‘It Happened on 5th Avenue’ (1947) Review

It Happened on 5th Avenue Synopsis: A New Yorker hobo moves into a mansion and along the way he gathers friends to live in the house with him. Before he knows it, he is living with the actual home owners.


It Happened On 5Th Avenue
Starring: Gale Storm, Don DeFore
Directed by: Roy Del Ruth
Written by: Everett Freeman
Released: 04/19/1947
Runtime: 116 minutes
Rated: Approved

In the middle of winter, two homeless men – Jim Bullock and Aloyisius MeKeever – illegally take up residence in a luxury townhome while its actual owner, the wealthy Michael O’Connor, resides in Virginia. When O’Connor’s daughter Trudy runs away and arrives at the townhome, she finds herself taken with Jim and decides against revealing her true identity. When O’Connor arrives at the townhome looking for Trudy, she convinces him to play the part of a vagrant named “Mike”, at least until Jim proposes. Shenanigans ensue!

It Happened on 5th Avenue is considered to be a holiday classic by many. While its premise is quite fantastical, it still manages plenty of commentary on class disparity, all presented in the form of holiday hijinks. I can see why people really enjoy this movie. For me, however, it fell a little short of becoming an annual holiday viewing.

The highlight of It Happened on 5th Avenue is Victor Moore as McKeever and Charles Ruggles as Mike O’Connor. Both are charming in their own way – Moore as the poor but buoyant McKeever. He welcomes Jim and Trudy into the home, and soon after, some of Jim’s servicemen friends whose families are also down on their luck and without shelter. The real fun begins when Mike O’Connor arrives. McKeever seems to revel in his role as the de facto leader amongst the guests.

He wears O’Connor’s fancy clothing and gives O’Connor plenty of orders, unaware that he’s bossing around the true owner of the home he’s been squatting in. O’Connor is forced to go along with the ruse, not wanting to upset his already estranged daughter. O’Connor is a sourpuss, and Ruggles brims with barely contained resentment that he’s the one cooking and cleaning in a home where he is used to giving orders. The dynamic between these two characters was probably my favorite part of the movie.

Jim (Don DeFore) and Trudy (Gale Storm) were sweet enough together. The rapidly blossoming romance is the catalyst for O’Connor’s ruse as “Mike,” but Jim and Trudy’s relationship takes something of a backseat to everything else going on in the movie. While DeFore was more or less acceptable as Jim, I found Storm to be delightful as Trudy. She has a commanding presence on screen, and I enjoyed her scenes, most notably with Ruggles.

It Happened on 5th Avenue is a familiar story to most of us – a cranky rich man learns from the less fortunate what it means to be truly happy. We wish to see it happen in the real world, but alas, we have to find it in fiction instead. And It Happened on 5th Avenue does a fine job balancing the message with humor rather than delving into something overly sentimental. I suppose my biggest criticism is that the movie felt uneven at times, and some situations came across as contrived. The addition of two more families within the mansion gave a claustrophobic feel to the movie – the characters weren’t developed or significant enough to matter, so they just came across as filler. It wants to preach the meaning of humility and chosen family, but I didn’t care enough about half of the tenants in the mansion to really care much when they all had to say goodbye.

It Happened on 5th Avenue is a fine movie to watch this time of year, and I am sure many will find it charming and meaningful. When I learned Frank Capra had been set to direct this but then turned it down to direct It’s a Wonderful Life instead, it made sense to me why I wasn’t as enamored with it as I would have liked – it felt like a poor man’s Capra film, missing particular spark that makes these films so magical.

It Happened On 5Th Avenue 'It Happened On 5Th Avenue' (1947) Review

Watched: 12.20.2024
Notable Song: That’s What Christmas Means to Me

Rating:

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