Monkey Business is a film that gets right down to business, the laugh business that is. No buildup of any kind, it starts off with the Marx four stowing away on a transatlantic ocean liner and merrily eluding captain and crew.
You can't go into any kind of plot, there really isn't one. As it happens there are two rival gangsters on board the ship, Rockliffe Fellowes traveling with daughter Ruth Hall and Harry Woods, normally a western heavy traveling with his wife/moll Thelma Todd.
Groucho and Zeppo get hired by Woods and Harpo and Chico get hired by by Fellowes. Zeppo has some misplaced loyalty though, he falls for Ruth Hall. But Groucho sticks loyally by Thelma Todd, too loyally in the mind of Woods.
The action moves from the ocean liner to a society party, similar to the one Mrs. Rittenhouse was throwing for Captain Spaulding in their last picture Animal Crackers. Hall is captured and it's up to the Marx to rescue the fair maiden. After all for the one and only time in their film careers, she was the sweetheart of one of their own.
Monkey Business is famous for the Marx Brothers affectionate salute to Paramount's biggest star at the time, Maurice Chevalier. They all get a crack at imitating Chevalier singing a few bars of You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me from The Big Pond. All of them mind you, even Harpo.
Monkey Business was also the first film the Marx Brothers did in Hollywood, their first two, The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers were done at Paramount's Astoria Studio in New York. It was also the first film written directly for them for the screen. It's a comedy classic, enjoyed by Marxists of all kinds.
You can't go into any kind of plot, there really isn't one. As it happens there are two rival gangsters on board the ship, Rockliffe Fellowes traveling with daughter Ruth Hall and Harry Woods, normally a western heavy traveling with his wife/moll Thelma Todd.
Groucho and Zeppo get hired by Woods and Harpo and Chico get hired by by Fellowes. Zeppo has some misplaced loyalty though, he falls for Ruth Hall. But Groucho sticks loyally by Thelma Todd, too loyally in the mind of Woods.
The action moves from the ocean liner to a society party, similar to the one Mrs. Rittenhouse was throwing for Captain Spaulding in their last picture Animal Crackers. Hall is captured and it's up to the Marx to rescue the fair maiden. After all for the one and only time in their film careers, she was the sweetheart of one of their own.
Monkey Business is famous for the Marx Brothers affectionate salute to Paramount's biggest star at the time, Maurice Chevalier. They all get a crack at imitating Chevalier singing a few bars of You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me from The Big Pond. All of them mind you, even Harpo.
Monkey Business was also the first film the Marx Brothers did in Hollywood, their first two, The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers were done at Paramount's Astoria Studio in New York. It was also the first film written directly for them for the screen. It's a comedy classic, enjoyed by Marxists of all kinds.