Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36893 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-11-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.com
Bob Hope plays a small-time con artist with a fondness for lemon candy in this film based on a Damon Runyon story. When the Lemon Drop Kid accidentally cheats gangster Moose Moran (Fred Clark) out of his track winnings, the Kid promises to repay Moose the money by Christmas. Creating a fake charity for "Apple Annie" Nellie Thursday, the Kid tricks his gang into donning Santa suits and "collecting dough for old dolls" like Nellie who have nowhere to live. Radio personality Marilyn Maxwell assists as the Kid's girlfriend, while William Frawley and Jay C. Flippen play the lovable, gruff crooks that fall for the Kid's Santa scam.

Hope is great as the fast-talking sharpster, and the comical gangsters are well worth the price of admission. Music by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston (including the classic Christmas song "Silver Bells") makes The Lemon Drop Kid that much sweeter. --Mark Savary

Customer Reviews

One of the best Christmas movies ever made
The Lemon Drop Kid is one of the lesser known Christmas movies probably because, in a sense, it doesn't try to be a traditional Christmas movie.
Bob Hope plays a con artist who is run out of Florida and winds up in New York City during a very bad cold snap. He is in hock to the mob and desperately needs to raise some cash.
He comes up with a fiendish plan, he sets up a home for old ladies and funds it Santa's ringing bells a la the Salvation Army. The problem is that he intends to take all the money and leave the old ladies stranded on December 26th.
Of course, being a Christmas movie, that doesn't happen, the kid has a change of heart, and along the way the movie provides Bob Hope in his prime as the ever loveable wise guy.
This movie also introduced the wonderful "Silver Bells" which is more famous than the movie itself.
If you're looking to add a movie for Holiday viewing, or really to watch anytime, this is a delightful addition.

DVD a big disappointment...
First of all, let me start by saying that I love this film. A true classic: very funny, great songs and wonderful characters. But the DVD looks terrible. Scratches, and even awkward skips in the transfer. Picture is often blurry and sound is muffled. I wish I could say that they had restored it, but it looks more like a bootleg transfer than a legitimate release. The old, out-of-print VHS version had a much better film transfer on it. At least that one didn't frame-skip in the middle of the dialogue like this DVD transfer does! Maybe someday this film will get the DVD treatment it so richly deserves. Oh, by the way--for those who care, there are NO extras to speak of on it.

You'll love the Brentwood DVD
The continuing top quality of Brentwood's Bob Hope DVD's is present on this disc. Razor sharp, good tone B&W images help make this top comedy a delight to watch.