Norman, O Recruta Biruta

Norman Wisdom and Margaret Rutherford together: movie heaven! Unfortunately the lovable Mr. Wisdom and the delightful Ms. Rutherford share little screen time in "Trouble in Store," Wisdom's first screen outing as his bumbling on-screen persona, Norman. Humble department-store stock clerk with ambitions to become a window dresser encounters the new store manager and hilarious complications pile on even more hilarious complications. Like a classic Laurel & Hardy routine, Norman competes with another window dresser and manages to destroy a china display to the delight of passing onlookers on the street. Margaret Rutherford is a congenital scene-stealer and, as Miss Bacon, a dotty shoplifter, her delivery and facial expressions are hysterically funny. When Norman helps her from the store laden with stolen suitcases stuffed with the store's goods, the store manager thanks her for her business, and so do we.

"Trouble in Store" also features Jerry Desmonde as the store manager and Lana Morris as Norman's love interest; both later worked with Wisdom in "Man of the Moment." Wisdom is in fine voice on a couple songs, one of which he penned himself; he was obviously a man of endless talents. Norman's effortless pratfalls and slapstick are wonderful. Although less sentimental and more upbeat, Wisdom likely owed much to such great clowns of the silent era as Charlie Chaplin. The always-endearing Norman delivers the comedy goods as usual, and "Trouble in Store" was a good vehicle for him.

Though now slightly over fifty years old, Sir Norman's film debut remains one of his very best movies. 'Trouble In Store' finds the clown in top form, as a stock room worker who wishes to move up in the world and marry the girl of his dreams. Whether roller-skating behind a fast moving bus or crooning his biggest hit (and signature tune) 'Don't Laugh At Me', Norman demonstrates the charisma that made him such a major box office attraction.

Backing Norman is the fantastic Margaret Rutherford, who in only a handful of scenes steals the picture (and everything else!) as an elderly shoplifter. The very lovely Lana Morris also scores as the object of Sir Norman's affections. Lana comes across in this picture so well that it is a real pity that she did not have a better movie career.

Highlights range from Wisdom's window dressing 'duel' with Michael Ward, a very catchy duet with Lana (Norman once again showing us his great singing voice) and a fun Western parody climax. This movie seemed to fly by and is probably Sir Norman's most enjoyable film.

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.

It's often said you have to be English to understand Norman Wisdom's humour – Albanians would probably agree, the same as Russians would've done about George Formby. The fact is he's always appealed to certain parts of the population, usually kids or people with defiantly unsophisticated humour like me. In his films I cringe at the obligatory mawkish bad bits but overall have always got more out than I put in, apart from his last.

This was his first big effort: he plays lowly Norman in the stockroom at a big department store under the control of new broom Jerry Desmonde and intent on winning the love of the girl on the record counter. There's various adventures along the way, many firings and re-hirings and a tiny sub-plot involving a gang of what turned out to be extremely cartoony robbers, but basically it's a one man show. However if you already know that Norman isn't your bag, try this one solely for the beautiful performances by the ever frothing Desmonde up against Wisdom for the first time, and regal Margaret Rutherford as an expert shoplifter in a fantastic feathered hat. Favourite bits: the smashing window dressing scene; Norman's first explosive encounter with Desmonde; the climactic violent gunfight in front of an audience. Norman's most famous song is here too: Don't Laugh At Me 'Cause I'm A Fool; in 2008 UK BBC broadcast an otherwise interesting programme on him at 92 years old with Alzheimer's disease setting in with that precise aim in mind. I do hope no one takes the mickey out of those particular sensitive documentary makers if they ever get old and in the way too.

Recommended as I've always liked Norman's films - to a point - but then again maybe my funny bone froze at age 11.

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.