Monkey Business

The Marx brothers as stowaways on a ship
ship - and as an eminent disruptive factor in the daily routine
of the captain and various rival gangs:
Monkey Business is one of the first Marx Brothers comedies
Marx Brothers comedies conceived directly for the cinema, the ultimate study for the final surrealist explosion
Duck Soup. The gigantic sequences of this
of this madcap masterpiece include the impressively nonsensical
attempt by all the brothers to impersonate Maurice Chevalier
to get off the ship. Raymond Durgnat: ‘There is something indomitable about the Marx Brothers,
instinctive, free and triumphant, which makes their films
their films beyond satire to become a manifesto
a manifesto of joie de vivre.’ (C. H.)

Photo: Österreichisches Filmmuseum