Line #36 Film/TheCocoanuts


1	[[quoteright:254:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_cocoanuts.jpg]]
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3	''The Cocoanuts'' is a 1929 musical comedy that starred the four Creator/MarxBrothers, Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo. Originally this was a stage musical written by Irving Berlin and George S. Kaufman for the Marx Brothers in 1925. Later this was adapted to the screen in 1929 by Paramount Studios and filmed in their Astoria, Queens, location. This is technically the Marx Brother's screen debut, as their previous attempt, a silent film entitled ''Humor Risk'', was effectively destroyed after one viewing.
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5	The plot involves the manager of the Hotel de Cocoanut, Mr. Hammer (Groucho), who runs a resort hotel located in Florida and his assistant Jamison (Zeppo). Chico and Harpo arrive with empty luggage, with the intention of conning and stealing from hotel guests and filling up their loot in the suitcases. Meanwhile, the wealthy Mrs. Potter (Margaret Dumont) arrives with her daughter Polly (Mary Eaton), who is in love with Bob Adams (Oscar Shaw), a young man who also happens to work at the hotel. But Mrs. Potter wants Polly to marry the seemingly well-to-do Harvey Yates, not knowing he's secretly a con-artist with an equally conniving partner, Penelope. Expect chaos and confusion to run amock as con-artists clash and the usual one-liners and sketches from the Marx Brothers to stop the plot.
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7	The Marx brothers themselves hated the film, and were so disappointed with the final cut that they actually tried to buy the rights to the movie from Paramount in order to prevent it from being released, fearing it would severely hinder their film careers. Fortunately for them, Paramount refused, and the movie became a smash hit.
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9	----
10	!! This movie provides examples of:
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12	* ArrangedMarriage: Mrs. Potter arranges for Polly to marry Yates after Bob is arrested under suspicion of stealing the necklace.
13	* AsideGlance: Groucho throws a quick one to the camera right after Chico's [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece "Radius WJZ" joke.]]
14	-->"I waked right into that one."
15	* {{Auction}}: A key scene is Mr. Hammer's auction of parcels of land in Cocoanut Grove for prospective developers.
16	* BadBoss: Mr. Hammer's EstablishingCharacterMoment has him talking his way out of paying his employees the money that he owes them.
17	* BreakingTheFourthWall: The movie ends with the Marxes looking directly into the camera and waving goodbye to the audience.
18	* BumblingSidekick: Hammer tries to recruit Chico for this role in the real estate auction, and instructs Chico to make counter-offers against the other investors to raise the prices of the lots. Chico, being Chico, follows the instructions ''too'' well...
19	* CardboardPrison: After accidentally locking himself in jail, Harpo escapes by tugging on the bars of his cell, causing a bar to pop loose so he can climb through and escape.
20	* ChewbaccaDefense: Mr. Hammer argues that his employees are "wage-slaves" for expecting to actually be paid for the work they do for him and that they should be "free" to work for him for free. Amazingly, it actually ''works.''
21	* CrowdSong: During Mrs. Potter's engagement party for Polly, detective Hennessy's shirt disappears... causing him to ''break out in song'' about it (set to the music of ''Theatre/{{Carmen}}'') as everyone else joins in.
22	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Harpo wore his red wig from their stage show, which appears dark grey on the black and white film. He quickly decided that it would look better bleached to a light pink. That's why he's called Pinky in some of the films. Many fans do think of Harpo as blond.
23	* FemmeFatale: Penelope uses her feminine charms to get unsuspecting men to do her bidding.
24	* ForgottenTrope: The song "Monkey Doodle Doo" has a reference to "monkey glands". This stems from a then-popular quack remedy belief that goat and monkey glands had rejuvenating effects, similar to viagra.
25	-->If you're too old for dancing\
26	Get yourself a monkey gland!
27	* FrameUp: Penelope lures Chico and Harpo (separately) up to her room so they can be blamed for the theft of Mrs. Potter's necklace. [[HilarityEnsues It doesn't go according to plan.]]
28	* GentlemanThief: Harvey Yates presents himself as a debonair gentleman, but he's secretly deep in debt and enters a scheme with Penelope to steal Mrs. Potter's valuable diamond necklace.
29	* GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty: After Mrs. Potter's stolen necklace has been recovered from lot #26, Bob is accused of stealing it simply because he refused to explain why he was so determined to win the lot.
30	* HurricaneOfPuns: The scene where Hammer recruits Chico to be a shill in the real estate auction is packed to the gills with puns.
31	-->'''Hammer:''' I say that's a viaduct.\
32	'''Chico:''' All right, why a duck? Why no chicken?
33	* HypocriticalHumor: Groucho chastises Harpo for smoking.
34	* ImpossibleTheft: Harpo repeatedly and effortlessly steals anything that's not nailed down. In one scene he steals Bob's handkerchief five times, his wristwatch twice, Groucho's tie three times, and the ''dentures'' from his mouth!
35	* MovieBonusSong: "When My Dreams Come True" appears to be the UrExample.
36	* NoNameGiven: Chico and Harpo Marx are not given character names, but are listed in the credits simply as "Chico" and "Harpo". Chico's name on the Broadway program was "Willy the Wop" which was considered too insensitive even for early movie audiences. Harpo's character was called "Silent Sam". In one scene, Harpo is called Silent Red.
37	* NonSequitur: Mr. Hammer's speech at Polly's engagement party is one long chain of non sequiturs.
38	-->'''Hammer:''' In behalf of the Rotary Club of Minneapolis, I wanted to take this occasion of welcoming you to Waukegan... No, no, I, er, I mean, in recognition of my many years of service with the railroad, you have presented me with these ties. Now, that, of course, reminds me of the story of the Irishman. It's so funny, I wish I could think of it.
39	* OffscreenTeleportation:
40	** In one scene, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Mr. Hammer gives Mrs. Potter a piece of pipe,]] then dashes offscreen. After she chases him to protest, Hammer reappears behind the bell desk, having eluded her.
41	** Harvey Yates disappears from the engagement party during Polly's speech [[spoiler:revealing that he was the thief who stole her mother's necklace]]. This is especially notable since he was sitting between Polly and her mother at the time.
42	* PyrrhicVictory: Spoofed by Groucho during the auction when Chico buys Lot Number 20 for $600.
43	-->'''Mr. Hammer:''' Well, I came out even on that one. That was a great success. Yeah, one more success like that and I'll sell my body to a medical institute.
44	* RealityHasNoSoundtrack: The Marx Brothers figured that the audience wouldn't care where the music came from, but [[ExecutiveMeddling the executives insisted]] that film audiences wouldn't suspend their disbelief, so they hired an orchestra to sit on the set in order to justify the musical numbers (even though they were using prerecorded music) — but the director forgot to shoot them and almost all the musical numbers were cut anyway, so the studio wasted that money.
45	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The play was originally produced on Broadway in 1925, the year of the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_land_boom_of_the_1920s Florida real estate boom]] that was a major cause of TheGreatDepression, and a lot of Mr. Hammer's remarks make more sense if you know something about the context.
46	* ScoobyDoobyDoors: This movie has a variation with Penelope and Mrs. Potter's adjoining hotel rooms -- Groucho, Harpo, Chico, detective Hennessy, Mrs. Potter, and Penelope chase and hide from each other between two rooms, four doors, and a bed.
47	* SelfMadeMan: Parodied with Mr. Hammer.
48	-->When I first came here, I didn't have a nickel in my pocket. Now I've got a nickel in my pocket.
49	* ShadyRealEstateAgent: Mr. Hammer is a downplayed example; while he doesn't resort to outright fraud or chicanery, his descriptions of the real estate lots of Cocoanut Grove definitely take some creative liberties.
50	* SourceMusic: Played with; due to ExecutiveMeddling, an orchestra was hired to be in the lobby to justify where the background music was coming from. In the final cut, they are only clearly visible in the party scene... and it was all for nothing as the audience didn't care anyway.
51	* StealingFromTheHotel: Chico and Harpo check in with an empty suitcase. "That's all right, we fill it up before we leave."
52	* StockForeignName: Used as part of the HurricaneOfPuns in the "Viaduct" scene.
53	-->'''Hammer:''' All along the river, those are all levees.\
54	'''Chico:''' That’s the Jewish neighborhood? [[labelnote:Explanation]]"Levy" is a common Jewish name[[/labelnote]]\
55	'''Hammer:''' Well, we'll [[{{Pun}} passover]] that.
56	* WantedPoster: Harpo has a copy of his wanted poster ("''Wanted for Jaywalking''") attached to the inside of his coat.
57	* WimpFight: A RunningGag in the movie is for Chico and Harpo to get into an argument and suddenly fight each other. This consists of blatantly-telegraphed windmill punches and half-hearted [[GroinAttack kicks to the nethers,]] all with the effectiveness of wet tissue paper.

Context Film / TheCocoanuts