"Saint in London" director John Paddy Carstairs' amusing comedy of errors "Trouble in Store" ranks as Norman Wisdom's finest and funniest film with him in the lead role. Indeed, before he toplined in "Trouble in Store," Wisdom worked primarily in British television after playing a peripheral role in the 1948 comedy "Date with a Dream" with Terry-Thomas. Cast as a bungling buffoon who seems like a walking booby-trap, Wisdom plays a well-meaning but shy stockroom clerk in a major London department store who cannot seem to quit getting in trouble. Carstairs puts Wisdom through an obstacle course of slapstick shenanigans that the young comic indulges in with considerable flair and spontaneity. An underdog from the word go, our goofy hero yearns to become a window dresser, but he does himself no favors when a new 'chief' comes aboard to run the company. Wanting to know everybody from bottom to top, Augustus Freeman (Jerry Desmonde of "A King in New York") meets Norman and everything that can go wrong—does go wrong for our hero. No sooner has Norman brought credit to himself, he does an about-face and disgraces himself. The running gag through this 85-minute bit of hilarity is that Freeman fires Norman but then turns around and rehires him! Of course, our fine young protagonist feels Cupid's arrows sink into him when he lays his eyes on pretty young co-worker, Peggy Drew (Moira Lister of "The Limping Man), who works in the recording department. Margaret Rutherford has a field day as a shoplifter who fools everybody with whom she comes into contact. Initially, she hauls off quite a lot of merchandise and gets the unwitting Norman to carry it for her. The comedy is basic, but good comedy never goes out of style, and poor Norman is such a sympathetic soul that you can overlook his idiocy. The big plot concerns a well-organized group of thieves that plan to take over the shop on a clearance day and make away with a horde of cash. By this time, our madcap hero has become a persona non-grata as he struggles to warn Mr. Freeman about this wholesale onslaught of larceny. Jerry Desmonde is just as hilarious as the new chief whose best-laid plans go awry.
Review of Trouble in Store
