It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)

Simply A Masterpiece

Crappy film

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I'm usually a softhearted for these Christmas movies from the 40's and maybe if Frank Capra had had an opportunity to recast and have some significant rewriting done then maybe this film would have turned out better. A neglected film is Holiday Affair with Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, and Wendell Corey. Directed by Don Hartman it has a lighter and more comedic touch.The only member of the cast I like is Charles Ruggles. Everyone else is miscast and without sympathy which is not good for a film that's supposed to pull on your heartstrings. By now you know the plot, a hobo moves into a Fifth Avenue mansion while the owner winters in Tennessee. Victor Moore is the hobo and had a spotted film career. Moore's character, Aloysius T McKeever, ends up having a recently evicted soldier, Jim Bullock (Don DeFore) move in with him and then a slew of others show up. When the mansion's owner Michael J. O'Conner (Ruggles) shows up, his daughter Trudy (Gale Storm) is romantically interested in Bullock. When Trudy realizes her father is about to have everyone in the house arrested, she calls in her divorced mother Mary (Ann Harding) to help present a bulwark against her father.Of course, there is the requisite happy ending with O'Conner and his wife getting back together, Bullock and Trudy cementing their romance, a bunch of ex-servicemen pulling their money to buy housing, the usual. I am sure in the current climate (2017), the story might have appeal with the little people vs. the industrial giant; but the little people only win because Michael J. O'Conner lets them in a rather unbelievable end. It's not that I don't like the message, it's just the wrong movie for me.Oddly enough this movie was popular with audiences while Capra's directorial choice It's a Wonderful Life bombed. But with time the Capra film is now a Christmas classic; and It Happened on Fifth Avenue is just about completely forgotten.

A shame that hardly anyone except Turner shows (or preserves) black and white movies anymore. I tripped across this one during the Christmas Holidays. It's right up there with "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Bishop's Wife". It was nominated for an Oscar in 1947 (for best Screenplay). "Miracle on 34th St." won that year. A great cast including Charles Ruggles, Ann Harding, Gale Storm, Don Defore and Alan Hale Jr. Aloysius T. McKeever (Victor Moore) "squats" in the mansion of Michael O'Connor (Charles Ruggles) during the wintertime and holidays. He's a vagrant with principles and charm and acts like he owns the place. In all, eleven people and a dog end up "squatting", mostly down-on-their-luck unemployed WWII vets, their wives and children. Don Defoe and Gale Storm (Jim and Trudy) fall in love at first sight. She is beautiful at age 25 and plays an 18-year old spoiled brat AWOL from finishing school. She and her mom and dad act like squatters too, but actually own the house. A mild Scrooge-like plot, as O'Connor is a lonely old real estate magnate and the 2nd richest man in the world who, at first, seems to only love money and success. He has been divorced for four years. The predictable and satisfying ending has everyone falling in love and the ex-GI's get to build their dream project of converting an old Army barracks into apartments, as O'Connor buys and transfers the property over to them. Wonderful to watch, with many funny scenes involving babies, mistaken identities, a "fruiting", and an ethnic used clothes merchant, that hates wool clothes because they attract "all the moths and their friends". Lots of cute little continuity errors: "Jim" calls "Trudy" "Margie" and a "silent" vacuum cleaner! Still available on WB-DVD as part of a collection or a single title. Almost filmed by Frank Capra, but he made "It's a Wonderful Life" instead. Worth your time and very charming. Just like "It's a Wonderful Life", no man is poor who has friends. How true!

I just watched this movie for the fifth Christmas in a row and will watch it every year until I am unable to or have died. Not only is there humor and at times out right laughs but it also is about the spirit of Christmas. I can't think of one actor that could have replaced any one in the role they played. A heartwarming, cheerful movie that shows you don't have to have it all to enjoy the season and Christmas Day. The cast jelled together to make this film a joy and worthy of watching again! Every member of the cast was played to perfection ! A feel good , entertaining movie that any age can watch and will want to watch again!!Don't miss out on the delightful "It Happened on Fifth Avenue"!!!

This is in every sense of the word a B- picture and is certainly not worthy of being listed among classic Christmas films of the same period, films such as Miracle on 34th Street and Christmas in Connecticut. The charm is potential in the comic plot idea, which is clever, but the execution may leave a viewer wishing for better acting, better directing, and less embarrassing shtick inserts. The vaudeville segments, i.e. the goofy ethnic tailor and the mugging restaurant owner trying repeatedly (eternally it feels like)to straighten the table, might have been handled with comic finesse by a director like Preston Sturges, but here they are just annoying, overlong plot breaks. Maybe director Roy del Ruth was giving his old, washed-up buddies from the Mack Sennett days a last gig. But this is not the only reason his directorial wisdom may be called into question. With a few exceptions, the casting is weak. Don DeFore was better playing comic sidekicks than romantic leads, and the redundantly named Gale Storm is a beauty but delivers her (admittedly badly written)lines unconvincingly. Both the romantic leads seemed made for the small screen where they comfortably ended up. Victor Moore, surprisingly, is ineffective as the supposedly charismatic rascal around whom all the action swirls. There were a dozen character actors around Hollywood at the time who could have done a better job. Of course, Moore had to contend with uttering some of the most feeble bits of pseudo-philosophical fluff ever offered in a film. He just prattles on and on in his equally feeble voice until it is a relief to see him toddle on down the Avenue toward the credits on his way to squat in another rich man's mansion. Charles Ruggles would have been much better in the McKeever part. The scenes between him and Ann Harding put all the other actors to shame (except maybe the dog). Thanks to the fine directing, acting, and other artistic talents available to the Hollywood studios at the time, some excellent B movies were produced. This is not one of them. The addition of heavy-handed populist political messages doesn't help--even though watching tomatoes being thrown at business executives may make us regular guys feel swell. The raggy little dog was cute, though, and it out-acted most of the two-legged cast members.