This 1952 exercise in foolishness, directed by
Howard Hawks, is constructed well enough to make itself likeable, even charming. The star-studded cast doesn’t hurt anything either—
Cary Grant,
Ginger Rogers and
Charles Coburn all get their chances to jump around and use juvenile voices, doing their variously silly impressions of youthful teens, while
Marilyn Monroe,
on the very cusp of becoming an icon, gets by fine with her fallback
little-dumb-blonde-lost shtick, cooing and swishing around and showing
off body parts (I’m always a little taken aback by her voluptuousness,
forever expecting that her reputation for beauty will mean the usual
quasi-anorexia of today).
It’s the kind of movie I used to love
finding on after-school matinees on TV, a confection built out of broad
concept, even broader humor, and star turns artfully deployed, which I’m
pretty sure adds up simply to testament of Hawks’s ability to make a
picture. Cary Grant plays Dr. Barnaby Fulton, a genius—the term is
bandied about so casually it’s drained of the typical pretensions and
becomes a kind of equivalent of “dentist”—and an affable chemist who
works for a big corporation on “formulas,” which in turn produce
products like nylons that won’t run and popcorn bags that won’t crackle.
In this case he is working on a fountain-of-youth drug. Well, that’s
kind of like a popcorn bag that won’t crackle.
And he perfects
it—or, that is, one of the monkeys that serve as his test subjects does
(title explanation alert!). Escaping from its cage when no one is
around, it mixes and matches ingredients from the lab table randomly and
then tosses the final product into the watercooler before heading off
in search of a typewriter to recreate the works of Shakespeare. Hence,
keep an eye on that watercooler. When someone gets a drink of water (and
they do so, of course, over and over again), makes a face, and comments
on how bitter the water is, you know massive hilarity is on the way.
In
Barnaby’s case it involves recovering his eyesight (normally he wears a
pair of comical thick-lensed absent-minded scientist glasses), leaving
the lab to acquire a crewcut, a loud jacket, and a bumptious jalopy, and
spending the afternoon with Miss Lois Laurel (played by Marilyn
Monroe), the secretary of his boss. For Ginger Rogers, as Barnaby’s wife
Edwina, it means her voice going up about an octave, a desire to dance
all night, and a bathetic sentimentalism combined with an outrageous
self-centeredness that’s nearly perfectly annoying. This contrasts with
her usual stolid willingness to support her husband in anything and go
to the kitchen to make eggs.
Cary Grant is about what he always
is—unrelievedly debonair, somehow even in war paint and jumping up and
down and whooping. Ginger Rogers is also pretty much what she always is,
but because she’s more taken for granted I will use the opportunity to
point out how remarkably good that actually is. Here, in her early 40s
(virtually ancient in those times), she’s inventing a strain of Doris
Day mostly before Doris Day even got to it, the talented beauty who’s
given up her opportunities to be the stalwart wife of a serious man. She
plays the long-suffering-patience side of that almost beyond
believability (when Barnaby shows up with lipstick all over his face
after his first adventure she barely bats an eye), but she is capable of
turning on a dime to become feisty and combative, weepy and
self-pitying, or just plain treacherous.
She even gets to do a
few dance moves, which is as it should be, although her most amazing
stunt here is to lie down with a cup of coffee balanced on her forehead
and then get back up again without ever spilling a drop. Rogers holds
her own reliably; it doesn’t matter with whom she’s sharing the screen,
she’s often the most interesting person there. This is actually true
across a reasonably large majority of her movies, so it shouldn’t come
as a surprise. Go ahead and check them out. Any five titles with her,
selected at random—with or without Fred Astaire, even. Your choice. You
may be surprised.
But I digress. Monkey Business comes with a great cast all through—don’t miss the six-year-old
George Winslow and his usual frog voice doing a bizarre riff on
John Wayne and
the fine points of western conflict, or Hugh Marlowe taking a mohawk
for the project. The story is ridiculous and only gets more so, but
certainly that’s as intended. It’s also entertaining, propulsive, and
over before you know it, which are hallmarks of Howard Hawks pictures,
even ones like this that at bottom are very nearly fatally slight. Is it
worth chasing down? Maybe. It’s not worth changing the channel to
avoid; maybe that’s the better way to put it.
JPK is an arts journalist and professional writer and editor who owns and operates the blog Can’t Explain, which covers movies, music, and books of the past.
I agree that Ginger Rogers may be one of the most underrated actresses of the Golden Age.
In discussing her teamings with Fred Astaire, most reviewers go out
of their way to mention that Astaire danced with far more technically
proficient dancers. Yet, he was never teamed with a better acting
partner. I can't think of a bad performance she ever turned in.
I also liked the comment about Marilyn's "voluptuousness." There are
many males like myself who long to see a return to that standard of
beauty rather than the "skinny little boy look" that seems to be in
vogue (witness the rising popularity of Christina Hendricks from "Mad
Men").
All in all a solid little comedy. Each of the cast members have appeared in far funnier films, but not a bad film at all.
Most of Cary's movies are good
and highly entertaining--"Monkey Business" lives up to it's name. Also
love Ginger as she was very talented and fun to watch.
I saw this first on NBC's
'Saturday Night At The Movies' when I was a kid. It remains an
excellent zany comedy. Cary Grant became one of my top favorite actors
as a result of seeing a television broadcast of 'Gunga Din' back in the
late fifties. Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe were always a joy to
watch. They were savvy actresses and rarely, if ever, delivered a
disappointing performance.
...great to see another review of a GingerFilm (along with The Major and the Minor a few weeks back).
This
one is mindless fun, and the bottom line is it seems like everyone in
the film is having fun with it... my fav scene is where Edwina and
Barney are checking into a hotel, and Edwina (in young girl mode due to
the magic elixir) turns the corner and slides about 30 feet or so right
past the camera into a pratfall...yeah, it's acting goofy, but
just....cool!
Ultimately a pretty neat 'latter-era' screwball comedy,
which honestly foreshadows the Disney 'live-action' movies of the
early-mid 60's, like 'nutty professor', 'flubber', etc... I recommend it
to screwball fans, and a 'must-see' for Cary, Ginger, and even Marilyn
fans, as she does turn in a good performance as...well, Marilyn!
VKMfanHuey
P.S. - check out Gingery stuff on my blog,
gingerology.com...thanks!
I really enjoyed this film, but
in my view not as good as Bringing up Baby. There are many fun scenes
and my favourite line is when Coborn gets Marilyn to find a secretary to
type a letter. Grant says "but SHE is your secretary". Coburn repostes "
anyone can type!" Great stuff.
A lot of the hilarity of this
film come from the one-liners, especially involving Marilyn Monroe. My
favorite is(and I'm paraphrasing)when Barnaby (Cary Grant) goes to see
Mr. Oxley (Charles Coburn) and Miss Laurel (Marilyn as Coburn's 'dumb
blonde' secretary) is at her desk. Barnaby says to her "You're here
early." She says, "Well, Mr. Oxley says I need to improve my
punctuation."
This is a fun movie! If you're
looking for silly, escapist, smile producing entertainment, this is a
good one to see. Even more than once! Our friend JPK hits the nail on
the head with his comments on Ginger Rogers.... She was really one
amazing lady in many, many respects. As for this viewer, daily life
presents so much in the "Sturm und Drang" line that my entertainment
must be escapist.... You can keep your realism and drama! In almost
every instance, Ginger makes you smile - and often! That glass trick was
pretty amazing at any age, and especially for anyone over 40!... She
even mentioned it in her autobiography. Yes, she and Cary worked well
together. They should have done more! Thanks for good comments all
around!
-
This movie is fun because it is
so unbelievable. Besides Cary and Ginger, Charles Coburn is a delight
as he always is and could never resist the little boy with the froggy
voice.
"Monkey Business" is a great
comedy. I think Cary Grant was at the top of his game. It was certainly
one of his best performances. And Marilyn Monroe was also very good. It
was early in her career and she was not yet the driving cinematic force
she eventually became. That's why she plays a character who is
essentially a "straight man." She is a target for much of the hilarious
slapstick nonsense wrought by Grant and Rogers. But she takes it all in
stride. All in all, "Monkey Business" is not to be missed.
Haven't seen this film in a long
time so will have to view it again. I always enjoy Cary Grants
performances but can't imagine it would be as good as Bringing up Baby.
Recently saw Ginger Rogers in Barkleys of Broadway made in !949 and
thought she was looking a bit worn by then - enjoyed the dancing
though.Loved her with Ray Milland in the Major and the Minor - although
it was a stretch that she was portraying a "teenager".
I went to the local "nostalgia"
film house to see this in the pre-VCR days. I thought I was seeing the
Marx Bros.(as did the owner of the theater!) Imagine how I felt when
this came on....but I had never seen this film, so I stayed because of
Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers. A pleasant surprise to say the least.
The supporting cast is great and it is good to see Marilyn Monroe in her
role. Check it out once, you may be surprised by the movie.
DON'T NORMALLY LIKE "GOOFY" AND
UNREALISTIC MOVIES, BUT ENJOYED THIS...MAINLY CUZ I WILL WATCH ANYTHING
WITH GINGER ROGERS....TALK ABOUT VERSATILITY, THIS LADY INVENTED THAT
NAME....IT IS FUN TO CATCH HER IN THE LATE 20'S AND THEN WATCH HER
PROGRESS....YOU CAN EVEN FORGIVE HER ONE REAL FLUB IN PICKING FILM
ROLES...THE MOVIE IS CALLED "HEARTBEAT", MADE IN 1946 WITH GINGER
PLAYING AN 18 YEAR OLD....IN 1946????YOU DON'T NEED A CALCULATOR TO
FIGURE SHE WAS BORN IN 1911, SO THIS WOULD MAKE HER 35 YEARS OLD...TALK
ABOUT MISCASTING...MUST OF NEEDED THE MONEY....
monkey business is probably one
of the funniest movies ever made, I believe as good as "some like it
hot". the scene where he plays the indian leader is hystericly funny.
this is one very underated movie.
"Monkey Business" (not to be
confused with the Marx Bros. film of the same name) appears to be Howard
Hawks' attempt to "correct" the box-office failure of "Bringing Up
Baby". Both star Cary Grant as a befuddled scientist. Needless to say,
it flopped, too, and has not gone on to become the classic "Bringing Up
Baby" is. "Baby" is a crazy screwball comedy, with one of Katherine
Hepburn's bester performances; "Monkey Business" is just a lot of
ultimately pointless silliness.
Grant's peformance, though, shows what a good actor he could be when
he wanted -- it doesn't duplicate his performance in "Baby". And Ginger
Rogers has wonderful chemistry with him -- her sense of profound (but
not awe-struck) affection for her husband comes across well.
Worth seeing -- once.
