The silver bells are clinking down on Fifth Avenue here in New York City as I write this review, and what movie is more appropriate to write about than the one that famous Christmas song came from? I find this to be Bob Hope's best non-Road movie; funny, touching, and filled with the joy of the season. This is not a remake of the 1934 Lee Tracy movie, although it does surround a character addicted to lemon drops who happens to hang out at a race track. That was a sentimental tale about a ne'er-do-well father who does all he can to get his kid back. This movie is a lot lighter and instead of a father missing his child, it is about a con man who learns something about giving when he decides to help out a group of old ladies. Of course, he has his own selfish motives, but when gangsters threaten to take over what he has come to see as the right thing to do, Hope takes action and reforms himself, winning the heroine (the lovely Marilyn Maxwell) in the process.
The leading old lady is a street newspaper seller played by the Academy Award Winning Jane Darwell who is absolutely lovely here and will steal your heart, much like she did as the birdseed seller in London years later in "Mary Poppins". William Frawley is Hope's crusty sidekick, whose gravely voiced singing introduces a more cynical "Silver Bells" ("Chunk it in, Chunk it in, or Santy will give you a mickey"). Fifth Avenue and the surrounding snowy streets become a Christmas wonderland, a vision that has made New York one of the most romantic Christmas getaways for years. Maxwell and Hope also sing the delightful "It Only Costs a Dime to Dream" to the old ladies in the redecorated gambling home (where the ladies sleep on moving crap tables). Hope even ends up in drag, looking like Ray Bolger in "Where's Charley?", and has a delightful exchange with another old lady (the wonderful Ida Moore) about his hour glass figure. Fred Clark, that delightful sourpuss, is great as the gangster and Lloyd Nolan is also amusing as another racketeer who tries to get his hands on all the old dolls so he can take over Hope's racket.
Future "Ed Wood" veteran Tor Johnson ("Night of the Ghouls", "Plan Nine From Outer Space") is instantly recognizable as the Swedish wrestler whom Hope involves in his scheme while other typical Damon Runyeon style characters are played by such familiar faces as Harry Bellaver and Jay C. Flippen. The lovely Andrea King is all Southern charm as Clark's mistress whom Hope mistakenly passes on a fake tip to at the race track to his imminent regret. Veteran diminutive character actor Francis Pierlot has an amusing cameo as Darwell's recently prison released husband who has an act for cracking safes.
This is a must for the holiday season that will charm everybody and make you feel good about the true spirit of the holidays.
The leading old lady is a street newspaper seller played by the Academy Award Winning Jane Darwell who is absolutely lovely here and will steal your heart, much like she did as the birdseed seller in London years later in "Mary Poppins". William Frawley is Hope's crusty sidekick, whose gravely voiced singing introduces a more cynical "Silver Bells" ("Chunk it in, Chunk it in, or Santy will give you a mickey"). Fifth Avenue and the surrounding snowy streets become a Christmas wonderland, a vision that has made New York one of the most romantic Christmas getaways for years. Maxwell and Hope also sing the delightful "It Only Costs a Dime to Dream" to the old ladies in the redecorated gambling home (where the ladies sleep on moving crap tables). Hope even ends up in drag, looking like Ray Bolger in "Where's Charley?", and has a delightful exchange with another old lady (the wonderful Ida Moore) about his hour glass figure. Fred Clark, that delightful sourpuss, is great as the gangster and Lloyd Nolan is also amusing as another racketeer who tries to get his hands on all the old dolls so he can take over Hope's racket.
Future "Ed Wood" veteran Tor Johnson ("Night of the Ghouls", "Plan Nine From Outer Space") is instantly recognizable as the Swedish wrestler whom Hope involves in his scheme while other typical Damon Runyeon style characters are played by such familiar faces as Harry Bellaver and Jay C. Flippen. The lovely Andrea King is all Southern charm as Clark's mistress whom Hope mistakenly passes on a fake tip to at the race track to his imminent regret. Veteran diminutive character actor Francis Pierlot has an amusing cameo as Darwell's recently prison released husband who has an act for cracking safes.
This is a must for the holiday season that will charm everybody and make you feel good about the true spirit of the holidays.