No where even close to looking like a chimpanzee, the circus attraction traveling with Laurel and Hardy is still cute enough to warrant attention. They inherit both the ape and a flea circus, and end up in temperamental hotel manager Billy Gilbert (fresh from destroying the piano in "The Music Box") who opposes both the chumps and the chimp. There's also a ferocious lion on their trail, one Laurel jokingly refers to as MGM. It's amusing thanks to the wild animals involved, but not one of the funnier ones. I did find the use of titles to toss in some narrative wisecracks to be very funny, and who wouldn't laugh at a dancing simian in a tutu, or the presence of hundreds of pesky fleas? As long as it's not me dealing with them. It's also ironic that Gilbert (whose wife has the same name as the gorilla) doesn't find it odd that Laurel and Hardy share one bed when there are two.
Review of The Chimp
The Chimp
(1932)
I guess "The Gorilla* couldn't be used...why not " The Ape"?
6 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers