Movies - The Cocoanuts

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	Movies - The Cocoanuts

The Cocoanuts (1929) was the first Marx Brothers film to be released. It stars the four Marx Brothers, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton and the person sometimes referred to as the "fifth brother", Margaret Dumont. Produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Joseph Santley, it was adapted to the screen by Morrie Ryskind from the George S. Kaufman Broadway play. The motion picture is marred by the deficient production methods of the early sound films.

It contains the song "When My Dreams Come True", written by Irving Berlin and sung by Oscar Shaw and Mary Eaton.

Plot

The plot of The Cocoanuts takes place at a resort hotel, during the big Florida development boom of the 1920s. Groucho runs the place, assisted by "straight man" Zeppo (who has very little to do in the film). Chico and Harpo arrive with empty luggage, which they plan to fill by robbing the guests blind. Margaret Dumont, in the first of her many appearances as a stuffy dowager wooed and tormented by Groucho, is a guest. Her daughter is in love with a young architect, but Dumont wants her to marry a man she believes to be of higher social standing. He's actually a con man out to steal the dowager's diamond necklace with the help of his conniving partner, played by Kay Francis (the heavy-lidded glamour-puss with the Elmer Fudd speech impediment who went on to major, if brief, stardom at Warner Brothers in the early 1930s). But as anyone who has ever seen a Marx Brothers movie, particularly the early ones, knows, the plot is rather beside the point. The story and setting are little more than an excuse for the brothers to run rampant in their trademark style.

Trivia

When the Marx Brothers were shown the final cut of The Cocoanuts (1929), their first film, they were so appalled they tried to buy the negative back and prevent its release. The producing studio, Paramount, wisely resisted - the movie turned out to be a big hit and earned close to two million dollars profit.

Musical Numbers

When my Dreams Come True
The Bell-Hops
Monkey-Doodle-Doo
Ballet Music
Tale of the Shirt
Gypsy Love Song

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