Just perfect...

Absolutely Fantastic

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

When introducing this film on TCM, the host mentioned that Frank Capra had originally signed on to direct this property, and that's not surprising at all. In its story of a wealthy tycoon who gains sympathy for the downtrodden by becoming involved with a group of squatters living in his New York mansion over the winter, it's got Capra's fingerprints all over it. And maybe not being directed by Capra is ultimately what prevents this film from being more of a classic. It's cute and entertaining, and more of both than I expected it to be, but it's also a tad lacking in something -- magic, whimsy, pacing -- that would have made it more memorable.Charlie Ruggles plays the tycoon and Victor Moore plays the principal squatter who sets the whole premise in motion.Grade: B

This is a very enjoyable holiday film that gets no press. I learned about it because it was included in a set of holiday films. If you are familiar with and enjoyed the 18th century play, "She Stoops to Conquer," the same social commentary about relations between the upper and lower classes appears here with a Dreppression era - post World War II twist. It requires you to suspend your sense of logic, but if you can do that, you will have a lot of fun. It's a holiday film that you will enjoy viewing year after year. The professional critics big knock on this film is that it is too long. That is valid criticism for the ending. A scene or two could have been cut or shortened without damaging the plot. That weakness is more that offset by a great many laughs and chuckles and honest warmth which make the first 90 minutes fly by. Watch for Gail Storm as the run-away college student who was a very popular TV personality in the early 1950s and Alan Hale, Jr., as one of World War II veterans, who was the captain on "Gilligan's Island."

Slightly tipsy hobo Victor Moore (as Aloysius T. McKeever) arrives with his dog "Sam" at a swanky New York City brownstone. This is where he spends the winter, while owner and "second richest man in the world" Charles Ruggles (as Michael "Mike" O'Connor) is in Virginia at his "Bubbling Springs" mansion. Meanwhile, World War II veteran Don DeFore (as Jim Bullock) is down on his luck and in his underwear. Thrown out of a tenement, Mr. DeFore is sleeping on a city bench when Mr. Moore happens by, his ragged clothes replaced by Mr. Ruggles' classy duds. Moore invites DeFore over to his adopted mansion...Houseguest DeFore's homeless buddies move in because their prospective apartment won't allow children. Young father Edward Ryan Jr. (as Hank) begs him to reconsider, but landlord Charles Lane asserts, "We don't take children!" Dripping with sarcasm, Alan Hale Jr. (as Whitey) offers to drown the kids while DeFore asks, "If he lets your kids in, everybody'd start having children - then what would happen to the human race?" Meanwhile, nubile young heiress Gale Storm (as Trudy O'Connor) runs away from school, intending to hide out in New York while her father's away. Hoping to stay incognito, Ms. Storm decides to pose as a vagrant in her own mansion. Naturally, father Ruggles hires a detective, and divorced mother Ann Harding (as Mary O'Connor) is also concerned...The whimsical fun continues with Moore and Ruggles reversing their rich man, poor man roles. The older gentlemen are in fine form. Minor bits with tailor Abe Reynolds and waiter Pat Goldin's wobbly table add to the fun, smoothly guided by producer/director Roy Del Ruth. The thoroughly charming script, by Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani, won a much-deserved "Academy Award" nomination. Other than that, "It Happened on Fifth Avenue" seems to have fallen through the cracks. If you're looking for "lost gems" among old movies, you'll find one here.********* It Happened on Fifth Avenue (4/19/47) Roy Del Ruth ~ Victor Moore, Charles Ruggles, Don DeFore, Ann Harding

General breezy fanfare with a group of people coming together to spend the winter in the home of a very rich businessman, played by Charles Ruggles. He has such a business temperament that his wife (Ann Harding) divorced him after many years of marriage and fled to Florida.This is a real holiday seasonal film as people come to understand and appreciate that there are more things out of life than just getting richer and richer.One of those staying at the mansion, Gale Storm, is the daughter of the couple. When Ruggles unexpectedly shows up, she asks him to play along as her impoverished father. Harding soon joins the crew as the cook.Don DeFore, who years later made it big in television as the head of the house in "Hazel" finds love with the daughter. We soon see the guys of the house vie for property with the mogul Ruggles.Victor Moore portrays a lovable eccentric who started the whole ball rolling. Why Ruggles' true identity is never revealed to him at the end is somewhat silly. Of course, others will say that he merely has to go on in his eccentricity.