Genial vagabond Aloysius T. McKeever (Victor Moore), who lives in a seasonally empty New York mansion every winter, ends up sharing his palatial squat with a number of people including the actual owners and their lovely daughter. The social issue driving the story is the shortage of housing for returning veterans and their families and the film wears its heart on its sleeve as discharged army-buddies Whity (Alan Hale Jr.), Jim (Don De Fore), and Hank (Edward Ryan) scheme to convert abandoned U.S. Army barracks into affordable housing, only to be stymied by grasping millionaire Michael J. O'Connor (Charles Ruggles), in whose home they have unwittingly taken up residence. Most of the comedy revolves around hidden identities and in general the film is quite funny, especially the interaction between authentic down-and-outer Aloysius and faux down-and-outer Mike. The scene in which Mike suspects the worst when he finds his 18 year-old daughter Trudy (Gale Storm) mothering in infant is hilarious (and borderline risqué for the era and genre). The cast is great and the story, if painfully predictable, is entertaining. The film is one of many comedies from the era that invoked the venerable trope of a rich person passing themselves off as poor and their resulting humanistic epiphany. 'It Happened on Fifth Avenue ' is a bit schmaltzy (but what 'Christmas classic' isn't?) and dated, but still cheerful, optimistic and fun.
Review of It Happened on Fifth Avenue
