The Cocoanuts
About The Cocoanuts
Mr. Hammer runs the Hotel de Cocoanut in Florida during the land boom, with Jamison as his assistant. Chico and Harpo arrive with empty suitcases. Mrs. Potter, one of the few paying guests, wants her daughter Polly to marry Harvey Yates rather than Bob Adams, the hotel clerk who draws plans for Cocoanut Manor. Yates is a confidence man. With Penelope he means to steal Mrs. Potter's diamond necklace. The Marx Brothers auction land, tangle the theft, and leave Hammer's hotel in the same disorder they found it.
Cast & crew
More about The Cocoanuts
Robert Florey and Joseph Santley directed. Morrie Ryskind wrote the screenplay from the 1925 George S. Kaufman and Irving Berlin musical. Walter Wanger produced without credit, with Monta Bell also listed as producer. Paramount shot it at the Astoria studios from early February to late March 1929. The world premiere was 23 May 1929 at the Rialto Theatre in New York. General release was 3 August 1929. Copyright LP576 is dated 2 August 1929. AFI gives 96 minutes, 8,613 feet, ten reels. Wikipedia's box-office line calls the $1,800,000 figure worldwide rentals.
Themes
Background
The hotel story sits on the Florida land boom, and the picture is one of Paramount's early all-talking features.
Reviews
Mordaunt Hall wrote in The New York Times that the film aroused considerable merriment and that an overhead shot drew plaudits, while some of the singing came through poorly. Variety called it a comedy hit for regular picture houses and said that was enough. John Mosher in The New Yorker wrote that it succeeds as a funny picture, not as a musical comedy.
Look
George Folsey and J. Roy Hunt photographed the film at Paramount's Astoria studio.
Technique
Sound is Western Electric. Hall and Variety both noted muffled or fading voices in some passages.
Music
Irving Berlin wrote the songs, carried over from the stage show. Frank Tours is also credited, and the score uses Victor Herbert and Georges Bizet.
Preservation
The film entered the public domain in the United States on 1 January 2025.
Notes
- Groucho Marx plays Hammer, Harpo plays Harpo, Chico plays Chico, and Zeppo Marx plays Jamison. Mary Eaton plays Polly, Oscar Shaw plays Bob Adams, Margaret Dumont plays Mrs. Potter, Kay Francis plays Penelope, and Cyril Ring plays Harvey Yates.
- Wikipedia lists the running time as 93 minutes. AFI lists 96.
- When the Marx Brothers saw the cut, they tried to buy the negative and stop the release. Paramount kept it.
- The film entered the public domain on 1 January 2025.
- Irving Berlin's songs in the film include "When My Dreams Come True" and "Monkey Doodle Doo." Chico plays Victor Herbert's "Gypsy Love Song" at the piano. Basil Ruysdael sings words set to music from Bizet's Carmen.
Scenes
- Hammer auctions Florida lots to the hotel guests.
- Harpo and Chico arrive with empty suitcases.
Influenced by
- The Cocoanuts (musical)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Cocoanuts (1929).webm)
