Good Little Monkeys is a 1935 Happy Harmonies cartoon directed by Hugh Harman.
Plot[]
The cartoon begins at midnight during a rain storm in a house full of books. A tiny devil emerges from a copy of Dante's Inferno and stalks through the room, coming across statuettes of three good monkeys that have come to life. They sing a song about their virtue, "speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil."
The devil calls to the monkeys but is rejected with a repeat of their song. He grabs a pair of peanuts from a dish and uses them as maracas, inviting characters from other books such as Rip Van Winkle and Black Beauty to help him create music, using the song and a trail of peanuts to lure the monkeys away. The monkeys follow him, singing and eating the peanuts, until a woman from one of the books puts on a sultry belly dancing performance that makes them remember their virtue. They rebuke her and reprise their virtue song, but have already been lured close to the Inferno book, which the devil tries to drag them into.
The characters in the other books hear the monkeys cries as they try to escape the cackling devil, and rally together to save them. Staging a military assault by turning the items around the room into artillery, they chase the devil back into the book.
Now safe, the monkeys return to their perch and sing their song once more, covering their mouth, eyes, and ears as they go to rest. The "see no evil" monkey uncovers his eyes and gives the audience a wink.
Availability[]
- (2008) DVD - MGM Collection Volume 1
Notes[]
- This cartoon marked the first appearance of the Good Little Monkeys.
- This cartoon is a successor to 1933 Disney short "Three Little Pigs".