★ 6 / 10
Margaret Rutherford and Norman Wisdom share top billing
CinemaSerf
Margaret Rutherford and Norman Wisdom share top billing here but the former - "Miss Bacon", a rather classy shoplifter, features infrequently. This is really…
Margaret Rutherford and Norman Wisdom share top billing here but the former - "Miss Bacon", a rather classy shoplifter, features infrequently. This is really just a showcase for Wisdom. He works in a department store that gets a new boss in "Augustus Freeman" (Jerry Desmonde) with whom he gets off to quite an entertaining, if ropey, start. Hired, then fired, then rehired - we now enjoy a series of set-piece comedy scenarios as poor old "Norman" lurches from fireplace to the fire. Purely by accident, he finds himself embroiled in a cunning plot to relieve the store of it's takings on sale day - but can he and his pal "Peggy" (Moira Lister) thwart the scheme? There are quite a few scenes towards the end that show just how manic department store sales could be, and of just how easily the shrewd could capitalise on the ensuing chaos ("Miss Bacon" certainly knows how). Fans of Wisdom will find this an enjoyable enough family comedy caper that presents humour that is maybe just a bit too predictable, but fun nonetheless.
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★ 7 / 10
Fun in Store
This is Norman Wisdom's first full feature, and it starts off well, with a pretty funny comedy and romantic drama, Norman wants to do it all, increase his…
This is Norman Wisdom's first full feature, and it starts off well, with a pretty funny comedy and romantic drama, Norman wants to do it all, increase his standing in the company, get the girl and foil the robbers with a lot of comedy and singing on the way, they are trying to do a lot in one film, but it succeeds, to some extent, maybe they took on too much, so its not great, but it is still a good and funny film.Jerry Desmonde is Norman's straight man and is very good, he did a few with Norman and this is why, because Norman really bounces off him well,The love interest is played by Lana Morris and she is very pretty and acts well, another beauty is Moira Lister, but she is a bit of a baddie, but very good, Megs Jenkins plays Normans buddy in the stockroom, she is neglected, a good actor. and Eddie Leslie plays the smarmy bad guy ok. Other noted actors who were in this were Joan Sims in an early role, several years before she became a star in Carry On's, Cyril Chamberlain, Ian Wilson and Esma Cannon who was also in the Carry On films amongst other good films and Margaret Rutherord (Miss Marple).Eddie Leslie's last film was The Early Bird, another with Norman he passed away in 1975 aged 71. Megs Jenkins retired in 1990 and passed away in 1998 aged 81, Moira Lister acted until she died aged 84 in 2007. Lana Morris did another with Norman, she also retired in 1990 but died from a heart attack in 1998 aged 68. Jerry Desmonde did 6 more films with Norman, but committed suicide in 1967 after his wife died, he was only 58. Norman outlived them all, he had a long life, lately on the Isle of Man, passing away in 2010 aged 95, they will all be sadly missed.Not least for this:- in the opening scene where Norman (on his bike) leans on Jerry Desmonde's big fancy car, who attempts to swat Norman's hand off with his glove but Norman keeps moving it, and the Window dressing scene where they end up breaking all the crockery, extremely funny. worth the price of admission just for those.
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★ 7 / 10
Oh the innocence of it all.Goodness and Wisdom triumph.
ianlouisiana
In the 1950s I worked at a big store where the manager wore a Morning Suit and whisked through the departments every morning with his assistants and…
In the 1950s I worked at a big store where the manager wore a Morning Suit and whisked through the departments every morning with his assistants and secretaries spinning in his wake like the asteroids in the tail of a comet.Having nodded imperiously at the various Heads of Departments who bowed or curtsied according to their inclinations,he repaired to his office where he spent the morning drinking tea from bone china cups before being picked up in a chauffeur-driven Daimler for lunch.Watching "Trouble in Store" brought it all back.Mr Jerry Desmonde,brilliant stooge to the stars,is outstanding as the faux-posh boss with his air of natural born superiority who lords it over his staff and exercises his power with relish.Mr Norman Wisdom,consummate stage comedian and clown is one of those great performers whose work seems natural and effortless,a state only achieved by those in complete control of their mental and physical faculties.One minute wicked and impish,the next sentimental and lachrymose,he had the balance of a tightrope walker,the suppleness of an acrobat.His "Norman" character had an innocence that was just right for an era that has recently been acknowledged as the very best of times to have been growing up in - if I may be excused such a barbaric assault on the English language. He could sing,dance and do slapstick,pratfalls and hush a Palladium audience with the smallest gesture of one hand.Like most comics he performed best in front of the curtains,but in a cash-strapped post-war Britain most people settled for seeing him at the movies. In "Trouble in Store",he falls for the sweet and innocent Miss Lana Morris,dark-haired and doe-eyed.Will they end up "going steady"?How quaint it all sounds today when our Norman and Lana would have probably had a knee-trembler under the counter of the Fancy Goods dept ten minutes after meeting. The splendid Miss Margaret Rutherford does a jolly turn as a genteel shoplifter,another beautifully-judged miniature to add to her gallery of English eccentrics. Of course the plot is silly - and quite irrelevant - as Mr Wisdom carries on regardless,his customary act disdaining a movie's necessity for some hook to hang the gags and songs onto. Back in 1953 nobody went to a Norman Wisdom movie for the story;just for the opportunity to see the funniest man in British pictures beat the villain and woo the girl.The triumph of innocence over cynicism- it works every time.
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70%
AUDIENCE
· 500 ratings
6.6/10
1.3K
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Thanks, Freeman.