 | Instant classic
rating: 5
This is a movie that gets better each time you watch it. It's an old film that (although corny) is a true masterpiece of old fashioned moviemaking. Jimmy Durante is hilarious! Yet another classic movie that is an essential part of my holiday collection.
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A Christmas Comedy Classic
rating: 5
"The Great Rupert" aka "A Christmas Wish" (1950) is a long-overlooked Christmas comedy classic. Consistently, this Jimmy Durante gem receives 5-Star ratings - yet, it never shows up on TV. Don't let the budget price fool you - if you like 1940s & 1950s Christmas movies, you'll wonder where this one has been all these years.
Former vaudevillians Mr. Amendola (Jimmy Durante), his wife (Queenie Smith), and teenage daughter Rosalinda (Terry Moore) move into a cramped apartment run by miserly Mr. Dingle (Frank Orth) who lives in the house next door with his wife (Sara Haden) and teenage son (Tom Drake).
Miser that he is, Dingle's been socking away thousands of dollars behind a loose baseboard. Now, beyond that baseboard is the attic - and in that very attic lives the Great Rupert, a trained squirrel owned by the apartment's former tenant. The greenbacks begin to clutter Rupert's living space - so as quick as Mr. Dingle stuffs them in - the Great Rupert throws them out...where they go drifting through a hole in Jimmy Durante's roof.
Meanwhile, Christmas is coming, and the Amendola family is down on its luck. Mrs. Amendola sits alone, praying to the Lord, "Rosalinda needs new shoes". Suddenly, money begins falling from Heaven through the hole in the roof.
The Great Rupert would be a welcome addition to any film buff's Classic Christmas 'B-Team', along with "Bob Hope's "The Lemon-Drop Kid", Cary Grant in "The Bishop's Wife" and "Christmas In Connecticut" starring Barbara Stanwyck.
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The Scrooge Reinvented
rating: 4
If you are looking for a movie to watch on Christmas day with your family, in addition to the well known Christmas classics of your collection, I would recommend this unknown movie starring Jimmy Durante. This is a heart warming story of a true Christmas spirit, much similar to Scrooge, involving the family of Mr. Amendola (Jimmy Durante), his wife Mrs. Amendola (Quinie Smith), and their only daughter Rosalinda (Terry Moore.) Jimmy Durante offers a brilliant performance as a faded vaudeville star who rents an apartment just before Christmas holidays during Great depression. With serious financial problem on one hand, on the other, they face the challenges of their penny pinching land lord, Mr. Dingle (Frank Orth) who is interested in collecting the rent money but not fix the apartment. He is a real Scrooge in person! But his wife Mrs. Dingle (Sara Haden) and their only son Peter Dingle (Tom Drake) are very compassionate and caring. One day during the prayer of Mrs. Dingle, she a finds large amount of cash ($100 bills) falling through the big hole on her roof. The family comes to believe that it is cash from heaven, a true Christmas miracle indeed! Actually this money belongs to Dingle who gets a check from his gold mine stock every week, and hides the cash in his attic which is innocently tossed by a squirrel named Rupert. Rupert belongs to the last resident of the apartment, Joe Mahoney (Jimmy Conklin) and The Great Rupert was his vaudeville act. This squirrel returns to the apartment when Joe releases him because he doesn't have a job and no money!
Mr. Amendola uses his suddenly found riches to help the community by starting various businesses and offer employment. Every one in town gets suspicious about his wealth including; local law enforcing authority, IRS, and FBI. In the meantime, when Dingle losses on his investment, the checks stop coming and his luck turns ugly. When his house burns in an accidental fire; he believes that all his hidden stash is lost. Then the kind hearted Amendola steps in to help him rebuild the house. At the same time the authorities find the case of Amendola's wealth is complex to solve and hard to prosecute, and they decide to leave him alone.
Tom Dingle who is in love with Rosalinda does everything to impress her, and to his disappointment she dates a wealthy song promoter named Chick Chandler (Phil Davis), but in reality she is in love with Peter Dingle, a penniless songwriter. The movie pitches the kind hearted souls of Amendola family and Dingle family together to teach the true spirit of Christmas to Mr. Dingle and the law enforcement agencies. The highlight of the movie also includes the special-effects of pioneer George Pal, and the technique of animated puppetry to bring life to the title character a lovable squirrel that rescues a family of vaudeville performers during the Christmas time.
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Cant lose on this classic tale.
rating: 5
They dont make family films anymore like this...
Ive heard of it, but i never had the chance to see it.
Good old Jimmy Durante.... this guy is a classic act. Use to see
him on Ed Sullivan or other shows and we always enjoyed him, his
siging his jokes...
So this movie which depicts different characters which is set
in the good old no money ..depression days delivers the package.
With a excellent cast,good storetelling and Rupert, this movie
can be watched by anybody, and its guaranteed that it will entertain you and leave you with a smile.
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