JohnHowardReid Not one of the Marx Brothers' best films. The main fault is the script. It concentrates too much attention on a rather corny plot (although it does provide plenty of lines for our favorite villain Douglass Dumbrille). Its gags and comedy situations are not particularly witty and in fact are often rather strained. Proceedings are further dampened by two unmemorable songs for Tony Martin, including a tedious finale called "Tenement Symphony". The Marx Brothers have one number, "Sing While You Sell", which has a catchy chorus and is fairly well staged with Groucho swooping along in front of the counters - but it falls quite short of their 1930's standard. Generally, the Brothers make a game attempt to overcome mediocre dialogue and so-so situations. That they are partly successful is due as much to their experience as their natural gifts (but even they can do little with a particularly trite scene with Henry Armetta). The direction is no more than competent, though the timing may have originally been sharper than Nervig's inept film editing makes it appear. For some reason, Charles Lawton has gone all out for soft focus photography - though why he bothered to do this for such a charmless couple as Tony Martin and Virginia Grey is a mystery. Production values are otherwise good.

SanteeFats This is another good one by the Marx Brothers. A young singer, named Tommy Rogers, inherits a department store. This store is up for sale by him and the proceeds will help to build a conservatory for young kids. The store manager is a crook who is planning to kill the inheritor, marry Martha Dumont since she will get the store after the murder, kill her off and get the store for himself. Oh there is a bleached blonde tart but she does not realize she is superfluous to the plan. The scene in the store with the Italian family with all the kids is excellent. So funny,IMO. Of course it is politically insensitive by today's standards. This makes it even funnier to me. I am so tired of the PC people. Laugh at life because it laughs at you. Anyway this is a good flick and of course as typical for the time the good guys win again.

jonathan-577 OK, yeah, it's a mess, and there's no glory in the messiness either. Eventually it loses its balance altogether and degenerates into something resembling a variety show, with the comedy subjugated to, God help us, "The Tenement Symphony" - which soon enough gives way to a SECOND harp solo, a cardinal sin. The chase scene at the end, while quite fun in its way, is hyper-extended, ill-motivated, and entirely word-free, hence a waste of their talents. And the unexpected onslaught of racial stereotyping in the middle third is just one example of the throwing-sh*t-against-the-wall distractions and gadgeteering that clutter things up. But at this remove, the gadgets and their attendant art-deco design are fascinating in and of themselves, as is the big production number, especially that super-hip rockabye deadpan woman. While they're terribly integrated, Chico's piano number and Harpo's super-eclectic trio with himself are, in and of themselves, as enjoyable as any of their interludes that I've seen. And when the comedy we're all there for is actually going on, the boys are as sharp, fresh, and at-home in their shtick as ever, with Groucho making a welcome return to ironic self-referentiality, not to mention Margaret Dumont. And the impressive swath that Harpo removes from a vamp's dress can't have pleased the Hays Office.

bkoganbing After Zeppo Marx refused to move on with his brothers to MGM from Paramount, the Marxs usually secured the services of another player, usually a singer to function in Zeppo's nondescript place. Usually that person had a lot more personality than Zeppo did. It was Allan Jones in two films, Kenny Baker in one and in The Big Store it was Tony Martin.The still very much alive, but retired Tony Martin, had one of the great voices of the last century. He never made the screen impact that other singers did, though he was in some very good films. His main media outlets were records, radio, and as one of the premier nightclub attractions, especially when he appeared with his second wife Cyd Charisse. Martin had two songs to sing in The Big Store, the much maligned Tenement Symphony and a really nice ballad, If It's You.Martin is the heir to one half of Phelps Department store. The other half is owned by his aunt Margaret Dumont. The Hastings Brothers, who own a chain of department stores, are looking to buy this one. Manager Douglass Dumbrille has been doing a little embezzling on the side and he's afraid that if Martin sells his half, he's taking a stretch up the river. After Martin becomes the victim of an attempted murder, Dumont hires who else, detective Wolf J. Flywheel who is of course Groucho Marx. By a happy coincidence, Groucho has Harpo as a sidekick and Harpo's brother in the film Chico is a friend of Martin's. So now we have all the Marx Brothers working at the store.The Big Store is usually dismissed as one of the Marx Brothers lesser films, but it's always been a favorite of mine. Another reviewer said there were too many musical numbers. I don't think there were any more or less than in other films of their's. The running time is a bit short so it might seem like there's more.The highlight for me is always the final chase seen through the store, especially since Douglass Dumbrille joins in the fun. Dumbrille on screen usually plays some serious villains, probably his best known part is that of Mr. Cedar the lawyer who is milking the estate that Gary Cooper is inheriting in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Dumbrille is just as successful dealing with the Marx Brothers over embezzlement as he is with Gary Cooper. But here this very serious and obviously classically trained actor joins right in the slapstick fun. Dumbrille looks like he's having a ball. Later on he would really cut loose in a couple of Abbott and Costello films.A question to all movie fans. Who do you think had the most inventive screen character names, W.C. Fields or Groucho Marx?