THE COCOANUTS (1929) (Previously reviewed on this site):
SYNOPSIS: Groucho runs a hotel in Florida.
PROS: A good chance to see what The Marx Brothers were like on Broadway in the twenties. Lots of excellent routines, including Groucho’s land auction which is sabotaged by Chico, and the oft-quoted “Why a Duck?” routine in which Chico gets confused over the word “viaduct”. Margaret Dumont’s most wooden (and therefore most effective) performance.
CONS: A print that runs from amazing to horrible. A plot nobody could possibly care about. A score by the briliant Irving Berlin that makes you wonder how this man could have ever written “White Christmas” and “God Bless America”. And the biggest con of all – Oscar Shaw, the least palatable male lead ever to appear in a Marx Brothers movie.
ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930) (Previously reviewed on this site):
SYNOPSIS: A Long Island society matron hosts a party for a world famous explorer.
PROS: Tons of witty and devastating jokes written by George Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. A wonderfully bubbly performance by Lillian Roth as the female lead. Groucho’s lecture on Africa, as well as his attempts to woo two women at once, and his conversation with an arts patron. Zeppo’s greatest scene ever, in which he takes dictation from Groucho.
CONS: Not many. The film tends to peter out long before it actually ends, and the song “Why Am I So Romantic?” comes so late in the film, it brings things to a virtual halt.
MONKEY BUSINESS (1931)
SYNOPSIS: The four Marx Brothers are stowaways on an ocean liner.
PROS: Almost completely plotless, leaving more time for The Marx Brothers, one of whom is in nearly every scene. A script so densely packed with jokes, puns, sight-gags and one-liners, you could probably have made four very funny movies out of the jokes they must have left on the cutting room floor. Zeppo has two cute gags. And the beautiful Thelma Todd!
CONS: Aside from the lack of a boffo ending gag, I can’t think of one thing wrong with this film.
HORSE FEATHERS (1932)
SYNOPSIS: Groucho is president of a college.
