Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9786305080244
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
ISBN: 6305080240
Label: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: July 08, 1998
Running Time: 93 minutes
Sales Rank: 72955
Studio: Image Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: August 03, 1929
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Description:
In the Marx Brothers' first feature film, Groucho portrays a hotel owner out to fleece everyone, from innocent bellboys to wealthy society types. Chico and Harpo are along for the ride as Groucho's accomplices. Featuring the music and lyrics of Irving Berlin.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Funny
I have never been as big a fan of The Marx Brothers as I have been of other great comedy teams, be it the verbal brilliance of Abbott & Costello, the pathos laden antics of Laurel & Hardy, nor the violent slapstick of The Three Stooges. The reason is because the team's success or failure basically falls all on the shoulders of its lone truly brilliant member, Groucho Marx. The first film to feature the zany antics of the brothers was the 1929 talkie film of their 1926 Broadway comedy hit, The Cocoanuts. They did, however, self-finance an earlier silent film called Humorisk, which was a critical disaster, in its lone showing, and of which no known copies seem to exist. In a sense, the heart of the brothers' act in all their films is not when the three (or four, including the forgettable Zeppo, who plays a hotel desk clerk in this outing) brothers interact, but when Groucho interacts with anyone in the film, most especially the sublimely stolid Margaret Dumont.
It's not that the other brothers are not without talents, but they are simple old time vaudevillians who, sans their genius brother, would have been minor role players in film. Gummo, who never appeared in a single film, wisely chose a behind the scenes role; Zeppo retired after the team's fifth film, Duck Soup, never had an ounce of comic heft; Chico was a generic ethnic humorist who, without the team would never have lasted- even his piano playing is crude and uninspiring; and Harpo, despite his mimetic brilliance, and often ... Read More
Rating: - Great Start
As an early talkie, this film is filled with random musical numbers. The spontaneity of them works, since the Marx Brothers are so outrageous themselves and because they started out in vaudeville, but the quality isn't great. Thankfully, they were written by Irving Berlin.
The story is just as unimportant as the music. Groucho owns some land in Florida that he wants to get rid of; it just happens to have a hotel running on it. On it, there is romance and thievery. Kay Francis takes part in robbing Margaret Dumont of her jewels while Groucho attempts to romance them for their money. Harpo and Chico run amuck causing hilarious moments and antagonizing everyone in their path. One of the best choreographed scenes is the "door scene" where general madness ensues. It's been copied many times in both film and on stage in shows like "Lend Me a Tenor." Zeppo appears too, but his part is very minor.
Rating: - An Antique Worth Its Cinematic Weight in Gold
Sadly, Hollywood lost all of the original and production prints. This DVD apparently was assembled from a tape, itself assembled from damaged remnants. As an artifact, it reveals the almost humorously primitive film technology of early 1929. There's atrocious editing, and film quality varies wildly even within the same scenes. It's suspected that many original portions are missing. In any case, it's still grand fun, if for nothing else than a look at a plot right out of Victorian theater and a number of scenes in which on-film cuties are caught looking at the cameras. It's hard to tell today, but in '29 this was a landmark film: all-talking from beginning to end, one of the first movies with full-length audio and Paramount's very first 100% talkie. It's a fairly faithful filming of the Marx Brothers' huge Broadway stage success, done during weekdays at Paramount's Astoria, NY studio while the Marx's played their next Broadway hit at night. You can even see bits where the actors get their lines confused. The absurdist humor, though borrowed heavily from Vaudeville, was revolutionary in its day. Some of the old routines (the Viaduct and auction bits) no longer work, but there are still plenty of laughs to go around. The comedy bits set patterns for every future Marx film: rooms with multiple doors and weird entrance/exit schemes (culminating in a Night at the Opera), Chico/Groucho non-logic (later perfected in the Tootsy-Frootsy bit in A Day at the Races), musical numbers from Harpo and chico, and the ... Read More
Rating:  - And They're Off...
The Cocoanuts" was the Marx Brothers first screen production after a successful start on the stage. I understand that their stage productions were known for the brothers's ability to ad lib in every preformance. Their first movie was a great success but you can tell that they were (by THEIR standards) a bit reserved. It has all of the classic Marx Brothers situations; a smart alec Groucho chasing after a rich Margaret Dumont, Chico who never quite gets things correctly understood, Harpo's pantomime routines, Chico on the piano and Harpo on the harp.
The plot is simple enough. Groucho operates a hotel in Florida and is trying to strike it rich in a questionable real estate deal. Plots only serve as an excuse for comedy in a Marx Brothers movie and the brothers keep things pretty zany throughout the movie. The music isn't half bad from the rest of the cast. My favorite song was "I Lost My Shirt" sung to the tune of "The March of the Toreodors".
This is a great beginning for the Marx Brothers with lots of good laughs. This is the movie with the "Why a Duck" routine between Groucho and Chico and it's one of their all-time best. Some of their later movies were of limited entertainment value but all of their first seven movies are top-notch.
Rating: - The first Marx brothers I saw and loved it!!
This was the first Marx brothers movie I had seen, and coincidentally their first release, and it cracked me up. Harpo is in top form here, the scene near the end at the party is hilarious, especially when Harpo walks into the party wearing a hat with the strap around his nose and the expression on his face is priceless. Also Harpo's facial expressions after hearing the boring speeches given at the dinner table are classic. The back and forth between Groucho and Chico are great.. "Viaduct?, I don't know why a duck?" If you want a good dose of the Marx Brothers earlier energy and hilarious antics then this movie is a must see, many of their skits are repeated in later movies. I highly recommend this movie first before any of their others.
Browse for similar items by category:
|
