Monkey Business (1931) - Norman Z. McLeod

After two stage to screen translations Paramount decided to make their next Marx Brothers vehicle specifically for the screen. The result is a much more open and expansive film, with several set pieces and a lot more breathing room. They may also have had an idea to make Zeppo Marx into a romantic idol. Zeppo gets his most screen time here by far, playing in essence himself, the one and only sane member of a rambunctious family. Although it isn't mentioned that they are related here, all four of the Marx brothers begin as stowaways on a ship, and the credits list all of them by their names so none of them are playing fictional characters. It really is starring The Marx Brothers. I'd wager to say that at least considering their original work no film of theirs puts the brothers as such a group. They work together to achieve a common goal, and although temporarily put on different sides of a feuding gang war, they wind up working for the good guy, sort of.

The formula was significantly tweaked in this film, Groucho found a new romantic foil in Thelma Todd a woman worth pursuing because of her looks if nothing else. Zeppo found himself a more convincing and straight laced love affair with Ruth Hall, the daughter of the one time racketeer. As he plays his end fairly straight and getting into a knock down, drag out fist fight at the end to rescue his love, the rest of the film is more chaos. The scenes on the ship are by far the best as the brothers make themselves a nuisance all over the place. When too much time is spent on the "plot" things get bogged down. Unfortunately these straight sub-plots had been with the brothers since the start, and would become an even greater disgrace in the MGM years. However the film was a success, and I think it may be due to all brothers getting an equal footing here.