The Merchandise Mart (1956) User Reviews

Another Industrial Film Masquerading As A Selected Short Subject

[boblipton · 4/10 · 8 January 2020]

This late RKO Screenliner concerns itself with Chicago's Merchandise Mart. That is a wholesale location in Chicago that offers a plethora of goods for sale, albeit only to retailers. It also offers tours to individuals along its more than seven miles of corridors. The institution is still around, more than sixty years later.

The short subject is rather a dull affair, unless u enjoy looking at men using an old-style mechanical calculator to figure the day's take. That's because this is actually an industrial film, a one-reel commercial for the Merchandise Mart, intended to make the public -- and manufacturers -- aware of the institution. Narrator Peter Roberts, a veteran of RKO short subjects since 1951, speaks in awe-struck tones of his subject. It seems vastly overblown.

1950s film about life inside Chicago's Merchandise Mart

[barryrd · 8/10 · 5 February 2021]

As a Canadian who visited Chicago for the first time in 2012, I appreciated finding out the history and some of the background of the Merchandise Mart. This is a very short "short" and I would have liked to find out more about this huge marketplace that traces its location back to the days of the trading post. Although I took a boat tour and photographed this great architectural landmark, I knew little about it as trade centre that serves retailers from across the country. I am a.fan of documentary films like James Fitzpatrick's travelogues that give some insight into mid 20th century life, which is far different from today. For someone like me, born after World War II, these older films take us back in time and remind us of the look and feel of the period. Again, my only criticism is that it wasn't another 10 minutes longer. Thanks once again to TCM.

Will this film make anybody's list of "Movies That Changed My Life"? . . .

[cricket30 · 8/10 · 14 November 2020]

. . . Probably not. However, to properly appreciate THE MERCHANDISE MART, viewers need to watch AND LISTEN carefully (especially making use of the latter sense's interpretative function). The opening montage of this piece features a heavily-armed wagon train lumbering toward a South Side Chicago-area trading post. Since this sector of the so-called "Windy City" always has been known for its runaway violence, gang warfare and ill treatment of visitors, the citizens in the covered wagons obviously are prepared to meet any eventuality. When the camera pans forward in time to this live-action short's title building, the narrator notes that it is an easy "arrow shot" from the site of the original trading post shown during the opening montage. He later suggests that the entire population of Chicago can fit inside this edifice full of goodies. When a viewer puts two and two together, this voice-over man seems to imply that anyone with a gun should go get theirs at THE MERCHANDISE MART. After you enjoy this film, please remember the less fortunate by making a generous contribution to your local chapter of BANGS (Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps).