It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)

Directed and produced by Roy Del Ruth

While multi-millionaire Michael O’Connor (Charlie Ruggles) spends the winter in the country, homeless Aloysius T McKeever (Victor Moore) moves into his vacant New York townhouse. A conscientious squatter, careful not to damage anything and leave all as it was when he departs in the spring, McKeever feels compelled to offer evicted veteran Jim Bullock (Don DeFore) a room in ‘his’ mansion. Before long, there are two families of former soldiers and, incognito, O’Connor’s own daughter, Trudy (Gale Storm) residing there, too. And when O’Connor himself shows up, things become complicated.

It Happened on Fifth Avenue has the premise of a frantic farce, perhaps even the sort that the Marx Brothers could have concocted in their prime. Instead, it is a gentle but mediocre comedy with a few good laughs and a few more smiles. There are a number of elements that are vaguely connected and that by themselves would have made for a satisfying shorter film; together, they create a meandering story that is far too long.

One of the problems is that it has several characters on which it could have concentrated to make a more cohesive whole. Moore’s McKeever is an interesting philosopher, a den-mother of sorts to those whom he shelters under ‘his’ roof, strict on proprieties and careful of others’ property (except cigars and waistcoats). Ruggles, by 1947 a bona fide star – if a little faded and nowhere as big as some – gives a thoughtful portrayal as the millionaire, trying to sort out the relationships with his daughter and estranged wife (Ann Harding).

Character actors lend good support, including Edward Brophy as a good-natured watchman and Charles Lane in his usual killjoy rôle.

What doesn’t work is the romance between the characters of DeFore and Storm. Neither is an involving person, and though there is a legitimate attraction between them, the actual love affair is flimsier than anything you might have seen on The Love Boat. It would have been far better to have scrapped their participation, and made it a straight comedy, pairing Ruggles and Moore. Divested of the lackluster romance, It Happened on Fifth Avenue would have been a leaner, funnier film. (For some reason, Storm’s voice is obviously dubbed in the songs she sings; pointlessly, as she was a singer.)

And it would have been better made in the 1930s. The plot has the feel of a film from ’32 or ’33, when the Great Depression was at its height. The transients, the homeless soldiers, the ultra-rich; certainly they existed in 1947, but they fit less in that prosperous year. Indeed, many of the palatial mansions along New York’s Fifth Avenue were already gone by the Second World War, Gilded Age opulence giving way to a more streamlined wealth.

Streamlined is, perhaps, what the movie should have been. At almost two hours, it seems too long, the story too attenuated. O’Connor’s redemption – and you know it’s coming – suffers at least two set-backs that needlessly prolong the film.

While It Happened on Fifth Avenue is spottily amusing, with a number of good lines, it needs a better screenwriter and a ruthless though talented editor. It felt like it tries to be a jack-of-all-trades, and masters none.