User Reviews

The Big Store is not one of the Marx Brothers' best films, but it's worth watching once. Groucho still delivers a few good one-liners and insults to Margaret Dumont. Harpo and Chico have some good scenes (watch as an Italian immigrant accuses Chico of mocking his accent!). I actually think that the musical numbers in this one are wonderful, except for those by Tony Rogers, one of the many love interest duds who grace the Brothers' flicks. Maltin's right: The Tenement Symphony is a suicide-inducing number, and easily a low point in all of the Marx Brothers' films, except for the entire running time of Love Happy. But there's a great song and dance number when Groucho first enters the store. You have to catch the woman singing a jazzed-up version of Rock-a-bye Baby; I have never seen a more eerily emotionless visage on a human being. It's creepy and oddly beautiful. Chico and Harpo perform an awesome piano duet. There's also a scene where four young kids play the piano like Chico, which is very charming. And Harpo's harp sequence is pretty good (he plays Mozart on the harp, and then his two reflections accompany him with other, various string instruments). The final chase sequence is rather annoying. The Marx Brothers' fall came about when their films started overutilizing special effects, fast motion, and sound effects to enhance the comedy. Still, The Big Store is not a disaster, by any means. 7/10.

After Zeppo Marx refused to move on with his brothers to MGM from Paramount, the Marxs usually secured the services of another player, usually a singer to function in Zeppo's nondescript place. Usually that person had a lot more personality than Zeppo did. It was Allan Jones in two films, Kenny Baker in one and in The Big Store it was Tony Martin.

The still very much alive, but retired Tony Martin, had one of the great voices of the last century. He never made the screen impact that other singers did, though he was in some very good films. His main media outlets were records, radio, and as one of the premier nightclub attractions, especially when he appeared with his second wife Cyd Charisse. Martin had two songs to sing in The Big Store, the much maligned Tenement Symphony and a really nice ballad, If It's You.

Martin is the heir to one half of Phelps Department store. The other half is owned by his aunt Margaret Dumont. The Hastings Brothers, who own a chain of department stores, are looking to buy this one.

Manager Douglass Dumbrille has been doing a little embezzling on the side and he's afraid that if Martin sells his half, he's taking a stretch up the river. After Martin becomes the victim of an attempted murder, Dumont hires who else, detective Wolf J. Flywheel who is of course Groucho Marx.

By a happy coincidence, Groucho has Harpo as a sidekick and Harpo's brother in the film Chico is a friend of Martin's. So now we have all the Marx Brothers working at the store.

The Big Store is usually dismissed as one of the Marx Brothers lesser films, but it's always been a favorite of mine. Another reviewer said there were too many musical numbers. I don't think there were any more or less than in other films of their's. The running time is a bit short so it might seem like there's more.

The highlight for me is always the final chase seen through the store, especially since Douglass Dumbrille joins in the fun. Dumbrille on screen usually plays some serious villains, probably his best known part is that of Mr. Cedar the lawyer who is milking the estate that Gary Cooper is inheriting in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

Dumbrille is just as successful dealing with the Marx Brothers over embezzlement as he is with Gary Cooper. But here this very serious and obviously classically trained actor joins right in the slapstick fun. Dumbrille looks like he's having a ball. Later on he would really cut loose in a couple of Abbott and Costello films.

A question to all movie fans. Who do you think had the most inventive screen character names, W.C. Fields or Groucho Marx?

When crooner Tommy (Tony Martin) inherits his father's lucrative department store, he hopes to sell it to open a music conservatory for disadvantaged boys. Shady store manager Mr. Grover (Douglass Dumbrille) has been embezzling from the place, so he tries to have Tommy killed before the deal can take place and reveal Grover's malfeasance. Tommy's aunt Martha (Margaret Dumont) hires private detective Wolf J. Flywheel (Groucho Marx) to be Tommy's bodyguard, and along with Flywheel's assistant Wacky (Harpo Marx) and Tommy's pal Ravelli (Chico Marx) they get into all sorts of trouble in the department store.

The Marx Brothers declared that this would be their last film together, and I can see why they wanted to give it up after this substandard outing. The jokes fall flat, and too much time is spent on other characters and Tony Martin's singing numbers. It's not a complete bust, and there are a few chuckles scattered about like rare gems. Groucho's scenes with Dumont are still funny. The Brothers eventually made a couple more together as finances necessitated it, but they never matched their early 30's heyday.

This latter Marx Bros. comedy still contains some vintage moments between Groucho and his longtime foil Margaret Dumont, with good comic dialogue written for Groucho once again. The scene where she visits his office to hire him as a detective, as he and Harpo pull off a ruse by making it appear that Groucho's not a starving nobody but a first-class private eye, is as good as anything I've seen in their other pictures.

Things get bogged down later with musical numbers (I mean, what else is new?), but I was impressed by many of the sets in the grand department store.

Some good, some not-so-good.

The Big Store is a Marx brothers movie from 1941.The plot is irrelevant as it is in any other Marx movie.All that makes any difference is how funny these movies are and I can tell you about this one; IT IS.This time the brothers go crazy in a department store.Groucho plays Wolf J. Flywheel, the private eye, Harpo is Wacky, his silent partner and Chico is Ravelli, the bodyguard of the singer Tommy Rogers (Tony Martin).The amazing Margaret Dumont makes her last appearance with the Marx brothers playing Martha Phelps.It was most hilarious in all those movies to watch Groucho court Margaret and at the same time humiliate her the worst way.She didn't seem to mind.The Big Store is an underrated gem that shouldn't be thrown away.There are lots of scenes that raise this movie higher than many modern movies would deserve to be raised.It's incredible to watch the brothers roller skating in the store.There are also some musical numbers in the movie.It's great to watch and listen to Groucho singing "Sing While You Sell".There's the lady (Virginia O'Brien) singing "Rock-A-Bye Baby with a frozen face.I just loved her! Chico and Harpo playing piano together is just hilarious! Harpo playing his beloved harp with the mirror reflections is just magical! I'm just reading Harpo Marx' autobiography "Harpo Speaks!".It's fascinating to read how these brothers grew up in poverty under the wings of Minnie and Frenchie and became the comedy team everybody loves.These brothers worked great as a team.The viewer can sense that.That's probably why we still love them.It's timeless, their humor.You can live the 1940's or whatever decade or millennium, it always works.If somebody woke them up now and they'd be back in the moving pictures, the movie theaters would be packed with people.And the laughter would be heard miles away.

Groucho Marx, in one of the interviews in Richard Anobile's book about the brothers, admitted that the films after the death of Irving Thalberg (he meant after A Day At The Races) were not his favorite, and he considered them the team's worst films. This is not a totally fair evaluation. Two of the films (Room Service and A Night in Casablanca) were as good as Horsefeathers or Animal Crackers. But it must be admitted that At The Circus, Go West, The Big Store, and Love Happy (not to say their unfortunate solo performances in The Story of Mankind)were below par Marx. All had good moments in them - but only moments. If one can cut these films to only highlight their highlights the resulting anthology film would be almost as good as Room Service and A Night in Casablanca.

Groucho is Wolf J. Flywheel in this film - one of his catchiest pseudonyms. Like his later, tamer film role as Sam Grunion in Love Happy, he is a detective. Like Grunion he is living a hand to mouth existance, owing rent. In the last moments of the film Charles Lane forcibly reposes his car, an ancient vehicle (for 1941 America) with the sign, "Welcome Admiral Dewey, Hero of Manilla" on the back - the battle of Manilla Bay was in 1898, and the car looks like it just arrived on the scene before Dewey died in 1917. Groucho is therefore definitely interested in impressing and romancing his normal foil, Margaret Dumont, for financial security. In the end they and Harpo are in the car as it is towed away.

It was not the first time that Groucho played a character named Flywheel. In the missing year of 1934, while he and his brothers left Paramount after Duck Soup failed (and when Zeppo decided to become an agent rather than a straight man - a wise decision as he was a very successful agent), Groucho and Chico made a series of radio programs about a firm of shyster lawyers, Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel. The tapes of these broadcasts no longer exist (apparently) but the scripts have been published. Many of their routines appear to have been used in these scripts, which are funny. One hopes the tapes will still manage to turn up one day.

The best moments in the film are those dealing with Groucho trying to impress Dumont, and his confrontations with Douglass Dumbrille, as the conniving, pompous store manager Grover. Harpo's fantasy moment with two other Harpos playing a trio is fine. Chico really does not do too well in the film - nothing in particular standing out. This is not enough to sustain the film, until the final ten minutes.

The brothers have photographed Grover paying two goons to assassinate Tony Martin (the heir to Dumont, the owner of the store - Dumbrille wants to marry her to get control of the store). Dumbrille tries to get the photo back, and chases the brothers through the deserted departments of the store.

Douglas Dumbrille was a recognizeable movie villain throughout the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared opposite Crosby and Hope in Road to Utopia, and opposite Abbott and Costello in Lost in a Harem. In such roles he usually just gave the normally competent straight dramatic villainy that he gave in such films as Treasure Island (he was Israel Hands, who tries to kill Jackie Cooper/Jim Hawkins). But it was different with the Brothers, as he appeared in two films with them. He had played Morgan, the racetrack owner in A Day at the Races. Dumbrille was not the only actor who played in several Marx Brother films - Walter Woolf King was Gasparri in A Night at the Opera and was one of the two villains in Go West. Sig Ruman was Herman Gottlieb in A Night at the Opera, Dr. Leopold X. Steimetz in A Day at the Races, and Hans Stubel (the Nazi War Criminal in hiding) in A Night in Casablanca. Margaret Dumont appeared in seven Marx films, and Thelma Todd in Horsefeathers and Monkey Business. Ruman, Dumont, and Todd were all expert comic actors, and perfect foils for the brothers. King was okay, but no more. But Dumbrille was the interesting repeater in the bunch.

In A Day at the Races, Dumbrille had little to do, except to threaten Harpo for not throwing a race, and looking apoplectic while the brothers demolish his racetrack to prevent a race from occuring before their missing horse can be found. As such, his performance there is little different from his performance in Road to Utopia or Lost in a Harem. But the conclusion of The Big Store is different. Here, he steals the chase from the stars of the film

It is true that by 1941 the brothers were too old for the stunts needed - and so they use doubles (compare it to Go West a year before, where they still do some of their own stunt work). In some of the tumbles Grover is supposed to take, one can see that Dumbrille has a double too. But the difference is that the director noted that Dumbrille's unsmiling, stiff face can be used to punctuate what a ridiculous figure he could become. For he does become ridiculous, despite the grave reason for his chasing the brothers. Suddenly he has to do such ridiculous things as ride a bicycle in the store (a kid's bike at that) while wearing his floorwalker outfit) to catch the brothers who are on skates. He puts on skates too at one point, and falls into a counter full of ladies hats. He disappears behind the counter, and raises his head to show he is wearing a lady's hat with a flower on top. It's a priceless image, for his expression has not changed.

It is Dumbrille who makes the forced chase worth watching - it was (perhaps) his finest moment as a comic actor. I wonder if the brothers (especially the critical Groucho) ever stopped to realize how they had briefly abdicated their movie to a supporting player.

When people are asked which is their least favorite Marx Brothers movie, "The Big Store" is one of the most frequent choices. And it's not hard to understand why: this must be the Marx movie with the least comedy content in it - if not in quality, then certainly in quantity. Apart from the hilarious scene near the start where Margaret Dumont tries to explain the case "in detail" to supposedly busy detective Groucho while Harpo is typing loudly and a toaster goes out of control (a sequence that can make you laugh no matter how many times you see it), it's hard to name another classic piece of comedy here. The scene with the 14-member Italian family and the climactic chase inside the store are more chaotic and frenetic than funny (and there's also way too much fast motion used). On the bright side, this film has a better supporting cast than "Go West", "Sing While You Sell" is a grand and catchy number, Harpo and Chico have a delightful piano duet and Harpo's harp-playing scene is pure magic. While in many Marx Brothers movies I find the piano and harp numbers a dull interruption of the comedy, in "The Big Store" they are a welcome relief from the absence of comedy! **1/2 out of 4.

While I disagree with the conventional wisdom about the Marx Brothers' film made before The Big Store, Go West (1940), believing it to be yet another one of their many masterpieces, I have to agree with the conventional wisdom about The Big Store. It has the feeling of a contractual obligation film. One, two or all three of the Marx Brothers are absent for long periods of time. The story is often confusing. The film doesn't flow very well. Some of the material featuring other performers simply doesn't work. Even when it does work, it's never as good as the Marx Brothers' material, and even their work is too often strangely flat.

The Big Store is really the story of Tommy Rogers (played by famed pop singer Tony Martin). Rogers has just gained partial ownership of the Phelps Department store with the passing of a relative. However, he's not interested in the store, so he plans to sell and use the money to build a state of the art music conservatory in conjunction with his friend, Ravelli (Chico Marx). Unfortunately, not everything at the Phelps store has been on the up and up, and surviving store manager Mr. Grover (Douglass Dumbrille) is worried about buyers discovering their creative bookkeeping. So they try to off Tommy, which leads to hiring private detective Wolf J. Flywheel (Groucho Marx) and his assistant, Wacky (Harpo Marx), who happens to be Ravelli's brother. At the same time, Mr. Grover is courting Martha Phelps (Margaret Dumont), Tommy's aunt, with machinations of eventual ownership of the store.

In terms of meatiness, that's far more of a plot than I usually relay, but all of that is presented in the first 10 - 15 minutes of the film. The remainder involves playing out those threads. The problem is that the above is way too complicated, especially for a Marx Brothers film. The Marx Brothers style was that plots were really secondary to their anarchic, madcap skits. In truth, the two were usually well integrated in their films, with meatier plots than the conventional wisdom has it, and the skits relatively seamlessly enmeshed in the plots.

Here, the plot is often difficult to follow, and when you do manage to follow it, it just isn't that interesting. Despite this, there are still a number of fabulous set pieces. The scene where we first meet Groucho and Harpo in Groucho's private eye office is hilarious. The bedding department scene is good. The climax, featuring an extended chase through the department store, is a lot of fun, including its cartoonish use of wire stunts and camera tricks.

But there just isn't enough of that stuff, and one of the Marx Brothers' strongest points--Groucho's verbal bantering, is oddly flat just as often as it isn't. Even the usual musical sequences are problematic, unlike their sublime charm in Go West. Only Harpo's musical sequence and a brief duet with Chico on the piano are worthwhile. Groucho is given a schmaltzy "big musical production number" that goes on too long, is supposed to be funny and isn't, and ends up with Groucho doing little else but mugging and doing his trademark walk while other characters we're not familiar with sing the song.

Tony Martin has a song early on in the film that's okay, but doesn't exactly fit the tone of the film, and later, he does another "big musical production number", called "The Tenement Symphony", that is bizarre, to say the least, but not particularly funny. Instead, it's a strange mish-mash of styles that is strongly derivative (in a negative way) of George Gershwin.

While Marx Brothers completest certainly can't avoid The Big Store, it's difficult to imagine this being anywhere near the top of the list for any Marx Brothers fan. It's also not a great way to introduce anyone to their work (as they're likely to not be very interested in seeing more), and there are far better films for casual viewers who are not particularly interested in the Marx Brothers.

The few hilarious scenes could easily be excised and work just as well (if not better) in isolation, as "random" skits. But the film is very slightly recommendable for them.

This is my favorite movie ever.

These are the highlights for me.

From Groucho's singing "Mr. Grover you are just a quack to me" to the end of the "Sing while you sell" reprise. Virginia O'Brien had me laughing on the floor the first time I heard "Rock-a-bye Baby". I just love the way Groucho takes the big production number, a standard vehicle of the time, and makes it signature Groucho. You got to smile.

I think this movie has some of the best Groucho/Margaret Dumont banter.

Harpo's harp solo is miles ahead of any of his others. It's just plain fun,

Although the Tenement Symphony clearly is lacking musically, you have to love the overriding pun. The Tenement Symphony in four flats.

The final 15 minutes saved this VHS from being traded in for something else, as most of the film is not up to the Marx Brothers lofty status. I guess by the 1940s, the boys were in a decline, for various reasons. One of them is the writing. There were always a ton of jokes and sight gags in the MB films and most of them were dated and corny......but still funny, even 70 years later. However, the jokes in here - and the songs - are so dated and not much to start with that they simply aren't funny. That, and the songs are likewise, not really appealing.

As mentioned, the only thing I personally enjoyed here was the hectic last 15 minutes with a chase through a department store. That was classic slapstick material and it still works. Unfortunately, the rest of it did not work. For much of this film, the store was "closed" for (Marx Brothhers) business.

Naturally you know that this is considered one of the weakest of Marx films.

The sad fact is that when your act is based on excess, you have to continually up the ante. This was true 70 years ago and is just as true now, whether you are talking comedy or its sibling, adventure.

Even if they weren't getting tired, and didn't have creative block, and had medical and marital problems... even if they just stayed as frantic as they were when they did the first New York films, they would have been bad.

This is a sad, sad, film. The core of the thing is a chase through the store that destroys it. This depends on a physical comedy that the boys never had and that was intended to evoke similar scenes (especially the rollerskating) from Keaton and Chaplin.

Most of this work here is done by obvious stunt doubles. Please see one of the earlier films again instead.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

This is a fast , furious , and riotous visual comedy that children and adults will find fun. Relentlessly comical and noisy comedy with musical interludes that still works at times , but definitely sub-standard Marxism movie . Relatively late and therefore far from great , in which Groucho , Chico and Harpo find themselves mixed in an intrigue at a large mall in which they can barely hoodwink or subvert and to a script which is only spasmodically amusing. Here the Marxmen on the loose in the world's dizziest department store. The Phelps Department Store is about to be sold by its new part owner, -Tommy Rogers (Tony Martin)- whose grirfriend is a department employee (Virginia Grey)- , with the permission of co-owner Martha Phelps (Margaret Dumont). The current manager, Mr. Grover (Douglass Dumbrille), doesn't want this, as the irregularities in the books will show up. When an attempt is made on Tommy's life, Martha enlists the worst detective in the world to protect him: Wolf J. Flywheel (Grouch Marx) in an incredibly moth-eaten fur coat. So Groucho Marx with the invaluable help of Harpo and Chico, organize a monumental chaos in all the floors of the department store. Howl . . . And Farewell ! Their Last Picture . . . And Their Best !. The big new musical comedy! .With gorgeous girls! Cute cut-ups!. Lovely lasses! Song hits galore! 1000 laughs to a customer, sale on howls! Sensational close-out on roars! Special fun and music bargains !. Hurry hurry every laugh must go! No mail or phone orders please! Beauties and cuties! Where everything is a good buy. Good-bye!. The big musical show! Come early! 1000 laughs to every customer! (Howls...among the kitchenware! Squeals...in ladies' lingerie! Laughs...in the bed department! Hysterics...in the bargain basement! Melody...as Tony Martin sings new heart-throbbing hit tunes!. Gorgeous Girls! Uproarious Fun!

Late Marx Brothers in which they are private eyes in a large Metropolitan department store, foiling a hostile takeover and preventing a murder. This is a humorous and funny comedy with gorgeous girls, uproarious fun and a Big Musical Show with a slapstick final. Amusing and spasmodic comedy with the three comic geniuses acting in their stereotyped roles by relinquishing creative control and concentrating on humor based on destruction and wreak havoc , nice inventive bits , skilfully combining the entertainment with the amusement. The best scene comes early on, with Groucho entertaining Margaret Dumont in his office, despite clouds of smoke emanating fron desk. It features quick editing , wild and outrageous gags , and extremely odd angles. Enjoyable film with characters genuine and sympathetic, it is plenty of humor , tongue-in-cheek , sight gags, chaos and mayhem. And director Charles Reiner introduces some early special effectsin the crazy action. Cinematic especial techniques in animated cartoon style , such as odd camera angles, montage and quickly paced editing to be copied many years later by Frank Tashlin and Jerry Lewis in "Who's Minding the Store?" (1963) . Their last MGM effort, with some good moments between the Tony Martin song numbers which include ¨If it's you¨, and the immortal ¨Tenement Symphony¨ and Groucho also leds the ¨Sing while you sell¨number. Along with the great Marx Brothers, showing up Margaret Dumont in her seventh and final film teaming.

Other important films starred by Marx Brothers -many of them Broadway farce plays transfered by scenarists into vehicle for the Brothers- are the following ones : ¨Animal crackers¨, ¨Duck soap¨ that was a flop when first released but today considered a masterpiece , ¨Horse Feathers¨, ¨At the circus¨, ¨A night at the Opera¨,¨Day at the races¨, ¨Room service¨ , ¨Love Happy¨, ¨Go West¨ and ¨Night in Casablanca¨, though in 1941 the Marx formula was some weak and wearing thin. Any film with Groucho , Chico , Harpo and Margaret Dumont is well worth seeing. Rating : 6.5/10.

A sentimental favorite of mine, as it was probably the first Marx Brothers film I saw, long ago. Of course, as a kid, I was most impressed with the climactic slapstick chase around the department store. But, I have come to appreciate the humor and music of various other segments of the film.

The plot centers around the greedy store manager, Mr. Grover(Douglass Dumbrille), trying to cook the books to make the department store look profitable, while trying to kill the partial owner Tommy Rogers, and marry the other partial owner(played by Margaret Dumont). Of course, the boys try to help prevent both of these events.

Groucho's last name in the film: Flywheel, is derived from a radio show he once did with Chico. His first name: Wolf presumably refers to his compulsive skirt chasing. Also, I noticed that Chico's pseudonym for this film: Ravelli, was also used in "Animal Crackers": the first Marx Brothers film in which they were given pseudonyms, but not in other films. Perhaps this name was resurrected because this was supposed to be their last film together. As things turned out, they all appeared together in 3 more films over the next 16 years. This includes "A Night in Casablanca",'46, "Love Happy" '49. and "The Story of Mankind", '57, by which time they were 65-70 years old. However, they didn't appear as a team in the last one, and were not first billed, and Groucho was barely in "Love Happy", mostly as the narrator.

There's more than the usual amount of music here, both instrumental and singing. In fact, one reviewer suggested that perhaps it should be considered a musical, with comedy included. I suspect this is the main reason that this film is generally considered one of the lesser Marx Brothers' films. People mostly came to laugh; not to listen to and watch second-rate musical numbers. There are two rather long musical productions included: one being "Sing While You Sell", led by Groucho, but including sections featuring "The Six Hits and a Miss", "The Four Dreamers" and "Frozen Face" Virginia O'Brien. Virginia was a professional singer, who developed her deadpan delivery to distinguished her from other singers. It sounded crazy, but it worked! In films, she was always treated as a novelty act, never a leading lady. Here, she sings "Rock-a-bye-Baby" as part of the "Sing While You Sell" production.

Tony Martin was a professional singer and sparsely-used actor. He's fine here as the romantic interest of Virginia Gray, who really wanted Clark Gable, whom she dated in the mid- late '40s and was bitterly disappointed when he married someone else. Tony sings "If It's You" while in the record department, where Virginia is. Later, he is the lead singer in the protracted "The Tenement" production, which included Harpo on the harp, and Chico on the piano. Several reviewers voiced disgust at this production, if not the music as a whole. I can understand that some people won't like Tony's singing style or choice of songs. But, especially in "The Tenement", he's OK by me.

This is the only Marx Brothers film in which Harpo plays his harp twice. It's also the only film where Chico and Harpo play the same piano at the same time. Some want to know if Harpo's harp playing and Chico's piano playing were dubbed. The answer is NO!(although they probably often prerecorded their performances) Harpo also had some familiarity with the piano, clarinet and mouthorgan. When Chico and Harpo were boys, Chico would get a job playing piano, then later have Harpo take his place, while he was playing somewhere else. Harpo was self taught in mastering all these instruments. In playing the harp without accompaniment by other instruments, he was unusual. For further information about Harpo's musical and painting side, see the web site entitled "Harpo Marx: Musician and Artist".

In one of Harpo's harp-playing gigs, there are 2 supposed mirror images of him playing the harp, while dressed in Georgian era formal wear. Later, one of these images changes to playing a violin, while the other changes to playing a base.

Groucho mistakes the prospective buyers of the store for a couple of goons in the employ of the crooked manager. As a detective, he handcuffs them to a post. When convinced he was mistaken, he responded with "You certainly do look like crooks".

There is a long segment in the bed department. When Groucho wants to show a particular bed, he says "It's over by the davenport. The customer queries "Where is the davenport? Groucho answers: "It's in Iowa. That was a $9. question.

The sad fact about the Marx Brothers is that after the movie A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, their career was all downhill. While A DAY AT THE RACES and ROOM SERVICE were still very good, their subsequent efforts were painfully ordinary and generally unfunny. It was like they were playing lethargic caricatures of themselves. And, from what I gathered, the Marxes WERE very content to just collect a paycheck at this point in their lives.

Some of the blame for the static nature of this film also must be given to MGM--a studio that had a history of ruining good comedians when they came under DIRECT MGM control (Laurel and Hardy's films were distributed by MGM but were created by the independent-minded Hal Roach Studios). If you don't believe me, look at all the Marxes films from the late 30s on as well as Buster Keaton's films of the 30s--they rely on an MGM formula and lack all the frenetic intensity of the comedians' earlier non-MGM efforts.

The film is a by-the-book effort where the Marx Brothers work at a department store. The usual music by the Marxes is supplemented by dull songs. So, instead of original and funny material, we are treated to MORE MUSIC!! My advice is see their earlier Paramount films or their first two MGM flicks then avoid the rest unless you are a die-hard fan.

UPDATE: I just re-watched this film. This time I wasn't quite as negative about it but STILL was frustrated that the film seemed like a musical in which the Marx Brothers were tossed instead of a Marx Brothers film. Too often, plot was secondary and singing got in the way. One annoying singer was a zombie-like woman who sang some song about lullabies--which was NOT pleasant. Some of Tony Martin's singing is very nice (and I really liked Chico and Harpo's music) but that and the total number of songs in the film make it one of their weakest efforts. Worth seeing but that is all.

By 1941, Groucho didn't want to make any more movies. The Brothers continued to do so just to keep oldest Brother Chico afloat, due to his gambling habits.

Someone commented earlier about Virginia O'Brien, the deadpan singer in the "rockabye" sequence. The deadpan delivery was her "shtick", and predated a similar approach taken by Keely Smith some years later. Legend has it that the first time a spotlight fell on Ms. O'Brien for an on-stage solo, she froze, an delivered her song with a pre-Botox facial paralysis. The audience thought it was part of the act and roared approvingly with laughter. From then on, Ms. O'Brien sang no other way. (She also sings a few bars of the Jerome Kern song, "A Fine Romance" in the semi-bio, "'Til The Clouds Roll By".) The big store is best remembered (and viewed) for the rousing "Sing While You Sell" piece about 38 minutes into the movie.

After watching this yet another time, I fail to see why this would be below any other Marx movie. I would consider it a close to perfect Marx movie! The non-Marx scenes are few and far between. The movie has good tempo, with only one music scene not involving the brothers (kind of cute, Tony Martin recording a record on the fly for a customer when the record is sold out) and one where they play a minor part. That particular scene, with many young musicians, is notably well planned, with Chico and Harpo making a brief break in the middle, and a choir added halfway in, giving the scene much needed variation.

But of course the Marx brothers are the important part, and what scenes they make:

• Groucho's and Harpo's introduction scene in Groucho's messy office, with a boiling lunch in the desk and Harpo's typewriter gag. - Groucho's "Sing while you sell" number. - The bed department scene. - A marvelous piano duet scene with Chico and Harpo. - Harpo's dream scene. - A great, very funny chase scene at the end, topped by Groucho's bicycle stunt.

And still I am skipping over a lot of things. The movie rarely makes me reach for any fast forward, only in the two Tony Martin musical numbers, and even they are pretty good as romantic break songs. As a whole I see a top-notch Marx, not a half-decent one.

Same old note: The Marx Brothers INGENIOUSLY twist any phrase or object into HILARITY.

Unfortunately, this film has a plot.

The usual hilarity when The Marx Brothers are left to their own devices, but too much screen time not dedicated to The Marx Brothers.

NOTE: If you have a heart-beat and love to laugh yourself silly, you MUST see Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, The Coconuts and Monkey Business.

Its 1941 and the brothers had been going for a few decades now and where starting to slow down. The film fills in between the insanity with some music numbers, you either like the music or don't (I did).

Groucho is doing fine as usual opposite the unknown Marx brother Ms Dumont, insulting the uptight store manager and doing not too shabbily in the music numbers.

Chico is as usual smashing it on the piano as well as bouncing insults back and forth with Groucho.

But its Harpo who steals the show with his best Harp scene ever and a wonderfully insane chase at the end.

Yes time was catching up with them here but The Big Store: allowed them one last A class film!

Their third weakest film. The opening scene with Groucho and Harpo is great, but from then on forward right until the final scenes it seems purposefully designed to stifle their humour.

RUMOR has it that Irving Thalberg, the 'Boy Wonder' Honcho of MGM, really dug the Marx Brothers. Even while they were over at Paramount, where the 4 Brothers made their first 5 films; the young Studio Head planned on how to make the very best bit of madcap Marxian Cinematic Lunacy.

Following the poor showing of their politically oriented spoof, DUCK SOUP (Paramount, 1933), the Marx Boys found themselves persona non gratis at that Adolph Zukor/Jesse Lasky/Famous Players Lot. It was at this time that Mr. Thalberg got his wish when he brought the Boys to MGM. They came over but as the 3 Marx Brothers, sans youngest brother, Herbert (alias Zeppo).

NEXT; they set out to make that ultimate Marx Brothers romp, A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (MGM, 1935). The improved method was achieved by the use of testing out the material to be filmed and timing the laughs; as the one knock on the previous Paramount product was that one laugh would drown out the set up for the next.

THE new method worked. The team with Chico, Harpo and Groucho received a new lease on life. They would be at Metro for about as long as had been their stay over at Paramount. Every thing was just honky dory for the team.

AND then, the frail and chronically ill Mr. Thalberg died the following year of 1936. Their dealings with MGM were then all negotiated through new Studio Head and founding partner, Louis B. Mayer. Whereas Thalberg had been artistically inclined, cinematically motivated and was among the Brothers biggest fans; the gruff Mr. Mayer was strictly for the bottom line, practical, pragmatic and (allegedly) hated the Marx Brothers. Groucho, Chico and Harpo continued to work at the Studio; but there seemed to be a steady decline after the second MGM picture, 1937's A DAY AT THE RACES.

BY the time the Marxian Laugh Express had arrived at THE BIG STORE, the team had done a total of 10 movies: 5 at Paramount, 4 at MGM and their solo shot with a previously written play with ROOM SERVICE (RKO Radio Pictures, 1938). Their act was well enough known now to make a Marx Outing by formula. So, they did do that thing! THE BIG STORE starts out with setting up a sort of precursing of that which would come later: like, Chico's being a poor, but honest and lovable piano teacher; in cahoots with one young Singer/Song Writer/Good Guy, Tommy Rogers (Tony Martin); who just happens to be inheriting half interest in a big, major downtown type Department Store.

THE Present Manager of the store, one crooked and ill-tempered Mr. Grover just happens to be planning a nefarious plot to get control of the store by any means possible. Do you get the drift? THE Picture mixes in a great deal of musical numbers, big ensemble songs and songs for Mr. Martin, his female lead, Virginia Grey (as Joan Sutton); as well as some others, such as Virginia O'Brien and a group called Six Hits and a Miss.

NOT to be thought of as being strictly a 'crepe hanger' we must say that even this is not the best Marx Brothers outing; it does contain a lot of excellent bits and should not be boycotted by any means. Some excellent comic interaction is done between Chico & Harpo with one Italian immigrant, Giuseppe (Henry Armetta). We also are witness to a parade of on screen ethnicities; done up in the typical stereotypes of the day. Italians, Blacks, Swedes, American Indians and Chinese family groupings are part of the innocently meant and harmlessly received by the audiences of the day.

OTHER critical cast members included in THE BIG STORE'S Directory are William Tannen, Russell Hicks, Anna Demetrio, Paul Stanton, Bradley Page, Edgar Dearing and Al Hill.

AND lest we forget the most important Lady to any Marx Film; for what would Groucho do if a movie of the Brothers did not include Miss Margaret Dumont; for the Grouch's horrid dalliances?

PROMOTIONAL spots for this movie were done in a most unorthodox manner. There was a very serious sounding promo/trailer/preview of coming attractions which began with a very somber announcement from veteran character actor, Henry O'Neill, which stated that the Marx Brothers were retiring from the movies and this new picture, THE BIG STORE would be their farewell to the cinema, the Boys' swan song!

APPARRENTLY there was some truth contained in this trailer as this marked the abrupt jettisoning of the Marxes from MGM and the Big Hollywood Studio system. From 1941 to the first post World War II year of 1946, Groucho, Chico and Harpo each operated as solo performers; doing personal appearances, guesting in Radio and even making some movie guest shots. Groucho, especially, did well on the Old Time Radio and later on the new medium of Television. Chico organized his own Big Band and went that route to keeping busy.

IN the above mentioned year of 1946, the Threesome was lured once again to go in front of the cameras with A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA (Loma Productions/United Artists, 1946); which was a post War Comedy and spoof of Warner Brothers' Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman Blockbuster, CASABLANCA (1942); followed by LOVE HAPPY (Artists Alliance/United Artists, 1949). By this juncture, the old Marx Brothers routine had become a pale imitation of a caricature of its old self..

AS a Film or more particularly as a Marx Brothers starring vehicle, we must give THE BIG STORE ** ½.

POODLE SCHNITZ!!

Inspired by a short Chaplin film called "the floorwalker" from 1916. The material for the film is only enough material for about 15-20 minutes.And the jokes is much cheeper then in the other films. Still the end is very funny.

RATING: 2,5 out of 5

I watched this for the first time on DVD after having missed it twice on local TV over 10 years ago. Well, as I pointed out in my comments on A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA (1946), I approached THE BIG STORE with little or no expectations, and so I ended up being pleasantly surprised by it.

While certainly no classic (what with the musical numbers being a total drag!), I nonetheless found it quite palatable for what it was; the Marxes were in pretty good form here (as were their regular foils Margaret Dumont and Douglas Dumbrille), and the picture afforded them a fair number of good lines (not familiar to me from reference books like the ones in CASABLANCA) and situations (the scene in Groucho's office already mentioned by Joe, the bedding department scene featuring a typically flustered Henry Armetta, and the hilarious climax in which even Dumbrille gets embroiled in the slapstick). Also, it was nice to see Groucho and Harpo share some scenes as they usually interact more with Chico albeit separately.

In the end, I'd say that I enjoyed this film enough to make me want to purchase the bare-bones (but thankfully low-priced) DVD from Artisan of the Marxes' independently-produced LOVE HAPPY (1949) – which, reportedly sports a pretty satisfactory transfer coming from this company. I had seen the film as a kid on Italian TV but, while I remember individual scenes, I can't recall what my overall opinion of it was!

My least favorite Marx Bros movie. And yes, I'm counting "The Story of Mankind." I didn't laugh once the whole time. This has none of the flavor of the better Marx Bros movies. No memorable dialogue or creative gags. It's a generic cookie cutter B-level comedy of the 1940's that just happens to star the Marx Bros. The only life in the film comes from Douglas Dumbrille and the lovely Virginia Grey. The Marxes, Groucho in particular, seem to just be parodying themselves. Collect that paycheck boys! The great Margaret Dumont, in her last Marx movie, goes through the motions but is clearly having no fun. Tony Martin's insipid songs make me long for Zeppo. Be prepared to fast-forward through all musical numbers as they are just dreadful. There are some very generous reviewers here on IMDb who seem to like this one. To each their own but in my opinion this one really is the pits.