Stubs - The Cocoanuts (1929)

The Cocoanuts (1929) Starring Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton, Kay Francis, Margaret Dumont, Cyril Ring, Basil Ruysdael, Sylvan Lee Directed by Joseph Santley and Robert Florey. Screenplay by Morrie Ryskind. Based on the Musical Play by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. Music by Irving Berlin. Produced by Walter Wanger. Run Time: 93 minutes. U.S.A. Black and White. Musical, Comedy.

While the Marx Brothers appeared in a silent film, Humor Risk (1921), now lost, their humor is very much associated with the coming of sound. While Harpo Marx could have been, and in essence was, a silent comedian, so much of not only his personality as well as the humor of Groucho and Chico requires sound. While part of the Brothers’ act was physical humor, it is the fast-talking, sarcastic, wordplay the propels much of the dialogue throughout their film career.

The group, which had started as singers, didn’t discover comedy until one night in 1912 while performing at the Opera House in Nacogdoches, Texas (or in Ada, Oklahoma, according to Harpo in Harpo Speaks; or in Marshall, Texas, according to the San Antonio Express) a runaway mule outside interrupted the performance and the audience even left to investigate what was going on. Angered by the interruption, Groucho, then a singer, made snide comments at the audience’s expense, but rather than getting angry, the audience laughed and the family realized there was potential as a comedic troupe.

While the act evolved from singing to singing with humor to comedy with music, the brothers numbered four, but that fourth was Gummo Marx. The brothers performed an act "Fun in Hi Skule" with Groucho playing the part of a German-accented professor presiding over a classroom that contained his brothers. In 1915, in Flint, Michigan, a 14-year old Zeppo joined his brothers on stage and there were five Marx Brothers. However, Gummo, thinking anything was better than being an actor, left to join the war effort. Zeppo stayed with the troupe from then through the Paramount years.

Under Chico’s management and Groucho’s creative direction, the brothers turned Vaudeville success into Broadway success with their first play, I’ll Say She Is, in 1924. Written by Will B. Johnstone, the musical comedy made stars out of them, when such notable critics such as Alexander Woollcott raved about the show. This was followed up the next year by The Cocoanuts, which ran on Broadway initially from December 8, 1925, through August 7, 1925, and revived with the Marx Brothers again in May 1927 for 16 performances.

Monta Bell, Paramount’s East Coast production head, wanted to make stage acts into sound movies, see The Letter (1929), so it is no surprise he was attracted to the Marx Brothers' stage success. That doesn’t mean he didn’t want to make changes. Most notably, he objected to Groucho’s thick greasepaint "mustache." Bell didn’t believe audiences would believe anything as "phony-looking" as that. Groucho is said to have replied, “The audience doesn't believe us anyhow. All they do is laugh at us, and isn't that what we're being paid for?"

To direct, Paramount brought in French-born Robert Florey for the dialogue sequences and Joseph Santley to handle the musical numbers. Referring to them later, Groucho was obviously not impressed, "One of them didn't understand English and the other didn't understand comedy.”

On January 12, 1929, it was announced that Paramount was expecting to begin production on February 1 in the studio’s Astoria Studio soundstages in Queens. Filming would take place during the day while the Brothers were performing in the musical Animal Crackers on stage at night. Animal Crackers, which would also be the Marx Brothers’ next film, ran at the 44^th Street Theatre from October 23, 1928, until April 6, 1929. Like Cocoanuts, the musical comedy was written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. Filming on The Cocoanuts lasted until late March.

The opening dance number of The Cocoanuts.

Despite the song and dance routine at the beginning, things are slow at the Hotel de Cocoanut, so much so that the Bell Hops have not been paid in a couple of weeks. When they confront the owner, Mr. Hammer (Groucho Marx), he tries to make them believe that is a good thing. “Well, what makes wage slaves? Wages! I want you to be free.”

Jamison (Zeppo Marx) delivers a telegram to Hammer (Groucho
 Marx) while the bellhops are demanding pay.

The encounter is stopped when Hammer’s assistant Jamison (Zeppo Marx) delivers some telegrams that have come in and things go from good to worse.

HAMMER (to the bellboys) There you are. Business is beginning to pick up already. Now, if you gir--boys will only be calm... (reads telegram) Uh huh. (reads aloud) "We arrive this afternoon on the 4:30. Kindly reserve two floors and three ceilings." (aside) Must be mice. (reads) "If we like your property, we will immediately buy it." (to the delighted bellboys) See that? Things have started our way already.

JAMISON Who's it from?

HAMMER (reads) Western Union. (to the bellboys) And they've got a lot of money, too. On the 4:15, eh? Well, I'll take the bus down myself.

JAMISON Here's another one, Mr. Hammer.

Jamison hands a second telegram to Hammer who opens it.

HAMMER (to the bellboys) See? We're gonna be stuffed by tonight. This hotel will be so crowded that we'll be turning away thousands of people. (reads telegram) "If there's another hotel in Cocoanut Beach, cancel our reservation." (aside) I knew it. It was too good. The bellboys groan in disappointment.

Penelope (Kay Francis) conspires with Harvey Yates (Cyril Ring).

Meanwhile, Penelope (Kay Francis) is out front on the hotel terrace conspiring with Harvey Yates (Cyril Ring). Harvey is worried that his chances with Polly Potter (Mary Easton) and more importantly her mother’s, Mrs. Potters’ (Margaret Dumont) millions are being undercut by hotel clerk Robert Adams (Oscar Shaw), to whom Polly is courting. Penelope devises a plan to have Robert accused of stealing Mrs. Potters’ diamond necklace, which is in an unlocked box in the room next to Penelope’s.

Robert Adams (Oscar Shaw) and Polly (Mary Easton)
plan for "When My Dreams Come True".

Not far away, Robert and Polly are discussing their own plans for the future. Robert, who wants to be an architect, has a design he’s anxious to sell that would transform the hotel and its property. He’s sent it to a developer named Berryman and has hopes they are reviewing his plans. If everything goes according to plan, that will be "When My Dreams Come True" for both young lovers.

Penelope and Harvey catch Robert and Polly kissing.

Penelope and Harvey come across the two sealing their dreams with a kiss, but when Robert realizes they’ve been discovered, he pretends that he’s been telling Polly a story, Little Red Riding Hood.

In the hotel lobby, Mrs. Potter tells her daughter that she’s unhappy that she’s in love with the wrong man. She desperately wants her daughter to marry Harvey, for the supposed status.

When Hammer returns empty-handed after waiting for the afternoon trains, he finds Jamison asleep at the desk and fires him.

Hammer tries his sales pitch out on Mrs. Potter (Margaret Dumont).

Soon, Mrs. Potter comes through the lobby and Hammer goes into the same sales routine she has apparently heard before.

MRS. POTTER You told me about this yesterday.

HAMMER (takes a map from his pocket) I know, but I left out a comma…

Soon afterward, Chico and Red (Harpo) arrive at the hotel and Hammer mistakes them for paying guests. He notices that their luggage is empty.

CHICO That's all right. We fill it up before we leave.

While they’re at the front desk, Chico and Red disrupt Mr. Hammer and Red starts eating inanimate objects and drinking the inkwell. When Hammer goes to attend some business, he leaves the two alone, telling them to register. Instead, they hit the cash register and empty it. Chico and Red then discover that ringing the service bell brings one pretty bellhop after another until Red can no longer control himself and they chase after the girls.

Chico (Chico Marx) and Red (Harpo Marx) start to raise havoc right away in The Cocoanuts.

Chico and Red overhear Penelope and Harvey still planning the break-in. As is their way, the two disrupt the planning, forcing Penelope and Harvey into dancing with them before leaving them alone. Penelope adds them to the plan, telling Harvey that she’ll flirt with them and invite them up to her room, which is next to Mrs. Potter's. Then she’ll complain to management and when the necklace disappears they’ll be questioned as well.

Later, Red returns to the lobby with a salt shaker and begins again to eat the inanimate objects including the telephone. Chico stops him.

CHICO All the time you eat. That's a no good. We got to get-a money. Right now, I'd do anything for money. I'd kill somebody for money. I'd kill you for money.

Red looks slightly worried.

CHICO Ha ha ha! Ah, no, you're my friend -- I kill you for nothing.

Red smiles.

Enter Hennessy (Basil Ruysdael), a plainclothes detective. Hennessy thinks something’s suspicious about the two of them and tries to identify them using photos he’s brought from headquarters, but Chico and Red get into a diversionary fight. Hennessy gets fed up and leaves.

When a hotel guest comes through the lobby asking about the next train, Chico answers him. Red relieves him of his jacket which he gives to Chico to wear, but not before relieving it of its wallet. Red leaves, but Penelope returns.

She flirts with Chico and invites him up to her room.

PENELOPE Tell me, what are you doing tonight?

CHICO Maybe you got a good idea, eh?

PENELOPE Well, don't you dare come to room three-twenty at eleven o'clock.

CHICO All right, I come half past ten.

After he leaves, she tries her charms on Red, who instead of picking up her handkerchief when she drops it, pockets it. She still invites him up to her room at 11 that night.

Later that night, Hammer returns with Mrs. Potter and they sit down together. But when Hammer makes him move, Mrs. Potter pushes him away.

There is an interlude in which Red plays a soulful chorus of "When My Dreams Come True" on a harp that happens to be there.

Harpo plays "When My Dreams Come True".

What follows next is known as the Door Routine. There are little snatches of dialogue but it is mostly a visual gag. To give you the idea how much frenetic energy is in the scene, which lasts 5 minutes and 49 seconds, I consulted a script that detailed the action:

We see Rooms 318 and 320 with a connecting door. Room 320, on the right, is Penelope's.  Mrs. Potter’s is 318 on the left. Penelope opens the connecting door carefully and enters Mrs. Potter’s room. Simultaneously, Red enters 320, sees Penelope in 318 and moves to the connecting door. Getting down on hands and knees he tries to peer under the door. Red crawls backward as Penelope re-opens the connecting door. When she finally re-enters 320, Red crawls under Penelope’s bed.

Harvey enters 320 soon after and he and Penelope make their final plans. They can’t be found with the necklace on them and Harvey thinks up a solution. There is a hollow tree stump in Cocoanut Manor where they can hide it. He draws Penelope a map. He wishes her luck and leaves. Penelope studies the map and then throws it away in what she thinks is a waste can, but it is, in reality, Red’s hat.

Penelope moves to the connecting door, Hammer opens
 the door to 318, while Chico peers in room 320.

Penelope moves to the connecting door and slowly opens and closes it. As she does, Hammer opens the hall door to 318, peers in, then closes the door. Penelope slowly opens and closes the connecting door, then Hammer opens and closes the hall door to 318. Now, simultaneously, Hammer opens the door to 318, Penelope opens the connecting door and Chico opens the hall door to 320 and enters. He sees Penelope at the connecting door and slams the hall door. In turn, Penelope slams the connecting door. And in turn, Hammer enters 318 and slams his door. Penelope confronts Chico who takes her hands romantically. Hammer knocks at the connecting door and bursts in on Penelope as Chico ducks out the hall door.

Somehow, Red is now in 318, sitting in a chair. He gets up and hops around on a sore foot as 

Hammer, in 320, listens at the connecting door. We hear a knock at the hall door to 320. 

Instantly, Red exits 318 by the hall door, Hammer enters 318 by the connecting door and Chico enters 320 from the hall to confront Penelope. Chico enters 318 by the connecting door, Hammer exits 318 by the hall door and Red enters 320 from the hall and gives Penelope a big hug. Hammer pounds on the hall door to 318. Instantly, Red exits 320 by the hall door, Chico enters 320 by the connecting door, and Hammer enters 318 from the hall where he dizzily paces the room and does a nifty spin.

HAMMER (to the camera): This hotel not only has running water, it has running guests.

In 320, Chico confers with Penelope. In 318, Hammer knocks at the connecting door. Instantly, Chico exits 320 by the hall door, Hammer enters 320 by the connecting door, and Red enters 318 from the hall. Listening at the connecting door, Hammer hears the phone in 318 ring. Red answers it. Since he either can't or won't speak, he merely HONKS his horn several times, then slams down the earpiece. Instantly, Red rushes out of 318 by the hall door, Hammer enters 318 by the connecting door, and Chico enters 320 from the hall, arms outstretched to greet Penelope who is listening at the connecting door. The hall door to 320 opens and Chico ducks under Penelope's bed to hide. Red enters from the hall, sees Penelope listening at the connecting door, quietly closes the hall door, then knocks on it.

Red immediately exits 320 into the hall. Hammer enters 320 by the connecting door, much to Penelope's surprise. Before Hammer can say or do anything, there's a knock at the hall door to 320. Hammer quickly hides under Penelope's bed as she moves to answer the hall door.

Simultaneously, Chico crawls out from under the front of the bed, then follows Hammer back under again. Penelope opens the hall door to reveal a bellhop who enters with a pitcher.

Bellhop puts the pitcher on the table. Bellhop heads for the door and exits as Hammer's voice drifts in from under the bed and chides Penelope.

Now, Mrs. Potter enters her room (318) from the hall door and closes it. As she moves toward the connecting door, there's a knock. Red enters from the hall, grinning like a maniac and carrying a pitcher of ice water. Red hops on Mrs. Potter's bed and lies down, inviting her to join him. She is completely offended. Red leaves the pitcher on her bureau, waves goodbye and exits out the hall door. As Mrs. Potter again moves toward the connecting door, there's another knock. Red enters from the hall, grinning, turns right around, and exits again.

Hammer enters from the connecting door and flops down in an armchair next to Mrs. Potter.

Meanwhile, Red has entered 320 from the hall just long enough to approach Penelope, HONK at her, and exit again. In 318, Hammer rises and, after feinting an exit through the hall door, moves to feint an exit at the connecting door. Instead, he grins mischievously and starts to take his jacket off. Hammer has moved to the hall door. Mrs. Potter moves to the phone. A knock at the hall door. Hennessy enters 318 and looks around.

Mrs. Potter exits out the hall door as Hennessy knocks at the connecting door. He opens it and enters 320, looking it over. Penelope watches as Hammer exits the closet and, with a crouching saunter, passes through the connecting door and circles Hennessy who fails to notice Hammer keeping pace behind him. Finally, Hammer, having circled Hennessy, exits out the connecting door unnoticed.

Hennessy exits out Penelope's hall door. Hammer enters 320 through the connecting door and puts his arms around Penelope whereupon there is a pounding at the door. Hammer ducks under Penelope's bed just as Hennessy enters 320 from the hall door and Penelope enters 318 through the connecting door.

In 318, Penelope opens the drawer of Mrs. Potter's dressing table and removes a necklace from a case. She slips the jewelry down the front of her dress, rises and exits out the hall door. A moment later, Hennessy enters 318 through the connecting door to find the room empty. He exits out the hall door just as Penelope enters 320 from the hall door. Penelope leans against her door and breathes a sigh of relief. She sits on the edge of her bed. Red's head emerges 

from the center of the mattress, startling Penelope.

Hammer shows Chico a map of his planned development, including the viaduct.

The next morning, Hammer and Chico sit down to have a talk. Hammer is about to auction off some swamp land and needs Chico’s help in driving up the prices. In order to help familiarize Chico with the layout, Hammer sits down with a blueprint. While the Door Routine was essentially visual, the humor in this scene is all verbal, ending with what may be the most famous question in film.

HAMMER Now, right over here, this is the residential section.

CHICO Oh, people live there, eh?

HAMMER No, that's the stockyard. Now, all along here, this is the riverfront. And all along the river, all along the river, those are all levees.

CHICO That's the Jewish neighborhood?

HAMMER (pause) Well, we'll Passover that. You're a peach, boy. Now, here is a little peninsula, and, eh, here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland.

CHICO Why a duck?

There’s more to the exchange, but you get the idea.

Later that day at the auction, after Polly performs “The Monkey-Doodle-Doo", Groucho starts the auction. To his frustration, Chico keeps raising his bid, outbidding everyone, including himself. It is during the auction that Mrs. Potter announces that her necklace has been stolen and offers a thousand-dollar reward, whereupon Chico offers two thousand. No one, except the perpetrators and Harpo, knows that the jewels are only a few feet away.

Detective Hennessy decides that the culprit is Bob Adams, Polly’s suitor. Penelope and Harvey help to frame him and Bob is taken off to jail. Even though Polly is heartbroken, Mrs. Potter decides that for her own daughter’s reputation she will wed Harvey and announces that there will be an engagement party that night at the hotel. Polly is distressed and stays behind after everyone else has gone, finally breaking down and crying when she is left alone.

That night, Chico and Red go to the jail and hide from view when Hennessy leaves. Red positions himself so that when Hennessy thinks he’s putting the keys in his own pocket he is actually putting it in Red’s. With the key, they go inside and let Bob out of his cell. Chico tells him about the engagement party that night and that Polly needs him.

Playfully, Red lets himself into the cell and closes the door. When he realizes that he’s locked himself in, he briefly panics and honks his horn for help. Then he realizes one of the bars is loose and lets himself out through the very small opening.

Robert examines the writing on the map Harvey drew for Penelope.

Back at the hotel, Bob tries to convince Hammer of his innocence but doesn’t know how. Red produces a folded-up piece of paper, but it’s a newspaper story about him, "Silent Red wanted by the police." Red snatches it away, but while he’s searching his pocket other items fall out, including an alarm clock, fruit, silverware, etc. The three men scramble around trying to pick these things up.

Red finally hands Bob the right piece of paper but continues his shenanigans including snatching Bob’s handkerchief out of his breast pocket with his teeth and continuing to snatch it no matter where Bob puts it. He then steals Bob’s watch and Hammer’s tie. Bob finally manages to read the note, which, in Harvey’s handwriting, is the directions he had written for Penelope.

Later, the engagement party is in full swing. Guests are dressed in vaguely Spanish or South American styles. There is a chorus line with dancers in a number similar to the type Busby Berkeley would become famous for, complete with an overhead camera view, one of the first times this was used in a feature. Polly is once again called upon to perform, singing a sad refrain of "When My Dreams Come True."

Guests are greeted by Mrs. Potter and Harvey, while Irving Berlin’s “Tango Melody” plays, including Penelope who makes a point of telling Harvey what a lucky man he is.

Hammer shows up in a fez with extra-long tassels, much to the amusement of Mrs. Potter.

Hennessy (Basil Ruysdael) about to sing "The Tale of a Shirt" to the tune of Bizet's Carmen.

Hennessy also attends, offering that Mrs. Potter can use protection from a couple of shady characters to which Red and Chico take offense. In an effort to humiliate Hennessy, Red steals the shirt off his back and from under his vest, even going so far as to put it on himself. Chico draws using a crayon on Hennessy’s undershirt. This leads the lawman to launch into song, "The Tale of a Shirt" sung to Bizet’s Carmen with special lyrics by Irving Berlin. During the number, Red returns the shirt to Hennessy who exits in triumph.

Harpo pretends to be drunk at the party.

There is some nonsense in which Red pretends to be drunk throughout the dinner, getting up and walking away, only to come back. Repeat and repeat again.

Chico plays a verse and two choruses of Victor Herbert's "Gypsy Love Song” 

Chico finally sits down at the piano and plays a verse and two choruses of Victor Herbert's "Gypsy Love Song”. He plays half the song in a classical style and the second half in a more upbeat jazz idiom, complete with Chico’s own unique fingerings. Audiences would become accustomed to his style of playing in future films, but it had to seem somewhat unique to many at the time.

Hammer introduces Polly, who reveals to everyone two pieces of paper. The map that he drew Penelope of the hiding place for her mother’s stolen necklace and a note that he wrote her as an engagement present. Before things get figured out, Harvey makes his escape.

Bob Adams shows up wearing a tuxedo. He has good news: not only have his architecture plans been accepted, but a Mr. John W. Berryman is there to buy Cocoanut Manor for the development.

Mrs. Potter, realizing that Bob is a better choice, tells those gathered that they are invited to the wedding of Polly and Bob Adams, to which there are cheers from the party.

Meanwhile, Hennessy lights a cigarette for Penelope, who we see is handcuffed to Harvey.

While Polly leads the bridesmaids in song, we see Jamison, Hammer, Chico, and Red standing together smiling and waving to the camera.

The four Marx Brothers wave to the camera at the end of The Cocoanuts.

It is reported when the Marx Brothers first saw the film, they were so appalled that they tried to buy back the negative to prevent the film from being released. Paramount, however, was not in the selling mood and The Cocoanuts was released on August 3, 1929. The film, which cost $500,000 to make, made $1.8 million at the box office, which at the time was considered a big hit. This would lead to other films the Four Marx Brothers would make at Paramount: Animal Crackers (1930),  Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), and Duck Soup (1933). When the last film didn’t live up to expectations at the boxoffice, they were dumped by Paramount. Zeppo left the group to become an agent and the Three Marx Brothers would move to MGM.

Margaret Dumont will be a foil for Groucho in several Marx Brothers films.

One of the staples of future Marx Brothers films was Margaret Dumont. Dumont appeared with the brothers in the stage musical The Cocoanuts. She would play straight man to Groucho in most of the best Marx Brothers films, including The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, A Night at the Opera (1935), A Day at the Races (1937), At The Circus (1939), and The Big Store (1941). She would have a career outside her appearances with the Marx Brothers, including the low budget Shake, Rattle & Roll (1957) from American International Pictures (AIP) opposite the likes of Mike Connors, Sterling Holloway, Big Joe Turner and Fats Domino.

Like Dumont, Basil Ruysdael was also in the stage version of The Cocoanuts and revived his role as Detective Hennessy in the film version. An opera singer, Ruysdael appeared with the Metropolitan Opera in New York as a bass-baritone from 1910 to 1918. Given that background, it seems his talents were sort of wasted with “The Tale of a Shirt". Most of his best-known film appearances would come in the late 1940s to the early 1960s, including Colorado Territory (1949), People Will Talk (1951), Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Horse Soldiers (1959) and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) - Truck Driver (voice), his final film role.

With the exception of Dumont and Ruysdael, most of the supporting cast would be remembered, if at all, for their performances in this film. As an example, Mary Eaton who played Polly may have had a successful stage career appearing in eight Broadway productions during the 1920s. However, she had a rather brief film career. She seems talented, but the choices of when they have her sing seem forced.

Mary Eaton singing "When My Dreams Come True".

Sadly, Eaton had a rather short film career and died when she was only 42 of liver failure.

A veteran of the Broadway stage, Oscar Shaw would only appear in eight films and only one after 1929. He seems likable in the role, but he was already near the end of his career when he made The Cocoanuts.

Cyril Ring, who played Harvey Yates, would appear in 330 films, between 1921 and 1947, including two more with the Marxes: Monkey Business and A Day in the Races. Ring would also appear in such films as Topper (1937), Young Dr. Kildare (1938), My Favorite Wife (1940), The Great Dictator (1940), The Lady Eve (1941), Citizen Kane (1941), Meet John Doe (1941), Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), Mr. Skeffington (1944) and Laura (1944), though he is not often credited. He seems devious enough here, but it may be his best-known role of his career.

Bucking the trend of having The Cocoanuts be their most memorable role, was Kay Francis, who played Penelope. While her part in The Cocoanuts was important to the plot, it wasn’t all that large. While she participated in the Door Routine, most of the humor is thanks to Groucho and Harpo. She had been on the Broadway stage since 1925’s Hamlet, in which she made her debut as the Player Queen; a part she claimed she got by “lying a lot, to the right people”. She would return to Broadway in the play Crime in support of Sylvia Sidney, but Francis was said to have stolen the show. After appearing in Elmer The Great (1928), she was encouraged by her co-star, Walter Huston, to take a screen test at Paramount Pictures for the film Gentlemen of the Press (1929). She made that film as well as The Cocoanuts before coming to Hollywood.

Kay Francis would go on to be the queen of the Warner Bros. lot.

She would find success at Paramount, making 21 films between 1929 and 1932, before being lured away by Warner Bros. From 1932 to 1936, Francis was the queen of the Warner Bros. lot. She frequently played long-suffering heroines, in films such as I Found Stella Parish (1935), Secrets of an Actress (1938), and Comet Over Broadway (1938). But eventually, she tired of these roles and began to feud with Warners, which led to her demotion to programmers and her eventual termination in 1939.

After appearing in The Independent Theatre Owners Association’s 1938 list of “box office poison” (along with the likes of Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Fred Astaire, Mae West, and Katharine Hepburn), Francis could not secure another studio contract. While she would have the lead in King of the Underworld (1939) opposite Humphrey Bogart, Francis began to play character and supporting parts in films like The Feminine Touch (1941).

Essentially, The Cocoanuts is nothing more than a filmed stage play. The camera is pretty much stagnant as it records the action, not unlike an audience member with really good seats might also see. This is due to the practice of making early sound films. Since early sound cameras were noisy, the only way to eliminate the noise was to enclose the camera and the cameraman in a large soundproof booth which forced the camera to remain static. So sensitive were the early sound recording equipment that paper just in the film, like the map, was soaked in water to avoid the sound of crackling paper to avoid overloading them.

However, it is what is recorded that counts. While The Cocoanuts may not be a great film or even a great Marx Brothers film, many of the gags that we will see in all future films have their roots here. While the Marxes will eventually come together, they always seem to start on opposite sides with Chico and Harpo, as the ne’er-do-wells, on one side pitted against Groucho (and Zeppo), the authority figure, on the other. And that is true here, as Groucho’s hotel becomes another place for Chico and Harpo to freeload and rob. They do finally come together to save Robert from jail and to reunite him with Polly. We will see that repeated in other films as well.

A little bit of lunacy, the Brothers imitate the Spirit of '76.

There are the musical interludes which don’t always seem to fit in with the story. Here, some of the songs seem out of place for the story (“The Monkey-Doodle-Doo") or seem to be show-stoppers but not in a good way. And while the Marx Brothers are surrounded by some talent, it is really Chico and Harpo who are the real virtuosos in their films. Harpo’s playing always seems to come as a surprise given the anarchy his character brings to everything else around him. Chico’s piano-playing always looks so effortless.

The film also shows off the group's great wordplay, much of which had been developed through improv over the run of the musical on Broadway. So prevalent was the group's improv that George S. Kaufman, one of the writers of the 1925 Broadway production, was heard to have muttered from the back of the theater, "I may be wrong, but I think I just heard one of the original lines." The brothers would apparently work in bits and keep those that got the biggest laughs. So what we see on film was the culmination of that work. But this sort of wordplay, especially between Groucho and Chico, would be repeated over and over again throughout their film careers.

Despite the predominance of the spoken word, the brothers also relied on physical comedy, not only in scenes like the Door Routine but also through Harpo’s actions. Not only does he seem to get people to hold his knee, but he also eats the telephone and drinks the ink. He is a walking sound effect with the ever-present horn that he uses in place of dialogue or just to make people around him uncomfortable. Physical comedy is the basis of many of the Brothers’ greatest scenes, like the Mirror Scene in Duck Soup.

Now all that said, The Cocoanuts is not a great Marx Brothers film. Their films at Paramount would improve from this point on; which is the best is really very subjective. If you’re new to the Marx Brothers (where have you been?) then this might not be the one you want to start with. However, you should definitely watch it at some point. Also remember that the film is almost 90 years old, so that the film may not be politically correct in today’s world. It’s just funny and that’s what the Marx Brothers were going for.

Stubs – Duck Soup (1933)

Duck Soup (1933)  Starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern,  Raquel Torres, Edgar Kennedy. Directed by Leo McCarey. Screenplay by Bert Kalmar,  Harry Ruby with additional dialogue by Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin. Produced by Herman J. Mankiewicz (uncredited). 68 minutes. USA. Black and White. Comedy, Musical.

Following the success of Horse Feathers (1932), Paramount, the Marx Brothers' studio, wanted to rush out another film. However, the Marx Brothers had other plans. Paramount was going through some turbulent times in the early 1930s and was on the verge of bankruptcy. The Brothers felt that the studio owed them money and might never be able to pay them, so they threatened to the studio.

Their plans were to form their own production company, Marx Bros. Inc., with Sam H. Harris. The musical Of Thee I Sing with a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by George Gershwin was to be their first production. But the Marx Brothers patched things up with Paramount and those plans were scrapped.

Returning to complete their contractual obligations, the Marx Brothers and Paramount began work on what would end up being their last film for the studio and the last film with all four brothers. Arthur Sheekman, Harry Ruby, and Bert Kalmar began work on the screenplay in October, 1932, then called Firecrackers and later called Cracked Ice. Several other writers are credited, or rather not credited, for making contributions to the script, including Nat Perrin, Arthur Sheekman, Norman Krasna, Grover Jones and Glenn Mitchell.

By January 1933, a second draft was submitted to Paramount, which announced that production of what was called Grasshoppers would begin on February 15^th. Filming was later set back to February 20^th. But filming would not get underway until June. The screenplay was not really completed until July and by then had picked up gags and routines from Groucho and Chico’s popular radio show Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel, which lead to Perrin and Sheekman receiving additional dialogue credits.

It was reportedly the director, Leo McCarey, who came up with the film’s title, borrowing it from a film he had made with Laurel and Hardy in 1927. The new title fit in with the current run of Marx Brothers films: Animal Crackers (1930), Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers. The term Duck Soup refers to something that’s easy to do. To duck something also means to avoid it. Groucho muddied the water about the meaning of the title, when in later life he was asked about the title to which he replied: “Take two turkeys, one goose, four cabbages, but no duck, and mix them together. After one taste, you'll duck soup for the rest of your life."

Duck Soup takes place in the imaginary country of Freedonia, which is in desperate straits financially. The country turns to its wealthiest citizen, the widow Mrs. Gloria Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), for a $20 million loan. She has already lent the country a great deal of money and agrees to make the loan, but only if they appoint Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) as the head of the country.

Firefly is to be introduced at a large ball, to which Ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern) from neighboring Sylvania has been invited. He wants nothing more than to have his country take over Freedonia. He plots with Vera Marcal (Raquel Torres), a dancer, to help him. He thinks the best avenue is to marry Mrs. Teasdale, but he knows Firefly is a rival for her affections.

Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) sneaks into his own introduction ceremony.

Firefly’s secretary, Bob Roland (Zeppo Marx), assures the gathered that Firefly will appear “When The Clock On The Wall Strikes 10." But even after the introductory heraldry horns sound, there is no Firefly. Turns out he’s overslept and makes his entrance down a fireman’s pole. He takes a place at the end of the honor guard before Mrs. Teasdale notices him. Firefly then maps out how he plans to govern in "Just Wait 'Til I Get Through With It":

Rufus T. Firefly: [singing] If any form of pleasure is exhibited, report to me and it will be prohibited! I'll put my foot down, so shall it be... this is the land of the free! The last man nearly ruined this place he didn't know what to do with it. If you think this country's bad off now, just wait till I get through with it! The country's taxes must be fixed, and I know what to do with it. If you think you're paying too much now, just wait till I get through with it!

Mrs. Teasdale handles the introductions between Trentino and Firefly, but things don’t go well. Firefly already has it worked out in his head that Trentino will refuse to shake his hand and is already insulted.

Mrs, Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) handles the introductions between Firefly
and Ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern) of neighboring Sylvania.

Firefly is called away to go to see congress and there is a call for his car, but it turns out to be a motorcycle with a sidecar. Pinky (Harpo Marx) is the driver, but when Firefly gets in, the motorcycle pulls away and leaves the sidecar behind.

The President's car is really only a sidecar to a motorcycle driven by Pinky (Harpo).

Meanwhile, Trentino hires two spies, Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Pinky, to gather information on Firefly, but their shadowing skills need work:

            Ambassador Trentino: Now will you tell me what happened on Saturday?

Chicolini: I'm glad you ask me. We follow this man down to a roadhouse, and at this roadhouse he meet a married lady.

Ambassador Trentino: A married lady?

Chicolini: Yeah, I think it was his wife.

Ambassador Trentino: Firefly has no wife!

Chicolini: No?

Ambassador Trentino: No!

Chicolini: Then you know what I think, boss?

Ambassador Trentino: What?

Chicolini: I think-a we follow the wrong man.

Ambassador Trentino meets with his spies: Chicolini (Chico)
and Pinky. Harpo is lighting his cigar with a blow torch.

Chicolini and Pinky take their spying to the streets outside the President’s office. Chicolini pretends to be a roasted peanut vendor. Next to them is another street vendor (Edgar Kennedy) and during the course of the movie, the three of them will get into it. There is a lot of play with their different hats and at one time Harpo puts his feet in the vendor’s lemonade. Firefly sees Chicolini outside his window and appoints him to be his Secretary of War.

They may be undercover, but they are never not outrageous.
Here Harpo puts his feet in the lemonade vendor's product.

Meanwhile, Roland suspects Trentino’s motives and encourages Firefly to create an incident that will get him thrown out of the country. But the plan sort of backfires; Firefly and Trentino exchange insults, but Firefly slaps Trentino rather than the other way around. Now the two countries stand on the brink of war.

Firefly slaps Trentino while Mrs. Teasdale looks on. War is on!

The action moves to Mrs. Teasdale’s house. Trentino learns that the Freedonia’s war plans are in her safe and orders Chicolini and Pinky to steal them. Firefly, at Mrs. Teasdale's invitation, is also staying there and both Chicolini and Pinky, once they manage to gain entrance, dress up like him so they can move around the house without drawing suspicion.

When Firefly runs into Pinky, he thinks he’s seeing his reflection in a full-length mirror. What follows is probably the most famous scene in the film. Trying to be sure, Firefly prances in front of the camera, which Pinky matches to near perfection, even if the move began out of his sight. There are a couple of surreal moments, as when the two men change sides and Firefly picks up and hands back to Pinky a hat he’s dropped. (The idea of a mirror scene did not originate with this movie, but instead dates back to a Max Linder film, Seven Years Bad Luck (1921), but this is the most famous version). Unfortunately for the spies, Chicolini, also dressed like Firefly, enters the fray and is captured.

Shots from one of the most famous film routines the Marx Brothers ever performed.

Chicolini is put on trial for treason. Firefly actually comes to his side, but before the trial is resolved, war is declared between Freedonia and Sylvania. This is the cause for a big production number, sequences of which Woody Allen would later use in his film Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). The musical talents of the four Marx brothers are highlighted during "This Country's Going To War" along with their irreverent sense of humor. This production number is significant since it was the only time in any of their films that all four Marx Brothers were featured in the same musical number.

Part of the "This Country's Going To War" number includes the
 four brothers: Zeppo, Chico, Harpo and Groucho playing banjos.

Pinky rides on horseback out into the countryside, sort of like a mute Paul Revere. He ends up in the lemonade vendor’s house with the man’s wife. In a scene that spoofed the production code, in that a man and a woman could not be in the same bed, the camera tracks across the bedroom floor, showing first a pair of women’s shoes, then a pair of men’s shoes and then four horseshoes. When the entire room is shown, Pinky and his horse are in one bed and the woman in the other. After a hard day, the lemonade vendor comes home and Pinky has to hide, ending up in the vendor’s bath.

For Edgar Kennedy's Vendor character, there is no escape from Harpo, not even his bathtub.

When the war starts, Chicolini starts out on the side of Sylvania, but quickly joins Pinky fighting for Freedonia.  Firefly is no military leader, so his orders to his troops are unorthodox at best. He is shown in a different uniform until the end of the film, including Union and Confederate uniforms from the Civil War, a British palace guard uniform, a Boy Scout Scoutmaster's uniform, and even a coonskin Davy Crockett cap.

Firefly goes through a number of costume changes during the War.

Even though Sylvanian troops led by Trentino invade Freedonia's headquarters, Trentino gets caught and trapped while climbing through the door and is pelted with vegetables and fruit until he surrenders. Overjoyed, Mrs. Teasdale, who is also there, stands in the corner singing “Hail Freedonia” until the Marx Brothers turn their attention from Trentino to her and pelt her instead.

The Marx Brothers turn their attention from Trentino and start to pelt Mrs. Teasdale to stop her singing.

The film opened on November 17, 1933, and there persists the thought that the film was a flop. In reality, it didn’t do as well as Horse Feathers but was still the sixth highest grossing film of the year. Reviews were also apparently mixed, with some thinking the political message of the film was preposterous and perhaps longed for less chaos on film during the Great Depression, during which the film was released. Years later, when asked about the film’s politics, Groucho replied, “We were just four Jews trying to get a laugh." In 1990 the United States Library of Congress selected Duck Soup for preservation in the National Film Registry, deeming it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

In addition to the Marx Brothers and Margaret Dumont, which we’ve written about in other reviews, Duck Soup stars Louis Calhern, Raquel Torres and Edgar Kennedy. Calhern might be one of the last people you’d expect to see Groucho bantering with. Best known for his roles in such films as Notorious (1946) and The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Calhern began his film career in 1921, with his appearance in What’s Worth While? (1921). But Calhern’s talents were best displayed when he could be heard, so after only a couple of more films, he returned to the stage until after films learned to talk. He returned to films in The Road to Singapore (1931). He played character roles in Hollywood while continuing to play leading roles on stage.

Raquel Torres was considered a Latin beauty during her rather short Hollywood career. Born south of the border to a Mexican mother and a German father, she was about twenty when she began her career playing a Polynesian in White Shadows in the South Seas (1928) and retired from films seven years later in 1935, when she married businessman Stephen Ames. Duck Soup is her best remembered film.

Raquel Torres played Vera Marcal in Duck Soup.

Unlike Torres, Edgar Kennedy had a long film career, starting in 1911 and including over 500 films. One of the original Keystone Kops, Kennedy would work with the likes of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Charley Chase, and the Our Gang. He is probably best remembered for his slow burn, an exasperated facial expression embellished by rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face, in an attempt to hold his temper. We are treated to his signature move after Chico and Harpo get through with him.

Edgar Kennedy makes a good foil for Chico and Harpo. Here he loses
his hat, his dignity and his patience with their antics.

In this politically correct world, some have found Duck Soup to be racially offensive since during This Country’s Going to War, part of the number, "All God's Chillun Got Guns" uses the tune of old Negro spiritual "All God's Chillun Got Wings". Some critics had gone so far as to suggest that the number should be edited out of a recent DVD release of the film. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed, but the “controversy” brings up the issue of watching older films with a modern filter. I truly doubt the intention of using the number was to offend, but rather to entertain.

The use of a Negro spiritual during the "This Country's Going to War"
number, has been considered controversial by some modern viewers.

A lot of films from the 30s and 40s might have segments that might offend modern viewers, but if we go down that slippery slope and start to edit films so that they don’t offend anyone, where do we stop? Any film with a less than a good rendition of a spiritual? A bad depiction of a Black man? Slavery? There is no way that every film can be edited to please everyone. If we please the PC warrior then a film lover would be offended. It’s better to watch the film as it was meant to be seen and then talk about how opinions have changed since it was made, than to edit it down or not watch it at all.

Duck Soup is another example of the controlled chaos that is typical of the Marx Brothers’ Paramount movies. After this movie things would change. With their contract up, the Brothers left Paramount, but didn’t have a place to go. Zeppo left the act all together, going into business with another brother, Gummo, as Hollywood agents, building up a very successful practice. Groucho and Chico went on radio and there was even talk of going back to Broadway. But at a bridge game, Chico and Irving Thalberg talked about the possibility of taking the act to MGM, which they did. And things would be different from then on, with their films at that studio following a certain story structure. Gone were the anarchic films like Duck Soup.

And then there were three. After Duck Soup, the Marx Bros. became a trio (Harpo, Chico and Groucho).

It’s hard to have a favorite Marx Brothers film, there are so many good ones and there is something to like about each of them, especially these early ones. Duck Soup, like the other films they made at Paramount, deserves to be seen. It combines what’s best about all of their movies: the snappy fast-paced dialogue, their physical humor and their musical talent. Add to that the anarchy that pervades all of their films and you have a winner.

Stubs – Monkey Business (1931)

Monkey Business (1931) Starring: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Zeppo Marx, Rockcliffe Fellowes, Harry Woods, Thelma Todd. Directed by Norman Z. McLeod.  Screenplay by S.J. Perelman, Will J. Johnstone. Produced by Herman J. Mankiewicz (credited as Associate Producer) Run Time: 77 minutes. U.S. Black and White. Comedy.

Monkey Business marks a departure for the Marx Bros. After two successful films shot in New York at Paramount’s Astoria Studios, The Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1930), their third film would be shot in Hollywood. More than that, however, it was the first film not to be based on a previous stage production.

Between the features and following their move to Los Angeles, the Brothers had appeared in a short film, celebrating the studio's twentieth anniversary, The House That Shadows Built (1931), in which they adapted the opening scene from I’ll Say She Is, a 1924 stage revue written by Will J. Johnstone and his brother Tom Johnstone. The revue, which starred the Marx Brothers, also featured Lotta Miles, is attributed to have led to the Brothers' rise in Vaudeville and their eventual entry into films. In the short, the four Marx Brothers are seen auditioning for the same play by imitating Maurice Chevalier, another Paramount star, performing a song.

Much has been made about the screenplay for Monkey Business. While S.J. Perelman, a humorist and screenwriter, is credited along with Johnstone, there is some argument about how much Perelman actually wrote that makes it into the final film.

The Marx Brothers' relationship with Perelman dates back to their Broadway days, when Groucho read his book, Dawn Ginsbergh’s Revenge. After a complimentary letter from Groucho prompted a meeting backstage, Perelman was asked if he could write something for a proposed Marx Brothers’ radio show with W. B. Johnstone. The fact that Harpo didn’t speak caused the writers some issues. The one idea they came up with was presented to Groucho at a story conference – the Marx Brothers as stowaways on a luxury liner. Groucho liked the idea so much that he took the writers directly to Paramount’s New York offices, so they could be put under contract.

Perelman was warned by producer Herman Mankiewicz about working with the Marx Brothers, “They're mercurial, devious and ungrateful,” he is quoted as saying. “I hate to depress you, but you'll rue the day you ever took the assignment. This is an ordeal by fire. Make sure you wear asbestos pants." Perelman didn’t have to wait long for Mankiewicz’s warning came true. As soon as he read them the first draft, Groucho either said, depending on whom you listen to, “It stinks” or “I think we need a script." Neither of which would be considered encouraging.

It’s not certain who all contributed to the screenplay. Director Norman McLeod said that over the next five months, 12 different writers were involved. Even cartoonist J. Carver Pusey, who created the pantomime comic strip Benny, which ran in newspapers from 1929 to 1939, is listed in copyright paperwork. It is also said that when Eddie Cantor visited the set, he made contributions. But as McLeod, in his first time solo in the director’s chair, would soon learn, the Marx Brothers liked to ad lib and once he kept the camera running was able to capture some of that for the movie.

One more change for the brothers was their leading lady. In Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, Margaret Dumont had been Groucho’s love interest/foil as it were. For their next two films, she was replaced by Thelma Todd, a blond beauty with a long comedic background. While she is perhaps best known for her work with the Marx Brothers, she also worked with Charley Chase, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. Todd also appeared in any early version of the Maltese Falcon, as Iva Archer, opposite Ricardo Cortez’s Sam Spade. Todd would appear in two Marx Brothers’ movies, this one and Horse Feathers (1932).

There isn’t really that much of a plot. Per the premise, the Brothers are stowaways on a luxury liner that is already out to sea. They are being searched for by the First Mate Gibson (Tom Kennedy), who is sure there are four in the cargo hold, since he’s heard the four-part harmony of Sweet Adeline. We’re even treated to a little snippet of them singing each in their own Kippered Herring barrel, the first time Harpo’s voice is heard on film.

The Marx Brothers (Harpo, Zeppo, Chico and Groucho) stowaway on board ship in barrels.

Even when the First Mate brings down a crew of sailors to search the hold, the Brothers manage to avoid detection until he orders the barrels taken topside to get them out of the way. The hoist lifts the barrels off the brothers, leaving each exposed. The Brothers scatter when they’re noticed, but they always manage to stay one step ahead of their pursuers, even hiding in plain sight pretending to be a four-piece band.

They hide in plain sight pretending to be a four-piece band.

Harpo is chased into a Punch and Judy show, where he becomes part of the show and torments the First Mate who followed him in. When the Captain (Ben Taggart) finds his First Mate is fighting with a puppet, he sends him to his room. Even after they discover their mistake, Harpo manages to elude them. At one point, Chico and Harpo take over the ship’s barbershop and “snoop” away an officer’s moustache.

The Captain (Ben Taggart) finds his First Mate Gibson (Tom
Kennedy) fighting with Harpo, whom he thinks is a puppet.

The Brothers are not through with the Captain, as Groucho and Chico follow him into his quarters and order up his lunch, even going so far as to share his lunch without his permission and then locking the Captain in a closet.

Groucho and Chico crash the Captain's lunch.

Zeppo avoids his pursuers by hooking up with a woman walking on deck. While she’s resistant at first, he charms her with his comment about the might pretty country around here, meaning the ocean. The girl, who turns out to be Mary Helton (Ruth Hall), is so enamored that she comments about the number of trees.

Meanwhile, Chico and Harpo get hired as henchmen for a gangster on board the ship, Joe Helton (Rockcliffe Fellowes), who turns out to be Mary’s father. Groucho and Zeppo are hired by Helton’s rival, “Alky” Briggs (Harry Woods), but only after Groucho’s made a pass at his wife, Lucille (Thelma Todd).

Joe Helton (Rockcliffe Fellowes) hires Chico and Harpo as henchmen.

Each pair of brothers follows their new boss around the decks of the ship. Harpo and Chico, who don’t pay close attention, end up following any man who passes by them, until they end up following an older man, who is not in disguise. Groucho, who is working for Briggs, approaches Helton to make nice.

Groucho is hired by "Alky" Briggs (Harry Woods), but only after he's
 already made a pass at Briggs' wife Lucille (Thelma Todd)

Once the ship reaches the docks, getting off the ship proves to be difficult without a passport. They try in vain to pickpocket one of the other passengers and fail, that is until Zeppo runs into Maurice Chevalier, an action that takes place off screen. But using Chevalier’s passport proves difficult, since none of the brothers really resemble the well-known French born actor and fellow Paramount star. Zeppo suggests that they sing a song to prove their identity and all four sing "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me", which Chevalier sang in The Big Pond (1930). [Chevalier actually had a bonafide hit with another song from The Big Pond: "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight"]

Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930).

The Brothers manage to get off the boat when one of the passengers faints while departing. An ambulance is called and the boys stowaway on the passenger’s stretcher.

On dry land, the fun continues at a party Helton is throwing for his daughter’s coming out, something that used to be reserved for debutantes. The Brothers through hook or crook manage to be in attendance. Zeppo appears there at Mary’s invitation, Groucho at the father’s and Chico and Harpo out of the force of their nature.

Groucho enjoys attention hanging out at the party.

In what seems customary with any Marx Brothers film is a musical interlude. Chico leads an orchestra in a piano medley. While I don’t think anyone would mistake Chico for Van Cliburn, I doubt anyone had more fun and was more fun to watch playing. Harpo ends up accompanying Maxine Castle, a contralto, in her rendering of "O Sole Mio.", before playing solo. It is interesting to note that what he plays, a little under two minute ditty, “I’m Daffy Over You”, was written by brother Chico.

But “Alky” Briggs has other plans for the night; to kidnap Mary and use her as leverage over her father, no doubt to take control of his operation. He and Lucille are in attendance, which allows him to tell Groucho of his plans and for Groucho to make one more play for Lucille.

Groucho with Lucille at the party.

When the kidnapping occurs, Groucho knows where Mary is being taken, the “old Barn” and the Brothers take chase. The Brothers manage to fight and defeat Alky’s henchmen, Zeppo rescues Mary and knocks out Briggs just as Helton and his men arrive.

The film was a huge success for Paramount, for the writers involved and for the Marx Brothers, establishing them as major stars in Hollywood. There were even plans, according to Robert Osborne, for a sequel in keeping with the mafia themes from this film. However, those plans were scuttled when Charles Lindbergh’s son was kidnapped and killed by gang members. Instead, the next film Horse Feathers ended up being a re-working of sorts of a Marx Brothers’ stage show “Fun in Hi Skule”. [The Lindbergh kidnapping was such a big event that it had a definite impact on films from Hollywood. Another example was Three on a Match (1932), which also faced censorship because of its plot points involving kidnapping.]

Some of the themes and plot points in this film would be mined later. The concept of them as stowaways would be used in their eventual radio show, Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel, a situational comedy starring Groucho and Chico that ran for 26 episodes on NBC’s Blue Network from November 28, 1932 to May 22, 1933. And of course, would be recycled again in the three Marx Brother’s A Night at the Opera (1935), by which time the act had moved to MGM.

The Marx Brothers are a unique force of comedy, being able to successfully merge wordplay with slapstick in a way no one else seems to pull off. Throw in their musical talents and there has really been no act like them in the history of Hollywood. Perhaps it’s the numbers, there are four in this film, allowing each to concentrate on what they do best. Harpo is the king of pantomime in the sound era of film, but also the source of chaos, not to mention his harp playing. Chico is the conniving “immigrant” who doesn’t quite understand English or understands only what he wants to and plays a mean piano.

Groucho is unmatched in his verbal wordplay, oftentimes opposite Chico, and manages to pull off a grease pencil moustache better than anyone. Zeppo, the group’s straight man and love interest so to speak, even gets a few laughs and gets the girl. The four brothers make a complete package in this film.

This film is an example of the Marx Brothers’ style of anarchy, driven home by Harpo’s complete lack of respect for authority when they’re trying to get past the passport check point. He literally walks on the tables in a defiance of standing in line and when he makes it to the front he throws papers off the table for no real reason but to make a mess of the order. Everything, everyone and every location is simply a backdrop for the Marx's to react to, play off and make fun of; no one is immune. The higher up the social or authority ladder, the more of a come-uppance the Marx's try to provide. You have to know that this played well with a depression-era movie-going crowd.

Harpo creates havoc at the passport check point and shows his complete lack of respect for authority.

Monkey Business is one of the funniest of the Marx Brothers films, but that’s a little like asking a parent to pick their favorite twin child. [The proper answer is the one in the middle.] They are all, for the most part, fun to watch. This film illustrates how much the Marx Brothers can do with very little and that sometimes it’s best to sit back and let them do what they do, rather than try to reel them in.