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4.4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 4.4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Monkey Business in Africa remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you are a total nerd for 1930s cinematic junk. If you want a tight plot, look elsewhere. If you want to see someone in a fuzzy suit act like a confused primate while people scream at nothing, you’re in the right place.
The whole thing feels like a dusty scrap of film that someone found in an attic and decided to glue together. It doesn’t really flow so much as it just happens at you. There’s this constant, chaotic energy that reminds me a bit of the frantic pacing in The Knockout, though clearly with a much lower budget.
Our heroes go to this fictional "I'm Gagging" country—yes, that is the actual name—to film a movie. Why? Who knows. The jungle is mostly just some dry bushes and a few trees that look like they were rented from a local nursery for an afternoon.
Charles Gemora is in the gorilla suit, and he’s clearly giving it his all. He’s doing these little movements that are supposed to look menacing, but mostly he just looks like a guy who’s really, really hot and uncomfortable. There’s a moment where he holds a woman, and the way the background shifts suggests the camera crew was just moving a painted screen behind them. It’s hilariously bad. 🐵
The acting is pure vaudeville panic. Everyone is shouting their lines like they are trying to reach someone in the back row of a theater that doesn't exist. Marjorie Beebe is trying her best to ground things, but the script gives her absolutely nothing to work with besides looking terrified at objects that clearly aren't there.
It’s not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. But it has this weird charm that modern films just don't have anymore. It’s unpolished. It’s desperate. It’s barely holding onto its own premise.
If you watch this expecting a serious jungle adventure, you are going to be miserable. If you watch it to see how they faked movies before computers made everything look like a video game, it’s actually kind of sweet. Sort of like watching a child try to explain a magic trick that they clearly haven't mastered yet.
I found myself laughing at the transitions. One minute they are at a campfire, the next they are just... somewhere else. No explanation. No travel time. Just *poof*.
Maybe it’s better than Hot Biskits, but that’s not saying much. It’s a mess, but it's a mess with heart. Or maybe it’s just the heat of the jungle. Who knows.
IMDb 5.2
1931
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