What else can I say about the Marx brothers that hasn't been said bu hundreds (thousands? Or as they might say in this movie, "lots") of other critics over the decades? They knew comic timing and how to play off one another. That is, of course, Groucho-Harpo-Chico (Zeppo is there, sometimes, though always the straight man, which is fine, three is enough) - in this first movie, The Cocoanuts, I can criticize it for having a simplistic plot around a stolen necklace, or around Groucho's plan for the 'lots' of lands he's trying to bid off as the owner of a fledgling hotel - because when they go full 'Marx' in their way, it's enough justification for sound to be introduced into cinema. They were pure delight and could be replaced in the dictionary under 'irreverent.'
And interestingly enough this is the first sound musical comedy - I think Jazz Singer was before, but that's a drama - so you get Irvin Berlin music along with the bits. This actually didn't get any 'hit' songs (according to trivia, "Always" was recorded but rejected for the film), but no matter: we get musical numbers here that involve lots of dancing girls. Why? Well, they were in the stage version of The Cocoanuts, so why not not translate it over onto film? Why not also have Harpo play the harp (hence his name, right), or Chico playing piano? It's time to show off what SOUND can do when put to pictures for the public! Oh, and those three brothers are going to make you crap your pants with laughter.
I think that you either go for the Marx brothers sensibility or you don't. If you do, then The Cocoanuts provides enough brilliant sequences and bits to not simply justify it's existence or look past using clichéd words like 'creaky' or 'stagey'. It's great fun to see this movie in what works so well - the "Why-A-Duck" dialog with Groucho trying to show the blueprints to Chico, which shows off how down to the nano-second that the two of them had the timing down to line and reactions, the scene where the brothers keep going in and out and through and around those two adjoining hotel rooms, those precious minutes between Groucho and Margaret Dumont, such an essential team that a lot of screwball comedy of the 30's comes out of their work together - that those scenes without the three brothers (i.e. the "When My Dreams Come True" number) are alright in the full picture.
Of course they would go on to greater and more ambitious pictures, and of course the moments when the film quality changes are jarring (the current print on DVD is assembled from scattered fragments as an original negative is now lost). But I don't think I even need to make any excuses for this movie: it's the beginning of the Marx style, full of 'don't-give-a-damn antics and double (maybe triple) entendres and Harpo doing things like just being Harpo on screen. I can't help but laugh every time I see him, even in a semi-serious moment (offering a lolipop to a girl who's in tears), and it's pure, early-cinema entertainment at its finest.
And how about that over-head shot for the dance number!
And interestingly enough this is the first sound musical comedy - I think Jazz Singer was before, but that's a drama - so you get Irvin Berlin music along with the bits. This actually didn't get any 'hit' songs (according to trivia, "Always" was recorded but rejected for the film), but no matter: we get musical numbers here that involve lots of dancing girls. Why? Well, they were in the stage version of The Cocoanuts, so why not not translate it over onto film? Why not also have Harpo play the harp (hence his name, right), or Chico playing piano? It's time to show off what SOUND can do when put to pictures for the public! Oh, and those three brothers are going to make you crap your pants with laughter.
I think that you either go for the Marx brothers sensibility or you don't. If you do, then The Cocoanuts provides enough brilliant sequences and bits to not simply justify it's existence or look past using clichéd words like 'creaky' or 'stagey'. It's great fun to see this movie in what works so well - the "Why-A-Duck" dialog with Groucho trying to show the blueprints to Chico, which shows off how down to the nano-second that the two of them had the timing down to line and reactions, the scene where the brothers keep going in and out and through and around those two adjoining hotel rooms, those precious minutes between Groucho and Margaret Dumont, such an essential team that a lot of screwball comedy of the 30's comes out of their work together - that those scenes without the three brothers (i.e. the "When My Dreams Come True" number) are alright in the full picture.
Of course they would go on to greater and more ambitious pictures, and of course the moments when the film quality changes are jarring (the current print on DVD is assembled from scattered fragments as an original negative is now lost). But I don't think I even need to make any excuses for this movie: it's the beginning of the Marx style, full of 'don't-give-a-damn antics and double (maybe triple) entendres and Harpo doing things like just being Harpo on screen. I can't help but laugh every time I see him, even in a semi-serious moment (offering a lolipop to a girl who's in tears), and it's pure, early-cinema entertainment at its finest.
And how about that over-head shot for the dance number!