STUFF YOU GOTTA WATCH - The Big Store

THE BIG STORE

(1941)
With Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Margaret Dumont, Tony Martin, Virginia Gray, Douglas Dumbrille
Directed by Chuck Riesner
Black and White
Reviewed by JL and JB

With the possible exception of their final film, LOVE HAPPY (1949), THE BIG STORE represents the nadir of the Marx Brothers' film career. In previous films, Groucho had been a doctor, a lawyer, a college president, an African explorer, and the president of a mythical country. In this film, he works in a department store. And if you think department stores aren't as ripe for satire as politics, education and grand opera...well, you'd be right. There's a few good laughs in the Groucho-Dumont exchanges, Harpo has a clever harp solo with mirrors, and that's about all this film has to recommend it. The mere mention of "Tenement Symphony" is enough to send Marx fans into convulsions, so I won't mention it here. ½ - JL

You know you've got a really bad Marx Brothers movie on your hands when the musical sequences, both good and bad, are the parts you remember. Harpo's fantasy harp trio and his piano duet with Chico would be highlights in any Marx Brothers film, while Groucho's "Sing While You Sell" and Tony Martin's "Tenement Symphony" are unfunny and ungodly, respectively. As for the comedy, the Brothers try their best, and there are a couple of funny lines here and there, but for the most part, they are given nothing remotely Marx Brotherish to do. My least favorite Marx Brothers film, and if that means that I admit to holding LOVE HAPPY up above this one, so be it. - JB

The Marx Brothers The Stuff You Gotta Watch Home Page

BONUS THOUGHTS FROM OUR MAILBAG

    "Sing While You Sell," while hardly "Everyone Says I Love You," from HORSE FEATHERS, is at least sung by smiling people showing some exuberance. And I would be remiss if I didn't admit I find myself humming it today. But "The Tenement Symphony"?...was that actually being sung (partially) by a choir of boys holding flashlights under their chins? And cutaways to young musicians doing little "bits" to represent some very joyless lyrics? Terrible lip synching, so common in "musicals" is something we're all used to (think of "Marble Halls" in The Bohemian Girl) but Tony Martin's job here it just adds to the funereal sense of unreality that permeates this "symphony." Ugh...

     I was somewhat impressed with the slapstick chase scene at the end. Though terribly long, I thought it was good and silly and (remember, boys, I am NOT a film expert) I don't know how some of the effects were achieved. Harpo's mirror solo is great, and Harpo's and Chico's piano duet was absolutely perfect!! My wife made me rewind and we watched and laughed at that scene again. As good as anything the boys ever did...

      Did you notice that the Italian customer is the Innkeeper from [Laurel and Hardy's] Fra Diavolo (aka The Devil's Brother)? Hooray! I love that guy...

And I still have a huge crush on Margaret Dumont...

Tory

The grand dame THE GRAND DAME OF COMEDY

THE BIG STORE marks Margaret Dumont's last appearance with the Marx Brothers. She would perform on television with Groucho one more time in 1965, recreating the opening of ANIMAL CRACKERS on The Hollywood Palace. She passed away a few days later. Despite the adversarial relationship she had onscreen with the Marx Brothers, she loved "the boys" even as she complained that they ruined her chances to be thought of as a real actress. The Marx Brothers loved her too, especially Groucho, who mentioned her in his speech when he received his lifetime Oscar. It may or may not be true that she "never understood the jokes" as Groucho often said (she certainly seems to having a grand time on The Hollywood Palace), but "Maggie" certainly knew her importance to the team. "I'm the best straight woman in Hollywood," she said in 1937, the same year she won the Best Supporting Actress Award from the Screen Actor's Guild for her work in A DAY AT THE RACES.

To understand Dumont's importance to the team, you need only to watch AT THE CIRCUS and notice how when she finally shows up, the movie suddenly comes alive. Is there a Marx Brothers fan out there who doesn't consider Margaret Dumont to be at least as important to the team as Chico?