Remind me to nail up the board in the back fence...
It Happened on Fifth Avenue is directed by Roy Del Ruth and the screenplay adapted by Everett Freeman & Vick Knight from a story by Herbert Clyde Lewis & Frederick Stephani. It stars Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, Gale Storm, Grant Mitchell and Alan Hale Jr.
Aloysious T. McKeever (Moore) is a hobo gentleman who squats in empty mansions while their rich owners are away for the holiday seasons. This Christmas in New York he's having one of his stays at the home of Michael O'Connor (Ruggles), the second richest man in the world. But where once it was just him and his dog, McKeever opens up his adopted home to Jim Bullock (DeFore), an ex Army veteran who has fell on hard times. This sets the wheels in motion for old friends to also find their way to the mansion, so too does O'Connor's daughter, Trudy (Storm), who in all the confusion falls in love with Jim. But that's not all, this opens the way for Michael O'Connor to be coerced into posing as a hobo in his own home! Which in turn gets extra complicated when Mary O'Connor (Harding), Trudy's mother and Michael's divorced wife, also rocks up to be part of the homeless furniture. It's a nutty Christmas for sure, but Christmas is a time of miracles after all.
The back story to the film sees it as the first release from "B" movie studio Allied Artists. The story was first optioned by Liberty Films as a project for "Frank Capra", who instead chose to make "It's a Wonderful Life". It's no surprise that Liberty thought it a good project for Capra because the story is very Capraesque, but as it turned out, Del Ruth acquired the story and made the film for A A. Though receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Original Story (It lost out to "Valentine Davies" for "Miracle on 34th Street"), Del Ruth's film has remained largely unknown in the pantheon of the Christmas movie. Obviously not helped by the success of Capra's film over the years, thus it has become the film that Capra left to make his holiday classic. Pic was further hindered by getting a release at Easter! Some what strange given that the film climaxes at Xmas and thematically ties in with the season of good will. After a run on the TV schedules in the 50s had ceased, the film practically disappeared from the public conscious, but a cult fan base existed and the advent of the internet kept the film alive and up for discourse on forums. Thankfully in 2008 Warner Home Video saw fit to give the film a scrub up DVD release, so now the film can rightly find a new and deserving audience.
Everything in the film is telegraphed, this is a message movie at the holiday time and where it's going to is exactly where many other similar movies eventually end up. It's a testament to Del Ruth and his professional cast that we the audience are happy to be taken for a ride down this well sign posted road. Though not containing the overtly dark aspects of "It's a Wonderful Life", "Fifth Avenue" does contain a sad edge from which to launch onwards to the warmth that most Xmas movie viewers seek. Themes concerning the homeless (ex-servicemen no less), selfish wealth and broken hearts all feature prominently in the narrative, that these will flourish into happiness, life lessons learned and second chances is classic holiday season fervour. But the edginess has made its point and we still come away knowing that not everybody is well off around the Xmas period, so lets spare a thought indeed eh...
Some minor itches do exist, though. The film is overlong at almost two hours and DeFore doesn't really cut it as an heroic ex army guy - come - romantic lead. However, with the likes of Moore, Harding and the brilliant Ruggles around him, not to mention Storm's classical beauty, DeFore's inadequacies barely make a ripple in the story. There's even some nice musical numbers to take in - with "That's What Christmas Means To Me" the undoubted highlight. In short the film is fit to be on the same list as "It's A Wonderful Life", "The Bishop's Wife" and "Miracle on 34th Street". So if you like those film's then you really should get much from this delightful little piece. Seek out and enjoy. 8/10
