Trouble in Store

"Trouble in Store" is one of the first films in which British actor Norman Wisdom starred. The versatile and talented Wisdom went on to a distinguished comedy career in England. He received a knighthood and retired from entertaining at the age of 90, living another five years beyond that.

Wisdom came from a poor beginning and broken family background. He learned to forage and scrounge early for survival and struck out on his own in his early teens. With such a background, the irrepressible Wisdom devoted a lifetime to trying to make people laugh. He especially liked to entertain children outside of films.

Besides his acting and athleticism that he used in his comedic roles, Wisdom had a very good singing voice. He learned to play several instruments – clarinet, sax, trumpet, French horn, drums and piano. He was also an accomplished songwriter.

In this early comedy film, he shows much of the slapstick, falling down, tripping and mishap behavior that became his trademark in many more films and in live performances. The supporting cast, plot and other aspects of the film are all good. But, this is a Norman Wisdom showcase all around.

In reading about this beloved English entertainer, I came across some of his clever quotes and cute sayings. Here's one that might describe the basis for his playful attitude and fun-filled approach to life: "Such is life and life is such and after all it isn't much. First a cradle. Then a hearse. It might have been better, but it could have been worse."

I saw this on UK TV today for the first time in many years and was reminded of the great enjoyment that Norman Wisdom has always provided. This movie now seems very dated and full of the flavour of early 50's Britain.

I'll always remember the 'pill swallowing' sequence and we always used it as a joke with our own kids when they had to take pills and struggled.

Seeing it again I became aware of a number of throw-away lines with sexual connotations that now seem quite modern.

The movie is firmly rooted in the British class system - but here the 'common' working man takes the p*** out of all the establishment figures and institiutions AND wins good in the end AND gets his girl.

No wonder Norman Wisdom was such a hero in Russia and Albania (apparently)!

See this movie if you haven't already .. enjoy it for what it is and what it represented.

Norman Wisdom's brand of comedy is an acquired taste; for those unfamiliar with his particular shtick, he's basically the British counterpart to Jerry Lewis - with all that it entails! I had watched a few of his films over the years but it'd been some time since then, so I decided to rent a 12-DVD Box Set (on Region 2) available from my local outlet - which, actually, I did mainly for my father's sake who used to lap his films up...and is already halfway into the collection as I write this!

Anyway, his debut feature is pleasant enough and is actually considered by many to be his best vehicle (though still featuring a couple of sentimental songs). In itself, simple-minded but occasionally inventive (particularly the window-dressing 'competition', the "sale day" rush and the climactic rounding-up of the bad guys) and with a premise that's seen service in countless 'comedian' films - Charlie Chaplin's short THE FLOORWALKER (1917) and again later in MODERN TIMES (1936), Harold Lloyd's SAFETY LAST (1923), The Marx Bros.' THE BIG STORE (1941) and Jerry Lewis himself in WHO'S MINDING THE STORE? (1963). Here the star is nicely abetted by Jerry Desmonde as his flustered boss (often serving as the brunt of Wisdom's accident-prone gags) and Margaret Rutherford as a charming elderly shoplifter.

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.

Over the past few months, I've gotten into Norman Wisdom (I'd literally never heard of him before some people lent me a DVD containing some of his movies). Well, after I nearly laughed myself to death watching "Up in the World", "The Square Peg" and "A Stitch in Time", "Trouble in Store" actually seems weaker. Maybe it's that there are some scenes where he breaks into song, or that the whole movie is rather hokey, but it just can't equal the quality reached by its successors.

Still, I will say that the movie is good for a few laughs. Playing his usual clumsy character Norman, he works in a London department store and hopes to get promoted, but his idiocy keeps working against him...until he and a female co-worker discover a plot to rob the store. I guess that what I really like about Norman Wisdom's movies is how he pokes fun at the class system, as the underdog messing up the stuffy rich people's lives; certainly he does that here. But they really could have done without the songs.

Overall, I get the feeling that maybe Wisdom was still trying to figure out his version of comedy, so I can forgive him if this flick isn't as funny as his later ones. I would recommend watching his later movies first, so as not to get put off by this one.