In their first sound feature ( they appeared in a 1921 silent short) the brothers Marx find themselves in booming sunny Florida (represented by a painted backdrop consisting of palm trees) playing a variety of con games. Groucho runs a bankrupt hotel with hopes of pulling off a huge land deal as well as woo wealthy dowager Margaret Dumont when Chico and Harpo show-up to further complicate matters.
Featuring an Irving Berlin score from their stage success Cocoanuts offers up a couple of well angled dance numbers along with some banal duets as well as numbers by Harpo and Chico. The sound is naturally primitive (hence, Harpo steals the most scenes) and some scenes come across stilted (Kay Francis is no Thelma Todd) with puns flying as we watch the early tentative pairings of Groucho with Chico and Dumont in absurd conversation here that would crackle with sharpness in future films. There is also a Feydeauesque hotel rooms scene that foreshadows similar moments finely honed in their major works Duck Soup and Night at the Opera that one might make argument this creaky at times debut film of the brothers was the beginning of screwball comedy.
Featuring an Irving Berlin score from their stage success Cocoanuts offers up a couple of well angled dance numbers along with some banal duets as well as numbers by Harpo and Chico. The sound is naturally primitive (hence, Harpo steals the most scenes) and some scenes come across stilted (Kay Francis is no Thelma Todd) with puns flying as we watch the early tentative pairings of Groucho with Chico and Dumont in absurd conversation here that would crackle with sharpness in future films. There is also a Feydeauesque hotel rooms scene that foreshadows similar moments finely honed in their major works Duck Soup and Night at the Opera that one might make argument this creaky at times debut film of the brothers was the beginning of screwball comedy.