No Monkey Business

Straight man Gene Gerrard and comic sidekick Richard Hearne (later famous as TV's Mr Pastry) try to pass off Hearne as a chimpanzee. Despite the fact that he's in a really unconvincing monkey suit, everyone's convinced. This silly plot seems like a hangover from the silent days and is crude compared to the comedy coming out of Hollywood at the same time. But it's slickly directed by Marcel Varnel, who went on to work with many of the greatest British comedians of the 30s and 40s, and the whole cast knows what they're doing. It's just that the business is impossible to laugh at today. Renee Houston is feisty as the second female lead and Claude Dampier does his standard goofy act. Stand-out performer, however, is Hearne, who at one point takes a backward tumble down a flight of stairs. You won't find many comedians today willing to do that.