Themes: Flight of the Innocent, Fighting the System, Mistaken Identities
Main Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Tony Martin, Virginia Grey
Release Year: 1941
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
Plot
In the last of the Marx Brothers' MGM films, The Big Store, Groucho Marx plays two-bit detective Wolf J. Flywheel, hired by department-store owner Martha Phelps (Margaret Dumont) to act as bodyguard for Martha's nephew and sole heir, Tommy Rogers (Tony Martin). Crooked store manager Grover (Douglas Dumbrille) is anxious to take over the operation and to hide the fact that he's been juggling the books; to expedite this, he has arranged several "accidents" to put Tommy out of the way. Despite his monumental ineptitude, Flywheel manages to protect Tommy from harm, with the help of his mute assistant, Wacky (Harpo Marx), and Tommy's music-teacher pal, Ravelli (Chico Marx). After a series of yawn-provoking complications, Grover tries once more to kill Tommy during a musical reception given in honor of the store's merger with the Hastings Brothers. When this also fails, he kidnaps Tommy's girlfriend, Joan (Virginia Grey), a bit of skullduggery captured on film by camera-wielding Ravelli. Grover's efforts to get his hands on the incriminating photo leads to a zany slapstick chase through the department store, culminating in the villain's capture ("I told you in the first reel he was a crook," observes Flywheel) and a happy ending for Tommy and Joan. The opening routine in Groucho's seedy office and Harpo's harp solo (in which, through trick photography, he accompanies himself on flute and bass violin) are the only scenes truly worth watching in The Big Store; the big-chase finale is compromised by the fact that the Marx Brothers' stunt doubles do all the work, while the film's major production number, "Tenement Symphony," is downright embarrassing. The Marxes were so disappointed with The Big Store that they vowed to quit moviemaking altogether -- only to return to the screen five years later in A Night in Casablanca. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Stanley Rogers - Art Director, Arthur Appell - Choreography, Charles "Chuck" Riesner - Director, Conrad A. Nervig - Editor, George Bassman - Composer (Music Score), Hal Borne - Composer (Music Score), George Stoll - Composer (Music Score), George Stoll - Musical Direction/Supervision, Hal Borne - Songwriter, Milton Drake - Songwriter, Hal Fimberg - Songwriter, Ray Golden - Songwriter, Sid Kuller - Songwriter, Ben Oakland - Songwriter, Arlie Shaw & His Band - Songwriter, Charles Lawton - Cinematographer, Louis K. Sidney - Producer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Douglas Shearer - Sound/Sound Designer, Nat Perrin - Screen Story, Hal Fimberg - Screenwriter, Ray Golden - Screenwriter, Sid Kuller - Screenwriter
The Big Store (1941) is a Marx Brotherscomedy film in which Groucho, Chico and Harpo work to save the Phelps Department Store, owned by Martha Phelps (Margaret Dumont). Groucho plays her detective and bodyguard Wolf J. Flywheel, a character name originating from a Marx-Perrin radio show in the early 1930s.
The Big Store co-starred long-time Marx Brothers' foil Margaret Dumont as well as the love interests, Tony Martin and Virginia Grey. The Big Store was Dumont's final film with the Marx Brothers. The "heavy" was Mr. Grover, played by Douglass Dumbrille, who had played a similar role in A Day at the Races.
Tagline: "Where everything is a good buy. Goodbye!"
Store manager Grover wants to rub out heir Tommy before he can sell his share of the venerable Phelps Department Store. Against his better judgement he hires Groucho as a floorwalker ("What experience have you had in a department store?", he demands of Groucho. "-- I was a shoplifter for 3 years".) Between Tommy wooing his sweetheart and Groucho romancing Mrs. Phelps, the brothers thwart the plot to place a gun in a photog's camera ("I told you in the first reel [Grover] was a crook").
The film has two extended scenes, one of them in the store's bed department, which has all kinds of novel beds that come out of the walls. An Italian family walks in with 12 children, and Groucho asks the father (Henry Armetta) what other hobbies he has got. Six of the kids promptly disappear in a set of bunk beds. While the father pleads for the return of his children, three more large families - a Swedish one with a dozen blond children, another with Chinese children and finally even Native American children - arrive, and soon all is chaos, similar to the crowded stateroom scene from A Night at the Opera.
The second lengthy scene takes place near the end of the film: Groucho, Chico and Harpo escape their pursuers during a madcap chase through the entire store, using the elevator, a staircase, chandeliers, roller skates, a mail chute and a bicycle. This chase involves an unusual amount of Mack Sennett-type slapstick stunts for a Marx Brothers movie.
There is one gag which breaks the fourth wall, during the "Sing While You Sell" sequence: while Groucho is narrating a fashion show, he asides "This is a bright red dress, but Technicolor is so expensive." Another revealing gown is described by him as being a 'California dress': "On a clear night you can see Catalina".
Musical numbers
As is typical for MGM films, the movie contains elaborate production numbers, such as the upbeat "Sing While You Sell," led by an all-singing, all-dancing Groucho, and the less successful "Tenement Symphony" sung by Tony Martin and a boys' choir. The screenwriting team of Kuller, Golden and Fimberg also supplied the lyrics to Hal Borne's original music.
"Tenement Symphony"- Tony Martin, onstage choir and orchestra, featuring Chico and Harpo (considered by many critics to be the worst musical number ever written for a Marx Brothers film)
"Sing While You Sell"- Groucho, Six Hits and a Miss singing group plus an early example of an integrated chorus line
"Rock-a-bye Baby"- Virginia O'Brien (here practically inventing rock music - "Rock it baby; oh rock it")
"If It's You"- Tony Martin (music & lyrics by Ben Oakland, Artie Shaw & Milton Drake)
"Mama Yo Quiero"- Chico and Harpo (piano duet)
"Mozart's Sonata in C major" - Harpo (harp)
"Beethoven's Minuet" - Harpo (harp/cello/violin, although perhaps supplied by noted jazz violinist Georgie Stoll)
