Trouble in Store *** (1953, Norman Wisdom, Margaret Rutherford, Moira Lister, Derek Bond, Lana Morris, Jerry Desmonde, Megs Jenkins) – Classic Movie Review 1990

Norman Wisdom scored a huge hit in 1953 in his first star vehicle and probably his finest film, Trouble in Store, as a goofy storeroom clerk working in the stock room of a large London department store. He is constantly being sacked by the stern new boss Augustus Freeman (Jerry Desmonde) while nursing an ambition to become a window dresser making up the public displays of goods and secretly being in love with a shop assistant, Sally Wilson (Lana Morris). The duo discover a plot to rob the store and of course eventually succeed in stopping the robbers.

Wisdom’s fans will be in paradise with his daft antics in this vintage British slapstick outing. The rest of us can enjoy the acting skills of great stooge Desmonde, the presence of the young Morris, Margaret Rutherford as the dotty old shoplifter Miss Bacon whom Wisdom helps out, and 23-year-old Joan Sims in one of her earliest roles as Edna. The finale is a parody of the then recently released High Noon but set in the store’s toy department. Co-writer/director John Paddy Carstairs definitely had a way with simple comedy.

Making his first major movie, Wisdom was already 38. But Trouble in Store is not his film debut. He had previously appeared in the British support feature Date with a Dream (1948) in a ten-second role as a shadow boxer continually being knocked to the ground. Producer Monty Berman spotted him at the Brighton Hippodrome, filling in for an indisposed comic.

Wisdom’s theme song became ‘Don’t laugh at me, (’cause I’m a fool)’ from Trouble in Store, which was his favourite film. He won the 1954 Bafta Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Film.

Moira Lister, Derek Bond, Megs Jenkins, Michael Brennan, Michael Ward, John Warwick, Perlita Nielson, Eddie Leslie, Cyril Chamberlain, Ronan O’Casey, John Warren, Ian Wilson and Esma Cannon co-star.

Trouble in Store is directed by John Paddy Carstairs, runs 85 minutes, is made by Maurice Cowan Productions and Two Cities Films, is released by General Film Distributors (1953) (UK) and Republic Pictures) (1955) (US), is written by John Paddy Carstairs, Maurice Cowan and Ted Willis, is shot in black and white by Ernest Steward, is produced by Earl St John (executive producer) and Maurice Cowan and is scored by Mischa Spoliansky, with Art Direction by Alex Vetchinsky and John Gow.

It was made at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, England.

Jill Craigie wrote the first draft of the script but allegedly asked for her name to be removed from the credits after finding it was a Norman Wisdom film.

Wisdom and Rutherford teamed up again for Just My Luck (1957).

Norman Wisdom died on October 4 2010, aged 95. He had a tough upbringing, sleeping in the same room as his whole family, time in a children’s home after his mother died and his father disowned him, working as a cabin boy on a cargo ship at 14, then employment by the Merchant Navy at a young age. It was Rex Harrison who urged Wisdom to take up a career in showbiz and, when he did, Charlie Chaplin named him his favourite clown.

In 1997 he won the Special Achievement Award for services to comedy at the London Critics Circle Film Awards. On 6 June 2000 he was awarded a knighthood by the Queen and he deliberately tripped as he left the ceremony. Just 5′ 2″, he was the national comedy hero of Albania.

Jerry Desmonde, doyen of variety straight men, who represented the figure of authority in many of Wisdom’s hugely successful film farces of the 1950s and 1960s, died on February 11 1967 in London, aged 58. Work petered out in the 1960s and he drove a taxi to make ends meet. After the death of his wife Peggy, he fell into a depression which led to his suicide.

Ronan O’Casey died on April 12 2012, aged 89. He was married to actress Louie Ramsay (1956 – 1979) before they divorced and she met and married George Baker.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1990

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