Synopsis
The Cocoanuts (1929) is the Marx Brothers' first feature, and you can watch online on iFILM. Made at the dawn of talking pictures, this Paramount musical comedy drops the brothers into the middle of the Florida land boom. Groucho runs a near-bankrupt resort hotel, scheming to auction off worthless lots before his creditors catch up with him.
Around him swirls the usual glorious chaos. Chico and Harpo wreck the front desk and pocket anything that isn't nailed down, Zeppo plays the only sane man in the room, and stately Margaret Dumont is the wealthy guest whose jewels two crooks are itching to steal. A side romance has her daughter falling for a lowly clerk who dreams of building castles, with a smooth swindler trying to break them up and grab the girl for himself.
Directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley from the Broadway hit scored by Irving Berlin, the film bottles the stage anarchy the brothers had spent years perfecting. The early sound recording creaks here and there, but Groucho's machine-gun wordplay and Harpo's silent mayhem have not aged a day. A perfect starting point for anyone curious where American screen comedy began. Stream The Cocoanuts (1929) online on iFILM.
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