MONKEY BUSINESS (DVD/DIAMOND COLLECTION/CARY GRANT) DVD

Monkey Business
Howard Hawks hoped to capture the screwball comic fervor of his 1938 film Bringing Up Baby with his 1952 comedy Monkey Business. As in the earlier film, Cary Grant stars as an absent-minded professor involved in a research project. This time he's a chemist seeking a "fountain of youth" formula that will revitalize middle-agers both mentally and physically. Though Grant's own laboratory experiments yield little fruit, a lab monkey, let loose from its cage, mixes a few random chemicals and comes up with just the formula Grant is looking for. This mixture is inadvertently dumped in the lab's water supply; the fun begins when staid, uptight Grant drinks some of the "bitter" water, then begins cutting up like a teenager. A harmless afternoon on the town with luscious secretary Marilyn Monroe rouses the ire of Grant's wife Ginger Rogers, but her behavior is even more infantile when she falls under the spell of the youth formula. Everyone remembers the best line in Monkey Business: foxy-grandpa research supervisor Charles Coburn hands the curvacious Monroe a letter and says "Get someone to type this". Even better is his next line: after Monroe sashays out of the room, Coburn turns to Grant and, with eyes atwinkle, murmurs "Anyone can type." Likewise amusing is Monkey Business's pre-credits gag, wherein Cary Grant opens a door and is about to step forward when director Hawks, off-camera, admonishes "Not yet, Cary." Among the co-conspirators on Monkey Business's carefree script are Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer and I.A.L. Diamond, with an original story by Harry Segall (Here Comes Mr. Jordan) as their source. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Cary Grant as Prof. Barnaby Fulton Ginger Rogers as Edwina Fulton Charles Coburn as Oliver Oxly Marilyn Monroe as Lois Laurel Hugh Marlowe as Hank Entwhistle Larry Keating as O.J. Gulverly Robert Cornthwaite as Dr. Zoldeck Henri Letondal as Dr. Siegfried Kitzel Douglas Spencer as Dr. Brunner Esther Dale as Mrs. Rhinelander George Winslow as Deep-voiced Boy Emmett Lynn as Jimmy Jerry Sheldon as Detective Joseph Mell as Barber George Eldredge as Auto Salesman Kathleen Freeman as Mrs. Brannigan Mary Field as Clerk Olan Soule as Hotel Clerk Gil Stratton as Yale Man Harry Carey Jr. as Detective Faire Binney as Dowager Bill McLean as Bellboy

Crew George Patrick - Art Director Lyle Wheeler - Art Director William Travilla - Costume Designer Paul Helmick - First Assistant Director Howard Hawks - Director William B. Murphy - Editor Leigh Harline - Composer (Music Score) Lionel Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision Ben Nye, Sr. - Makeup Milton Krasner - Cinematographer Sol C. Siegel - Producer Thomas K. Little - Set Designer Walter Scott - Set Designer Ray Kellogg - Special Effects W.D. Flick - Sound/Sound Designer Roger Heman - Sound/Sound Designer Harry Segall - Screen Story Charles Lederer - Screenwriter Ben Hecht - Screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond - Screenwriter

Monkey Business
Not one of director Howard Hawks' top-ranked efforts, Monkey Business is still a very entertaining, if immensely silly piece of fluff. While the director's efforts may remind some of fellow director Frank Tashlin in its zaniness and non-stop inanity, it's still very much a Hawks film; the care he takes in setting up punchlines, the attention to precise timing, the seemingly carefree flow, the improbability that seems somehow grounded in a strange kind of reality prove this. While the script at times seems beneath the talents of its three esteemed creators, pulling off a story this silly requires the kind of enormous skill they bring to the project. Of even more benefit is the cast, headed by the irreplaceable Cary Grant, who holds the film together with his on-the-mark performance. Grant makes it all seem effortless, and if he finds the proceedings somewhat ridiculous, he never lets on to the audience. He is well matched by Ginger Rogers, who makes Edwina's transformation believable and delightful, and by the always reliable Charles Coburn. Marilyn Monroe has little to do in a small role, but she commands attention nonetheless; director Hawks would find considerably more for her to do the next year in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
 

Ginger Rogers: Golden Globe, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or C (nominated)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: English, Spanish Sound Processing: 1: PCM mono 2: PCM stereo Additional Features: cc Restoration comparison Still gallery Theatrical trailer Full-screen format (aspect ratio 1.33:1) Audio: English stereo, English mono, French mono Subtitles: English, Spanish DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1: Pre-1954 Standard MPAA Rating: NR DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 97 min Part of Series: Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection Series   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Main Titles 2. An Absent-Minded Chemist 3. Genius at Work 4. At Oxley Chemical 5. A New Formula 6. Self-Experimentation 7. A New Look 8. Back to Normal 9. Edwina Volunteers 10. At the Pickwick Arms 11. The Press 12. Funny-Tasting Coffee 13. Paint Fight 14. Red Eagle 15. Barnaby? 16. Playing May-Pole 17. This Is Barnaby! 18. Who Are You? 19. The Monkey Mix 20. A Formula for Life