A night at the Opera.
At the circus.
The Cocoanuts (1929)
A Florida hotel owner is in financial trouble and decides to auction some swampland, with the assistance of a couple of visiting con men, to make ends meet.
Meanwhile, a wannabe architect wants to get some of that land to build his first project so he can marry his girl, who, in turn is being sought after by a jewel thief’s partner in crime who only wants her for her money.
This is the plot of the earliest (surviving) Marx Brothers feature film. Often accused of being stagey and of low quality image and sound, the Blu-ray is a revelation, sure, there still are a few fuzzy segments but you can clearly hear Groucho say “You g- …You boys.” For virtually the first time in decades, (’boys’ who will later correctly get called ‘girls’ when Harpo and Chico chase them around.)
Most lines are now understandable and the inaccuracy of the subtitles grates ...for the first time ever! (which is a good thing, a better one would be to have had the subtitles corrected.)
The camera is also not as static as its reputation asserts, with graininess becoming more noticeable in zooms. Yeah, it’s filmed on a stage… But what a stage! Extras all over the place and even with a pool of water standing for the ocean.
We also get lots of camera movement (compare with Tod Browning’s 'Dracula' (1931), for example,) up to and including Busby Berkeley-styled overhead shots during the musical numbers.
Speaking of which we get Harpo with clarinet and harp; and Chico at the piano and accompanying Harpo on the cash register with a horn.
Classic Marx Brothers' comedy bits of business with Groucho alternatively insulting and then making love to Margaret Dumont; Chico and Groucho teaming up for verbal confusion; and Harpo chasing girls, and eating and stealing everything in sight.
Zeppo, always welcome, is unfortunately left with very little to do other than be present, ...no wonder he wanted out.
Better than its reputation and better than you think, all it needed was better presentation.
It’s nice to finally be able to hear the jokes.
Image quality is also good enough that the dancing girls' faces (the Gamby-Hale Ballet Girls & Allan K. Foster Girls) become recognizable on reappearance, even with blonde wigs.
Pre-Code content includes lots of young, leggy, attractive females, in many instances smoking… shocking! Cross-dressing females (and the ensuing gender confusion,) and some adultery jokes here and there: “There seems to be a trace of uncertainty in that "yes." You know, a yes like that was once responsible for me jumping out of a window. And I'm not the jumper I used to be.”
The musical numbers were supposedly shot live on the soundstage with an off-camera orchestra which is odd, because the sound is sometimes off synch (note Chico hitting a piano key sometimes before and sometimes after its sound is produced.
Tunes by Irving Berlin.
Worth another look.
written by German Gomez for Facebook on 18 October 2020.
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