. In fact, this is his best film. He plays both straight and funny; he's the romantic lead for the first time; he's the one who steals Maurice Chevalier's passport to set up the classic disembarkation scene, and he's even the hero at the end.
"Monkey Business" may not be regarded quite as highly as "Duck Soup" or "A Night at the Opera," but along with "Animal Crackers" and "Horsefeathers," it's still a classic.
Well said JerryZ111. The balance between the brothers in this one is ideal.
I also love this one for being flat-out stuffed with jokes, unlike their later films. "Day at the Races" is problematical for me because of so much time not spent with the brothers.
In "Monkey Business" very little time is spent on plot, character development, or god help us, songs. This one's all about the one-liners. "That reminds me, where are my pants?" "You've got them on."
Oh, and the amazing Thelma Todd.
"Film is a mosaic of 'Time'."
-A. Tarkovsky
Definitely agree. I mean this one's more gag based than anything, but there's just so much hilarious material crammed into it, and none of the sappy subplots that dragged down their otherwise great movies like A Night at the Opera. Especially loved the Maurice Chevalier bit.
share"Now he can't get off the boat!"
"Film is a mosaic of 'Time'."
-A. Tarkovsky
I agree that Monkey Business is certainly the most underrated of their Paramount films while I consider The Big Store to be their most underrated film overall. When most classic cineastes mention its title they mainly think of the unrelated, mildly amusing 1952 Howard Hawks directed Cary Grant/Ginger Rogers/Marilyn Monroe film with the exact same title but the 1931 Marx Brothers film is far funnier. I like how unprententious it is with just the 4 brothers as themselves with their zaniness running rampant. Zeppo and Ruth Hall are easily the best young romantic couple of any of the MB films and by far the funniest and least sappiest. I prefer Groucho's scenes with Thelma Todd here to their similar scenes together in Horse Feathers. The only thing missing is Margaret Dumont. Other than that, I think it's the best of their early films.
sharemonkey Business is my personal favourite, closely followed by Horse Feathers.
shareNo, this movie is pretty lame.
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