The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers – Blu-ray

Double bill of comedies starring the Marx brothers. In 'The Cocoanuts' (1929) the four brothers - Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo - make their big screen debut with this adaptation of their Broadway hit. Hammer (Groucho) is the fast-talking owner of a Florida hotel hoping to make money by persuading wealthy society matron Mrs Potter (Maragaret Dumont) and her daughter Polly to invest in the local land boom. He is aided and abetted by a pair of inept conmen (Chico and Harpo) and desk clerk Jamison (Zeppo), but the quartet become distracted from their task when they help Polly's sweetheart, Bob, prove his innocence after he is wrongfully accused of stealing Mrs Potter's jewels. In 'Animal Crackers' (1930) Mrs Rittenhouse (Dumont) is throwing a high society party, at which African explorer Jeffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho Marx) is the guest of honour. When a valuable painting is stolen from the house, Spaulding teams up with Italian musician Emanual Ravelli (Chico Marx) and the eccentric Professor (Harpo Marx) to track down the thieves - in between trading insults with their fellow guests and generally creating mayhem.