I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

AS OFTEN AS it seems to be the case, a picture is on many an occasion finds it being released "truly out of season." Much like the much better known and much more expen$ively budgeted MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, this film was sprung upon the world in Springtime rather than at Christmastime. The date was April 19, 1947; being a full two weeks ahead of the 34th Street picture.*CONCERNING THE STORY, it is one very typically tailored to the both the era and the people of the Post World War II period in America. It blends liberal doses of the poor, the rich and those who fall somewhere in between. The storyline is heavily dependent on the sentiments that were so well articulated by Charles Dickens in A Christmas CAROL; albeit in much milder doses and a much less supernatural theme.THE CAST IS comprised of both veteran players as well as some up and comers. The venerable players include: Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, Grant Mitchell, Ann Harding and Ed Brophy. The youthful crew boasts of: Gale Storm., Don De Fore, Mary Kent and Alan Hale, Jr.HEAVILY RELYING ON the highly contrived plot of having hobos wintering in the mansion of a millionaire with a heart of gold, while meeting up with some young returning G.I.'s and their lovely fiancées (them's women, Schultz!) the whole story works and has a very likable and actually works.IT'S JUST TOO bad that it wasn't released somewhere around say, THANKSGIVING!! Duh!!NOTE: * We've only now realized all of the parallels that exist between these two films. Both were oriented around Christmas themes, involved some great metamorphosis by some cynical non-believers, were both produced & released at about the same time and were intended to remind us of just what is truly important in life. Why hell, Schultz even says they're both done in glorious Black & White! (Good powers of observation there, friend Schultz!)

"It Happened on 5th Avenue" is one of the funniest comedies ever made. It was the debut film of Allied Artists, and although it was filmed in 1946, it wasn't released until Easter 1947. Its winter setting has made it a Christmas favorite ever since. From 1990 to 2008 it seemed to disappear, but its DVD release in 2008 renewed interest. It now airs on TV during the holiday season. It's sure to delight modern audiences as it did those in 1947.All of the cast are superb in this movie. And it's a huge cast with many familiar Hollywood faces. The plot is wonderful, with some very interesting twists. All the qualities of production are first-rate. The movie won the 1948 Academy Award for best writing of an original story. Publicity for the film included some big celebrity endorsements: Orson Welles, Al Jolson, Constance Bennet and Frank Capra. Yet, it got only mediocre reviews. It was one of those times when the press was out of touch with the public who loved the film. The movie was a huge box office success. The humor in this movie comes in big doses and all forms. It has a plethora of laughter inducements and humor, with the warmth of a holiday family setting. Witty dialog, hilarious scenes, and very funny situations give this film a secure place at the top of my comedy and Christmas movie lists. I don't want to give away any of the plot outright – for those who don't want to know the story in advance. But I have to note a superbly clever and outlandishly funny scene. Abe Reynolds is uncredited as Finkelhoff, a tailor who owns a used clothing store. His monologue about a $6 allowance for a fancy tailored all wool suit is hilarious. It leads to a moth convention, purchase of pesticides, night work to combat the bugs, a wife who divorces him, his jailing for failure to pay alimony, and losing his shop. All because he took an all-wool suit.Don DeFore (Jim), Ann Harding (Mary), Charles Ruggles (Mike) and Gale Storm (Trudy) have top billing for the film. But the story revolves around Aloysius T. McKeever (aka, "Mac," played by Victor Moore). The sizable supporting cast of top performances add great lines to the film. All of the leads have witty lines at times. Mac offers occasional pearls of wisdom and philosophical tidbits. These McKeeverisms are apropos for the scene, and usually carry some humor. Here are a few examples. "The essence of big business, gentlemen, is never put one worry ahead of another." Speaking to Mike, "Mike, a house – any house, is only what it's occupants make it." At the dinner table, "That proves what I've always believed. Indigestion is caused by unhappiness. If you don't like the things the world makes you do, you're not hungry." And later, "And I would like to feel that you're all my friends. For to be without friends is a serious form of poverty."Here are more dialog samples of humor, to further whet one's appetite. Jim, "Sure, you've gotta wear a mink coat when you work in a music shop. They play those Frank Sinatra records. Chills run up and down your spine. It gets cold. You have to wear a mink coat."Mac, "Where do you live?" Trudy, "In Dubuque, with my 13 brothers and sisters." Jim, "Well, the neighbors must call your house the Stork Club."Patrolman Brady (Arthur Hohl, uncredited), "How'd you like to live in a joint like this?" Patrolman Cecil Felton (played by Edward Brophy), "What? And have room for the rest of my wife's relations? Oh!"Trudy, "I can't go back to him." Jim, "You're married?" Trudy, "It's my father. He's a drunkard, he's lazy and he beats us." Jim, "Beats all 14 of you?" Trudy, "Every night." Jim, "You're old man's not lazy."Mac, "Well, I believe that people who require money should work for it. As for myself, I gave up working years ago. I never could make enough to satisfy my lavish tastes. So, I let other people work for it, and I enjoy it."Trudy, "My goodness, a girl of 18 is practically middle-aged nowadays."Hank (played by Edward Ryan), "What have you got against children?" Apartment manager (played by Johnny Arthur), "It's a rule of the house." Jim, "Naturally, you can't break the rule. If he lets your kids in, everybody'd start having children. Then what would happen to the human race?"Mary, "What does your father think of him?" Trudy, "Dad's going to have him arrested." Mary, "Well, whatever for? Loving you?" Trudy, "No, for trespassing." Mary, "Well, that's the same thing, isn't it? To your father."Mike, "You've taken on a little weight since I last saw you, in the wrong places." Mary, "It's the clothes, and you're no Van Jonson yourself. I can remember when you only had one chin." Mac, "Not in my 20 years of living as a guest in other people's homes have I ever been faced with a situation like this."Mike, "I want them to disregard the idea and offer him a job. Yes, yes… I don't care if it's teaching Eskimos the Boogie Woogie or milking whales in Patagonia, only it must be out of the country."Mac, "Oh, Mike. I'm sorry to interrupt your negotiations. I know you have millions and millions of dollars hanging in the balance. But, Mike, you didn't make your bed this morning."Farrow (played by Grant Mitchell), "Mr. O'Connor, what were you doing in that closet?" Mike, "I like it in there. There's nothing so restful as a nice, dark, stuffy closet."This is a movie that's sure to delight most people at any time of the year. It's especially good over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Sad to say but sweet and whimsical films like It Happened On Fifth Avenue just aren't being made today. Of course you have to have players like Victor Moore and Charles Winninger who can carry off whimsy. And whimsy isn't in with today's audiences.In fact the notion of a millionaire who leaves his Fifth Avenue townhouse for the winter from Election Day to St. Patrick's Day and has it occupied by a gentleman hobo during most of that time is a bit much to swallow. But Victor Moore as the occupier brings it off. No one could ever believe harm would befall anyone in Moore's path.But Moore's life gets a bit complicated when Don DeFore a recently discharged serviceman decides to move in on what he thinks is a boarded up mansion. Then Gale Storm who actually is the daughter of Charles Winninger and is rebellious and estranged shows up and pretends to go along with the gag. She kind of likes what she sees in DeFore. Before you know it a small community springs up in the drafty old house.Eventually that community includes Storm's parents Charles Winninger and Ann Harding who are similarly estranged. But its the Yuletide season coming on and people are just a bit nicer to each other at that time of the year.Of course it all comes to an end and hardly the end you would think in real life. Still It Happened On Fifth Avenue is possessing a certain magic to it. You can't help but like these people.Part of the reason is that for those years between World War II and Korea, returning servicemen of the Greatest Generation are treated like the family jewels. It's not questioned by the theater audience of the time that you extend yourself to them. It Happened On Fifth Avenue could never be remade today for that reason as well.It Happened On Fifth Avenue is a bit sugary, but a warmly sentimental film a favorite of the Yuletide season.

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 AA. Tho 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, It Happened on Fifth Avenue 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 its 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 too 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. Tho 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. Spare a thought indeed.Some minor itches do exist, tho. The film is overlong at almost two hours and DeFore doesn't really cut it as an heroic ex army guy-come-romantic lead. But 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