Monkey Businessmen (1946) User Reviews

Rest Cure

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 19 July 2014]

Monkey Businessmen has Moe, Larry, and Curly as failed electricians after really bungling a job it's decided they need a rest to get back their edge. Their edge in God knows what.

They go to the sanitarium for a rest cure but upon getting there discover that the head of the place is really a crook out to bilk rich clients. And poor ones like the 3 Stooges. This is an outrage that has to be dealt with in timely stooge fashion. First they have to get out of the joint.

Character actor Kenneth MacDonald who had a rich, varied, and active career on the big screen and small did several 3 Stooges shorts. In this one as the crooked doctor MacDonald gets no small amount of laughs himself.

Sad to say though that Curly was pretty ill at this point and Moe had to coax his brother through this one. You can't tell however, I think this is one of their best short subjects.

solid Stooges short

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 28 January 2020]

Larry, Curly, and Moe are bumbling electricians. Their client Mr. Jordan has had enough and the boys get fired. They find a pamphlet for Mallard's Rest Home & Clinic, and decide to take a break. Dr. Mallard is most interested in charging a lot of money for his patients' non-existent ailments.

This is a solid Stooges short with Curly. It's especially good that Mallard is a con man. The boys' stumbling ways cause him a giant headache and that's very satisfying. This is all good.

One of the better comedies from the Three Stooges!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 9 May 2018]

Moe Howard (Moe), Curly Howard (Curly), Larry Fine (Larry), Kenneth MacDonald (Dr Mallard), Snub Pollard (man in wheelchair), Fred Kelsey (businessman), Jean Donahue (nurse), Cy Schindell, Rocky Woods (Mallard's assistants).

Director: EDWARD BERNDS. Screenplay: Edward Bernds. Based on the 1939 screenplay Mutiny on the Body! by Elwood Ullman and Searle Cramer. Photography: Philip Tannura. Film editor: Paul Borofsky. Art director: Charles Clague. RCA Sound System. Producer: Hugh McCollum.

Copyright 20 June 1946 by Columbia Pictures Corp. 18 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Three inept electricians retire to a rest home to re-charge their batteries.

COMMENT: One of the better comedies from the Three Stooges, this re-make of a Smith and Dale two-reeler is attractively photographed and cast. Curly is in especially fine form. And watch out for Jean Willes as Nurse Shapely!

"Pooh pooh! Who cares about expenses?"

[slymusic · 5 June 2009]

"Monkey Businessmen" was a very difficult Three Stooges comedy for director Edward Bernds to film, primarily because of Curly's poor health at the time. His brother Moe actually had to coach him through it, and Bernds could only be thankful. In this short, the boys decide to apply for entrance into a rest home after they get fired as electricians. There's only one problem: After the boys are admitted, they find out that the rest home is a scam!

Highlights: Moe and Curly literally shock each other while shaking hands. The Stooges do pantomime as the crooked Doc Mallard (Kenneth MacDonald), owner of the sanitarium, describes their daily schedule. Moe and Larry accidentally knock out Doc Mallard's two thugs (one of them played by Cy Schindell) by throwing away a bunch of weights. Curly follows a beautiful nurse (Jean Donahue) through a doorway, and she literally throws him back out! While Moe and Lary disguise themselves as surgeons, Curly hides under a blanket on the operating table, but several times he sits up out of turn, forcing Moe and Larry to knock his head back on the table. And finally, Moe: "You pebble brain! Why aren't you more careful when you climb up a ladder?" Curly: "I only climbed up seven steps!" Moe: "The ladder had six!"

Despite Curly's health troubles, "Monkey Businessmen" is a really good Three Stooges film with a high energy level all the way through! It also marks the Stooge-film debut of an actor who would be known as one of the boys' most sinister villains: Kenneth MacDonald!

Good Three Stooges short!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 5 August 2004]

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

Kenneth MacDonald is very good as the villain or the bad doctor. Jean Willes is very good to and she is different in this one and she looks great as well! Also in this Three Stooges short is Fred Kelsey, 'Snub' Pollard, Cy Schindell, Wade Crosby, and Rocky Woods. This is a very funny Three Stooges short especially the scenes where The Stooges are acting like doctors! I recommend this one!

Interesting...

[tles7-676-109633 · 5/10 · 4 May 2013]

This short is most notable because of Curly's bad health. It's his worst showing. He couldn't remember any of his lines and the film had to be shot one line at a time for him. You can even see Moe coaching Curly before some of his lines. His energy and language are notably low and slow due to strokes he had prior to the 7 month rest taken before this was shot. The slapstick was kept to a minimum for his benefit. It's not that there isn't any humor in the movie, it's not bad, it's just that you could see that a change would be necessary in the near future to keep the act going. Adding Shemp, was perfect, he was great in a different way. Rarely could a team replace a character member so successfully.