The Cocoanuts (1929) Director: Robert Florey and Joseph Santley
“Jail is no place for a young fellow. There’s no advancement!”
★★★★☆
The first feature-length Marx Brothers film, The Cocoanuts offers a terrific introduction to the absurdist brand of comedy we have come to expect from the Marx Brothers. The film is filled with all manner of classic Groucho Marx zingers and subtle mockery of status quo elite culture. Amidst the 1920s land boom, Groucho plays a character named Mr. Hammer who runs a hotel in Florida called the “Hotel de Cocoanut.” His preference is to sleep on the job and avoid paying his staff until Harpo and Chico arrive with empty suitcases, ready to rob unsuspecting clientele. The only paying client at the hotel is a wealthy dowager named Mrs. Potter, an aristocrat with concerns about her daughter’s impending marriage (played by Margaret Dumont –she was featured in seven of the Marx Brothers’ films). Her daughter Polly (Mary Eaton) is in love with a struggling architect named Bob Adams (Oscar Shaw) who is blamed for stealing Mrs. Potter’s diamond necklace (he is eventually arrested). Naturally, with this strange mix of people all united under one roof, chaos ensues.
As with other Marx Brothers films, the plot, location, and character names have little to do with the actual film itself –they are each merely one-dimensional caricatures which allow for the Marx Brothers to conduct slapstick antics amidst a series of events leading to unfolding turmoil. The scenery exists merely to set the stage for a string of chaotic and anarchic gags, adding a timeless quality to the film. In the end, a detective arrives named Detective Hennessy (Basil Ruysdael) and Bob Adams is falsely fingered as the diamond necklace culprit, while Mrs. Potter decides to quickly marry her daughter off to another suitor, Harvey Yates (Cyril Ring) before Bob Adams is broken out of prison and exonerated, leading to his wedding celebration with Polly at last. Per usual in a Marx Brothers film, upper-class concerns only exist for the benefit and financial exploitation of scummy, low-brow sheisters like Groucho Marx.
Best Quotations from the Film (mainly courtesy of Groucho Marx):
“Folks, you are now in Cocoanut Manor, one of the finest cities in Florida. Of course, we still need a few finishing touches, but who doesn’t?” – Groucho (a.k.a. Hammer)
“Right now I’d do anything for money. I’d kill somebody for money. I’d kill you for money. Ha ha ha. Ah, no. You’re my friend. I’d kill you for nothing” -Chico
“- Hammer: Now here is a little peninsula and here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland.
– Chico: Why a duck?”
“Jail is no place for a young fellow. There’s no advancement” -Groucho (a.k.a. Hammer)
“Groucho: What would you like? Would you like a suite on the third floor?
Chico: No. I’ll take a Pollack in the basement”
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Credits:
- Directed by: Robert Florey, Joseph Santley
- Written by: George S. Kaufman (play), Morrie Ryskind
- Produced by: Monta Bell, Walter Wanger (uncr.)
- Starring:
- Groucho Marx…..Mr. Hammer
- Harpo Marx…..Harpo
- Chico Marx…..Chico
- Zeppo Marx…..Jamison
- Mary Eaton…..Polly Potter
- Oscar Shaw…..Bob Adams
- Margaret Dumont…..Mrs. Potter
- Cyril Ring…..Harvey Yates
- Basil Ruysdael…..Detective Hennessy
- Cinematography: George J. Folsey, J. Roy Hunt
- Edited by: Barney Rogan (uncr.)
- Music by: Irving Berlin, Victor Herbert (uncr.), Frank Tours (uncredited), Georges Bizet (uncredited)
- Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Other Notes:
- The original Marx Brothers vaudeville act contained five Marx Brothers, but Gummo Marx left the group to serve in World War I. He later became a successful businessman and was replaced by Zeppo Marx in the group.
- After 27 takes during filming for The Cocoanuts, director Robert Florey realized the sound of crackling paper was overwhelming the primitive sound equipment onset, so all the papers in the film were shot soaking wet to avoid further sound issues.
- The “ink” that Harpo drinks from the hotel lobby inkwell was actually Coca-Cola, and the “telephone mouthpiece” that he nibbles in the film was made of chocolate, both of which were inventions of Robert Florey.
- This film was shot with a full orchestra live for its musical numbers.
- When the Marx Brothers were first shown the final cut of the film, they were horrified and tried to buy the negative back and prevent its release. But Paramount resisted and the movie turned out to be a big box office hit, earning a gross of $1,800,000 making it one of the most successful early talkie films.