Odd to think that less than ten years after this film was made, the Marx Brothers would once again appear in a converted stage play about a hotel. Though whereas Room Service (4) (recorded for RKO on a break from MGM) would see them retain their post-'35 "helpful" personas, The Cocoanuts is very much the group as they were originally intended. Here Groucho maintains the hotel in question, but when his brothers turn up to alternately rob/smash the place up, Groucho joins in with their plans for no other reason than it's funny.
Okay, it's not THAT funny. Their first full movie (after 1921's lost, unreleased short Humor Risk), The Cocoanuts can be a bit of a stilted affair where at least one of the act is finding their feet before a camera, and some of the scripted insults by Groucho veer away from wit and just into straight insults. But if they improved from what is, to all intents and purposes, their first outing, it's worth watching as more than a curio.
After this they began to get more acquainted with the medium, and even though some of the recording techniques (particularly sound) in Animal Crackers show the industry still in its infancy, it's a massive step up, and a highly amusing film. In fact, apart from the uncharacteristically weak Monkey Business (4), the remainder of the films they did for Paramount are all 7/10 minor classics.
The Cocoanuts, though, doesn't quite join them. It's a film that produces smiles rather than laughs, and structurally it lacks drive, weighted down by a plot and songs that it's difficult to care about. In this respect it's almost a pointer towards their later MGM work, and does lean towards historical document rather than something that stands up on its own terms. Yet even if those dance routines don't really engender much of a response over eighty years on, there is a least a relatively complex sequence that predates Busby Berkeley.
Over in England a boxset of their Paramount films is regularly on sale, but only containing the final four. It's easy to see why this one is missed out and retained for solo releases. "Why a duck?" will raise a smile, but Captain Spaulding will raise laughs...
Okay, it's not THAT funny. Their first full movie (after 1921's lost, unreleased short Humor Risk), The Cocoanuts can be a bit of a stilted affair where at least one of the act is finding their feet before a camera, and some of the scripted insults by Groucho veer away from wit and just into straight insults. But if they improved from what is, to all intents and purposes, their first outing, it's worth watching as more than a curio.
After this they began to get more acquainted with the medium, and even though some of the recording techniques (particularly sound) in Animal Crackers show the industry still in its infancy, it's a massive step up, and a highly amusing film. In fact, apart from the uncharacteristically weak Monkey Business (4), the remainder of the films they did for Paramount are all 7/10 minor classics.
The Cocoanuts, though, doesn't quite join them. It's a film that produces smiles rather than laughs, and structurally it lacks drive, weighted down by a plot and songs that it's difficult to care about. In this respect it's almost a pointer towards their later MGM work, and does lean towards historical document rather than something that stands up on its own terms. Yet even if those dance routines don't really engender much of a response over eighty years on, there is a least a relatively complex sequence that predates Busby Berkeley.
Over in England a boxset of their Paramount films is regularly on sale, but only containing the final four. It's easy to see why this one is missed out and retained for solo releases. "Why a duck?" will raise a smile, but Captain Spaulding will raise laughs...