THE COCOANUTS (Paramount, 1929), directed by Robert Florey, introduces the Four Marx Brothers to the talking screen, in which they reprized their roles from their 1925 stage success. Set in a 600-room hotel in Florida, Groucho (the one with the thick eyebrows and mustache), plays Mr. Hammer, the hotel manager; Chico (the one with the Italian accent), and Harpo (the one with the curly wig who acts but doesn't speak), play partners and hotel guests who enter with an empty suitcase with the intentions of filling it up upon their departure; and Zeppo, the straight man, as Hammer's registered desk clerk who is given little to do. Also staying at the Hotel de Cocoanut are Polly Potter (Mary Eaton), the "only paying guest at the hotel," Mrs. Potter (Margaret Dumont), Polly's snobbish widowed mother of high society; Bob Adams (Oscar Shaw), a young architect in love with Polly; and Harvey Yates (Cyril Ring) and Penelopie (Kay Francis), as a couple of thieves who plot to steal Mrs. Potter's jewels. With the introduction of the players, the story line involving hotel jewel thieves is basically the whole plot, but the main attraction that takes up most of the footage are the comedy routines supplied by the Marxes, either together or separately.
THE COCOANUTS predates the kind of comedies the Marx Brothers were to make at MGM (1935-1941): The simple story line, gags, romantic subplot and musical interludes either by the Marxes or their supporting players. With an Irving Berlin score heard for the only time in a Marx comedy, the musical program includes: "Florida By The Sea" (danced by girls at the beach/sung by off-screen singers); "The Bellhops" (dance number performed by bell-girls); "When My Dreams Come True" (sung by Oscar Shaw and Mary Eaton); "When My Dreams Come True" (harp solo by Harpo); "Monkey Doodle-Do" (sung and danced by Mary Eaton); instrumental dance number introduced with overhead camera shot ala Busby Berkeley; "When My Dreams Come True" (sung by Eaton); "The Toreador Song from CARMEN" (sung by Basil Ruysdael to the words of "I Want My Shirt"); "Gypsy Love Song" (piano solo by Chico Marx); and "When My Dreams Come True" (reprise/finale with Mary Eaton).
THE COCOANUTS consists of many comedy routines too numerous to mention, but the highlights are scenes involving Groucho and his foil, Margaret Dumont; the "Why a Duck" and auction sequence involving Groucho and Chico; the split screen sequence involving rooms of Penelopie and Mrs. Potter, as Harpo, Chico and Groucho go door to door, hiding under Penelopie's bed, with Hennessy (Basil Ruysdael), the hotel detective, keeping his watchful eye on the three zanies. With all this commotion, Penelopie succeeds in breaking away and stealing Mrs. Potter's jewels, with the hope that these men will be blamed.
In spite of its age and primitive stage origins, THE COCOANUTS is still a very funny movie. Available on video cassette by MCA Home Video in the 1990s, and later on DVD, it's definitely a must have for any Marx Brothers fan, especially since this is the movie that started it all. After years of being shown on local television, it was later presented on American Movie Classics from December 1991 to November 1992, and presented on Turner Classic Movies, where it made its debut on December 2001. Overlooking some of the faults from its early sound technology, such distortion and echoes in the sound, this introduction to the "Ides of Marx" is truly recommended. And look fast for Barton MacLane (famous movie tough guy of numerous Warner Brothers movies) seen briefly and recognizable as a standing lifeguard cuddled by a bathing suit flapper. (***)
THE COCOANUTS predates the kind of comedies the Marx Brothers were to make at MGM (1935-1941): The simple story line, gags, romantic subplot and musical interludes either by the Marxes or their supporting players. With an Irving Berlin score heard for the only time in a Marx comedy, the musical program includes: "Florida By The Sea" (danced by girls at the beach/sung by off-screen singers); "The Bellhops" (dance number performed by bell-girls); "When My Dreams Come True" (sung by Oscar Shaw and Mary Eaton); "When My Dreams Come True" (harp solo by Harpo); "Monkey Doodle-Do" (sung and danced by Mary Eaton); instrumental dance number introduced with overhead camera shot ala Busby Berkeley; "When My Dreams Come True" (sung by Eaton); "The Toreador Song from CARMEN" (sung by Basil Ruysdael to the words of "I Want My Shirt"); "Gypsy Love Song" (piano solo by Chico Marx); and "When My Dreams Come True" (reprise/finale with Mary Eaton).
THE COCOANUTS consists of many comedy routines too numerous to mention, but the highlights are scenes involving Groucho and his foil, Margaret Dumont; the "Why a Duck" and auction sequence involving Groucho and Chico; the split screen sequence involving rooms of Penelopie and Mrs. Potter, as Harpo, Chico and Groucho go door to door, hiding under Penelopie's bed, with Hennessy (Basil Ruysdael), the hotel detective, keeping his watchful eye on the three zanies. With all this commotion, Penelopie succeeds in breaking away and stealing Mrs. Potter's jewels, with the hope that these men will be blamed.
In spite of its age and primitive stage origins, THE COCOANUTS is still a very funny movie. Available on video cassette by MCA Home Video in the 1990s, and later on DVD, it's definitely a must have for any Marx Brothers fan, especially since this is the movie that started it all. After years of being shown on local television, it was later presented on American Movie Classics from December 1991 to November 1992, and presented on Turner Classic Movies, where it made its debut on December 2001. Overlooking some of the faults from its early sound technology, such distortion and echoes in the sound, this introduction to the "Ides of Marx" is truly recommended. And look fast for Barton MacLane (famous movie tough guy of numerous Warner Brothers movies) seen briefly and recognizable as a standing lifeguard cuddled by a bathing suit flapper. (***)