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UNIVERSAL

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Norman McLeod
Cast:
Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Thelma Todd
Writing Credits:
S.J. Perelman and Will B. Johnstone

Synopsis:
On a transatlantic crossing, the Marx brothers get up to their usual antics and manage to annoy just about everyone on board the ship.

MPAA:
Rated NR

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA Monaural
Subtitles:
English
French
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 78 min.
Price: $59.98
Release Date: 10/18/2016

Available Only as Part of The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection.

Bonus:
• Audio Commentary with Film Historian Robert S. Bader and Harpo’s Son Bill Marx


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Panasonic TC-P60VT60 60-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Smart Plasma HDTV; Sony STR-DG1200 7.1 Channel Receiver; Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player using HDMI outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Kenwood 1050SW 150-watt Subwoofer.

RELATED REVIEWS


Monkey Business [Blu-Ray] (1931)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 14, 2017)

With 1929’s The Cocoanuts and 1930’s Animal Crackers, the Marx Brothers created entertaining but inconsistent screen efforts. However, they found their cinematic bearings with 1931’s Monkey Business, one of their best efforts.

Business utilizes a simple story, as it places the brothers - Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo - as stowaways on an ocean liner. The crew finds them and they flee.

Along the way, the boys get involved with some gangsters. Alky Briggs (Harry Woods) keeps his unhappy wife Lucille (Thelma Todd) cooped up in their cabin while he tries to undermine competitor “Big Joe” Helton (Rockcliffe Fellowes).

Both crooks recruit various pairings of the brothers to do their dirty work. In addition, Zeppo tries to romance Helton’s daughter Mary (Ruth Hall).

Most of the film’s second half takes place on shore. When they come to port, Helton throws a big party for Mary. The action revolves around that shindig, and Briggs’ men try to kidnap Mary.

Why? I don’t have the foggiest idea. Maybe the movie explains this point but it gets lost in the comedy.

Marx movies never featured the most concise story telling, and Business offers no exception. The stories exist as little more than a loose framework to create opportunities for the Brothers to act goofy.

And that’s absolutely fine with me. The Brothers’ two earlier movies got bogged down in extraneous story details and too many characters. Too frequently they focused on participants other than the Marx boys, and those elements were nothing more than dull distractions.

I’d guess the filmmakers added the other roles because the Brothers weren’t proven commodities yet. The studio probably wanted to hedge their bets with some more traditional elements in addition to the Marx boys’ wackiness.

With the success of the two earlier movies, I figure this emboldened the Brothers and let them cast off the unnecessary parts. Thank God - I hated all the non-Marx elements of those first two flicks. Of course, Business still features other characters, but here they all connect to the Brothers in some way – they don’t stand apart like some of the prior flicks’ roles did.

It was definitely a good idea to cast Zeppo as the romantic lead. The two earlier flicks used non-Marx actors in those roles, and they were weak additions.

No, Zeppo doesn’t provide a magnetic personality, but at least his involvement feels more organic. In the first two movies, he did little more than stand around, so it makes sense to use the “neglected” Marx in a more prominent straight role.

Monkey also changes earlier patterns in that it omits musical numbers. The first two pictures featured significant song and dance routines, but they get the boot here.

Yeah, we’re still stuck with the inevitable piano solo from Chico and Harpo’s tedious harp routine. I suppose someone enjoys those moments, but I don’t, as they do nothing more than grind the story to a halt for some pretentious show-off bits.

At least we lose the production numbers. The earlier movies included enough of those pieces to fall under the “musical” banner, I suppose, but they didn’t totally commit to the genre. I’m more than happy to completely avoid those bits in Business, and their absence strongly benefits the film.

Unusually, the Brothers don’t play characters in Business. No, this doesn’t mean they act like their daily-life selves, but it does pare them down to their basic comedic personalities.

The prior flicks - and subsequent ones as well - put the Brothers into roles with different names and jobs. For instance, Animal Crackers made Groucho an explorer named Captain Spaulding, and the other Brothers also portrayed specific parts.

They still exhibit the same caricatured personalities here, but they take the unusual step of sticking with their actual names. In truth, I’m not even sure we ever hear their names during the flick, but they’re credited under their real monikers; Groucho plays “Groucho”, etc.

It’s a sensible move. What’s the point of pretending they’re various characters when they act the same anyway?

Monkey probably offers the purest exploration of the Marx Brothers’ styles. As I noted, it barely bothers to muster a plot, and it concentrates almost wholly on the nuttiness. The Brothers go for more radical material than we’d seen to date as well. Any form of restraint goes out the window for this wacky exploration.

If you need to see what I mean, just check out the climax. I won’t spill the beans totally, but all the Brothers end up in a barn to save the kidnapped Mary.

Most movies would concentrate on those efforts, but they’re tertiary here. Instead, the flick mostly deals with the crazy commentary on the action offered by Groucho and the others. It’s more spoof than anything else, and it presents a clever awareness of the genre’s conventions that’s unusual for a movie of this era.

Monkey Business isn’t perfect, but it may well be the best flick the Marx Brothers ever made. That’s because it’s probably the simplest, most focused piece they created. It eliminates most extraneous distractions and concentrates on lunacy, which makes it eminently satisfying.


The Blu-ray Grades: Picture C+/ Audio C+/ Bonus NA

Monkey Business appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Given the film’s age, the image seemed decent, but it offered a step down after the attractive Animal Crackers.

Sharpness varied somewhat. At times the image appeared mildly soft and ill-defined. However, the majority of the movie came across as reasonably accurate and distinctive. No jagged edges or shimmering showed up, but I noticed light edge haloes.

Blacks looked quite good. They presented nicely deep tones along with positive contrast, and shadows showed nice delineation.

Source flaws weren’t a major concern, but they cropped up at times. I saw the occasional small speck, and some thin lines appeared on a few instances. These weren’t major but they seemed more prevalent than with the Animal Crackers transfer. All of this left Business as a mostly positive but erratic presentation.

The DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Monkey Business was adequate for its era. Speech was thin and flat, but the lines remained intelligible and without noticeable flaws.

Music stayed dinky and feeble as well, though no distortion marred the presentation. Similar tones affected the effects, which were lackluster but not problematic given their age.

I discerned little background noise, so that caused no distractions. This was a perfectly average track for a movie from the early Thirties.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the original DVD from 2004? Audio showed a little more range but not much, as the nature of the source restricted improvements.

Visuals worked better, though. The Blu-ray seemed more accurate and cleaner than the DVD. This wasn’t as big an upgrade as some of the other Marx Brothers Blu-rays, but it did mark a step up in quality.

Because the Blu-ray can be purchased only as part of a three-disc package with one disc partly devoted to bonus materials, I didn’t give Monkey Business or the other individual discs a grade for extras. I’ll rate the set’s supplements as a whole when I look at that platter.

The Monkey Business disc does come with one extra: an audio commentary from film historian Robert S. Bader and Harpo’s son Bill Marx. They sit together for a running, screen-specific look at cast/crew, aspects of the production, music, and life among the Marx Brothers.

With Harpo's son in tow, I expected the last topic to dominate, and it does pop up more often than it otherwise might. However, Marx offers a lot less insight than I hoped - he throws out occasional thoughts about family relationships but he offers little we couldn't have gotten from a historian.

He and Bader tend to watch and laugh at the movie a little too much as well, so this ends up as an inconsistent commentary. It comes with some informational value but it's not especially memorable.

Monkey Business isn’t perfect, but it may well be the best flick the Marx Brothers ever made. That’s because it’s the simplest, most focused piece they created. It eliminates most extraneous distractions and concentrates on lunacy, which makes it eminently satisfying. The Blu-ray brings us mostly positive picture and audio as well as a decent commentary. Expect a lot of laughs from this fun film.

Note that Universal currently offers Monkey Business only as part of The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection. This three-disc set also includes Animal Crackers, The Cocoanuts, Horse Feathers and Duck Soup. The package provides one disc largely devoted to supplements as well.

To rate this film, visit the DVD review of MONKEY BUSINESS

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