Dancing is amateurish
The chorus line dancing in this movie is awful. I think that any amateur group
could do as well. I notice this in a lot of old(20's,30's) movies. I wonder why?
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MovieChat Forums > The Cocoanuts (1929) Discussion > Dancing is amateurish
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It's probably because Hollywood had just started putting chorus lines into movies, since it wasn't until sound, of course, that they started making musicals. So they were very good at it yet.
sharePretty accurate. The bulk and awkwardness of the early talkie equipment probably didn't help them shoot the scenes in the most flattering way.
Also, this wasn't even a Hollywood film. It was shot on Long Island, as was "Animal Crackers". The Marxes would perform on Broadway in Animal Crackers at night and shoot this film in the daytime.
My guess is that the dancers were Broadway moonlighters as well.
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I was thinking along the same lines.... but the fact that they pre-Busby Berkleyed Busby Berkley blew me away... and it was pretty good, too.
shareThis movie was directed by Robert Florey. A sort of serious director. It is said he did not see the Marx Brothers as funny. If it had been directed by Busby Berkley I am sure the dancing scenes would have been better.
shareLook at any musical number from this period and most would seem "amateurish" to modern eyes. Filmmakers were still trying to figure out the right camera angles, correct synchronization and the like. My guess is that the musical numbers in COCOANUTS may have been done "live" with an orchesta playing right on the set. Or an extremely primitive form of playback.
shareWell, he beat Berkeley to the overhead "kaleidoscope" view. When Cocoanuts was first shown in theaters, that shot drew audience applause.
You've got me?! Who's got you?!
As already stated they aren't up to Busby Berkley standards, but it's too soon for that level of dance sequence. It's an evolutionary process.
And really what do you expect from a squad of bellgirls, or bellpersons anyhow. I think the ladies did fine allowing for the handicap of the horrible costume designs.
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All the more reason to FF through these numbers which took too much time anyways. Pretty lame show-stopping stuff with uninspired lyrics.
"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan
Thank goodness for the DVR so we can now forward through those goofy musical numbers.
shareOh, I dunno; I kinda liked Mary Eaton's "Monkey Doodle-Do" number, even though it was so badly photographed you couldn't see her feet.
shareIt might not have been so badly photographed. Her feet might have been cropped to fit the rectangular shape of a TV screen.
During the silent era the Academy frame (on the film) filled the entire width of the film right up to the sprocket holes. The coming of sound compromised the picture area in order to accommodate the necessary optical soundtrack on the film thus narrowing the previously rectangular picture frame to a square shape.
"The Cocoanuts" was among those photographed in this square frame which became the standard until 1932 when the studios decided to restore the rectangular shape of the frame by slightly cropping off the top and bottom. This masking remained the standard ever since.
Most titles made between 1929 and 1932 suffer when transposed to the TV screen, as their squarely composed frames are cropped at the top and bottom to fit the rectangular TV screen, as well as in 16mm prints which have an even more rectangular frame.
If you ever watch the "The Cocoanuts" (as well as "Animal Crackers") on TCM you'll see the opening titles window boxed to reveal the original square shape of the frame so the credits are entirely visible. After the credits finish the picture area fills out the screen on your TV. Some day I hope for a DVD restoration of the entire movie in the square format. This has already been done with Fritz Lang's "M" which features a pillar boxed image (square frame between black bars that fill the remainder of the TV screen.