My quest is almost at an end! Before that, though, we remain in the 1940s for another heartwarming, Capra-esque festive fave. It Happened on Fifth Avenue is a movie with an admirable, idealistic worldview and with its own ‘Scrooge’-alike character at its centre, the world’s “Second Richest Man” who will, at Christmastime, learn important lessons about philanthropy by coming face-to-face with those who he’s made a fortune out of evicting from their homes.
There’s a great premise - Aloysius ‘Mac’ McKeever (Victor Moore) is a pleasant, resourceful homeless New Yorker who survives his winters by sneakily squatting in the grand homes left empty by rich dudes who spend their holidays in warmer climes. Clearly home security was rubbish in the ‘40s, as Mac is able to steal into fancy mansions no bother and this winter brings him to the home of our ‘Scrooge’ - multi-millionaire Michael J. O’Connor (Charlie Ruggles).
It’s normally just him and his adorable dog living a quiet, easy life but chance brings him into contact with Jim (Don DeFor), a homeless war vet recently turfed out onto the streets by one of O’Connor’s building projects. Soon, Jim’s also inviting some of his old war buddies and their families to hang out in the stately home and things start to get very complicated.
As if it’s not getting crowded enough, up pops O’Connor’s runaway daughter Trudi (Gale Storm), looking to pinch some fancy fur coats from dad’s wardrobe to wear to a job interview. Shocked at the community of homeless but essentially decent people squatting in the house, she decides to play it cool, pretending she too is a down-and-out and starts to enjoy slumming it with these destitute people. If you hadn’t guessed, she also falls head-over-heels in love with good-looking Jim. Wanting to make sure Jim loves her for who she is and not her daddy’s moolah, she keeps the subterfuge going.
Things get even dafter when Mr O’Connor then appears looking for his daughter. In a thoroughly farfetched turn of events, she somehow convinces her filthy-rich father to pretend to be homeless too, so as not to blow her cover. Naturally, with true love at stake and it being Christmas and all, dad says “oh, what the hell” and joins in the fun, rather than call the cops. Just for good measure, O’Connor’s estranged wife (Ann Harding) also turns up just in time to fall back in love with him. That was handy.
So, you’ve got this whole newly-repaired, happy family unit now under one roof for the holidays, all discovering newfound love and respect for one another by removing the pesky complications of, y’know, being financially comfortable. It’s as daft as a bag of tramps but somehow still works, even if the version of homelessness presented here is a surprisingly cushy, carefree one. The screenplay was Oscar nominated, losing out to Miracle on 34th Street.
This is a charming enough tale of fusty old fatcats being won over by the kindness and live-and-let-live spirit of the poor with an admirably absurd premise that deliberately pushes the limits of believability. This also gets extra points for featuring a memorable yet inconsequential scene involving Jim and Trudi trying to have a romantic date at a cheap restaurant involving a wobbly table and a peeved but determined waiter. This is a little bit of movie magic in an enjoyable film about the unassailable power of the Christmas spirit and its ability to transform skinflint meanies. It’s heartwarming, which is just as well as the boiler guy has finally turned up and is sorting our heating out this morning but until he’s done it is bloody freezing in the house.
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