it's a terrible play; but it makes a wonderful rehearsal
The Big Store is certainly not the best Marx Brothers movie although Marx Brothers fans will definitely want this in their collection. The plot tries to move along but is often interrupted by musical numbers; these are mostly good but one or two are tiresome. The acting is convincing and Margaret Dumont plays the straight role for Groucho's one-liners which certainly helps the film along.

The action begins when Phelps Department Store mogul leaves half the store to his younger relative, Tommy Rogers (Tony Martin). Unbeknownst to Tommy, people are planning to do him in and get total control of the store. Douglass Dumbrille does an excellent job playing department store fat cat Mr. Grover who keeps trying unsuccessfully to have Tommy bumped off again and again; and Grover's plans to court Martha Phelps (Margaret Dumont) are another scam to get his hands on her half of the store and then bump her off, too!

Martha Phelps somehow suspects trouble is afoot and she hires Wolf J. Flywheel (Groucho Marx), a loser detective if there ever was one, to track events in the store. Although Grover and his cronies are against it, Martha Phelps wins and Wolf J. Flywheel is on the case.

Look for some funny scenes between Wolf J. Flywheel and Martha Phelps; Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx have many of the best lines in the film as he pursues her romantically. It's too bad that this was the last pairing of Dumont with Groucho Marx and his brothers. In addition, Harpo is paired with Groucho for the first and only time while Chico plays a guy simply named Ravelli who also wants to protect Tommy Rogers.

The musical numbers are generally pretty good but Virginia O'Brien's "Rock-a-Bye Baby" is too unnatural even if it was meant for her to deliver it with an expressionless face. "Tenement Symphony" is good but wedged into a film that it doesn't belong to but Harpo's playing of the harp is always welcome.

The choreography works well in the department store chase scenes and the cinematography works well in framing the characters nicely, especially in the shots of the choir in the "Tenement Symphony" act.

In short, this mediocre Marx Brothers film is good for some entertainment--but I wouldn't go too far out of my way to see it unless I was a diehard Marx Brothers fan. I'm glad they made two more films; it would have been a shame for them to go out with this lukewarm flick as their last film. Perhaps the best comedy here is when Groucho and Margaret Dumont go through their paces!

The worst Marx Brothers movie? Easy, "The Big Store"
By the time you get to "The Big Store" in working your way through the comedies of the Marx Brothers you need to remind yourself that Harpo joined the group and turned "The Three Nightingales" into "The Four Nightingales" in 1908, twenty-one years before they made their first movie, "The Cocoanuts." That is why by the time we get to "The Big Store," their tenth film in 1941 (I am not counting their 1926 silent comedy "Humor Risk") it is rather painfully obvious it is time to break up the act, but you also have to lament what great comedy was lost because talking pictures were not developed a decade earlier. Because this is the Marx Brothers, there are a few choice moments, but certainly nothing compared to what they were doing at the height of their career in "Duck Soup" and "A Night at the Opera."

The story in "The Big Store" has young Tommy Rogers (Tony Martin) hoping to open up his own music conservatory with Ravelli (Chico). To raise money he sells his shares of the department store that he and his aunt, Martha Phelps (Margaret Dumont) own. The problem is that Mr. Grover (Douglass Dumbrille), the store manager, is trying to steal the store for himself and he has a group of thugs attack Tommy. So Mrs. Phelps hires a private detective, Wolf J. Flywheel (Groucho) to help out, as if this could possibly be a good thing. Harpo plays a character named Wacky (really), and Virginia Grey is Joan Sutton, the requisite love interest for Tommy.

If you want a simple explanation for why "The Big Store" is a step down from the Marx Brothers' previous film, "Go West," then look no farther than the script. Buster Keaton had worked on "Go West," and there is no way he would not have helped with this one, which had a story by Nat Perrin that was then turned into a screenplay by Sid Kuller, Hal Fimberg, and Ray Golden. At this point you can only fondly recall that Marx Brothers movies used to be written by the likes of George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Besides, while the setting of a department store worked fine for Charlie Chaplin in "Modern Times," it does not suit the anarchy of the Marx Brothers, which fares much better when it is set in a college, on an ocean liner, or at the opera house.

Then there are the songs that Tony Martin keeps singing, where the longest, "The Tenement Symphony," is certainly the worst. When Chico finally gets around to playing "Mama Yo Quiero" on the piano you can finally relax a bit. Like the music, the romantic subplot gets in the way of the Brothers Marx as well. No wonder Groucho announced publicly that "The Big Store" would be the final film for the Marx Brothers. This is their low point and if you gave me the choice of wiping "The Big Store" from human memory along with the small measure of redemption the Marx Brothers achieved in 1946 when they filmed "A Night in Casablanca," then I think I would be willing to delete both movies.

There are some moments worth from the Marx Brothers that justify watching this movie once. The scene where Flywheel first meets with Mrs. Phelps is the last good moment between Groucho and Dumont, and watching Flywheel and Ravelli try to sell "modern" bunk beds is also pretty good. The big chase scene at the end has its moments as well. But then Tony Martin keeps popping up to sing those songs and you just have to fast-forward or lose your mind. I know that the original formula for a Marx Brothers show, whether on stage or in the movies, was to combine comedy with music and romance. But when a movie makes you extol the long lost virtues of Zeppo Marx as a leading man, you know something is horribly wrong.

Are you being served?
As is typical with the Marx Brothers films during this period of their MGM career, THE BIG STORE has its good and its bad points. Overall, I enjoyed it, although I can't deny that there were some truly painful moments along the way. The department store setting is a good one, but I think that they didn't quite get all the potential out of it that they could have. I imagine if this film had been done earlier in the Brothers' career (and while they were still at Paramount), it would have been one of their all-time classics. As it exists, it is merely good, not great.

First of all, it's great to see Margaret Dumont back after missing out on the previous GO WEST and having a diminished role in AT THE CIRCUS. She's always a delight in these films, and the scene of her initial hire of Groucho as a private detective is a joy. Unfortunately, the rest of the guest cast is totally unmemorable. The romantic leads in this film are perhaps the blandest ever seen in a Marx Brothers film, and that's saying something! Douglass Dumbrille returns to play the same sort of bad guy character he did the last time (the casino-owning Morgan in the far superior A DAY AT THE RACES) and does a pretty decent job, although his henchmen and co-conspirators aren't up to much.

I mentioned the blandness of the romantic leads, but their lackluster appeal is matched only by their insipid songs. I listen to this tedious, boring stuff and can only think to myself that rock'n'roll was still over a decade away -- hang in there, guys! On the other hand, Harpo and Chico get possibly the best musical scenes in their movie careers. Their piano duet is wonderful, and makes me wish they had done this sort of musical and comedy collaboration in earlier films. And Harpo also gets a great scene playing the harp while his various mirrored reflections play other instruments along with him. Fun stuff.

Of course, discussion of the singing and music can't ignore a mention of Virginia O'Brien. In the past six months I've watched the entirety of the "ART OF BUSTER KEATON" DVD box set (recommended), so I thought I knew all about The Great Stone Face. I was wrong. Singing a version of "Rock-a-bye Baby", O'Brien's eyes are staring straight in front of her, while her face is absolutely, completely and utterly expressionless. It's eerie but hilarious. A quick Internet search reveals that she actually made something of a career out of her bizarre (yet strangely appealing) delivery. Watch it and wonder. As odd as it is, it did get one of the biggest laughs out of me.

I think the director must have received a monetary bonus from the developers of the fast motion technique, which brings us to one of the film's bigger problems. There's a great reliance on gimmicky special effects jokes, usually involving stunt men dressed as the Brothers dangling from wires, while the director speeds up the film. The big chase sequence near the end is a full demonstration of this. We see the stuntmen in long shot (balanced by several close-ups of the Marx Brothers themselves in front of a unconvincing backdrop) going through their wacky antics, but knowing that it isn't really the Brothers detracts from the overall experience. It's amusing, but it isn't uproarious. The Brothers themselves were capable of doing much more funny stuff, even when they were going through pure slapstick.

THE BIG STORE has some good gags, some entertaining set pieces and some strong one-liners. On the other hand, there's too much fluff and inferior material for me to really recommend this as the Marx Brothers at their best. But if you've seen DUCK SOUP or A DAY AT THE RACES enough times that you can recite all the lines before Groucho does, then you might want to turn your attention here. It's nowhere near the greatest of The Marx Brothers films, but it's entertaining enough.

A Big Store of Laughs !!!
I just don't understand the poor reviews of this film - it's great. From the word go ... Harpo's popping toaster, his flying typewriter, the boiling water in the desk, Groucho's "What do you really think of me" scene, Harpo smashing the stand of vases, Groucho's dancing in the singalong, the bed department scene has me in stitches: "No tell me what I can 'ford", "Remember the grapes" and Groucho explaining that it's economically impossible for the father to have 12 kids AND HE BELIEVES HIM !!! Also the piano duet with Harpo and Chico is the best piano segment in any of their films, as is Harpo's harp scene. When he twirls around the cello is a brilliant laugh. And to top it all off an absolute crack-up of a chase scene around the store is classic slapstick full of laughs. I'm a big Marx Brothers fan and I love this film !!!

Sing while you shop
It`s definitely not the best Marx film.