Product Description

Studio: Gotham (dba Alpha) Release Date: 06/07/2005

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16083 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-29
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Customer Reviews

Cant lose on this classic tale.
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.

The Scrooge Reinvented
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.

All Around Great Film
Folks, you can't miss with this movie, which has something for everyone. The great Jimmy Durante doing a few of his trademark songs. The stop-action Rupert the Squirrel. The comical "villian" Mr Dingle, who exhibits all the negative qualities that provide a great counterpoint to Jimmy Durante's positive qualities. While the movie is fulla laughs, there are a few truly sad scenes, such as when Rupert's original owner has to give him up. There's also a little wisdom in this movie, such as when Queenie McBride, who believes the money comes from Heaven prays, in vain, for more money. "I guess God didn't answer," she says. "Maybe he did answer--and the answer is no," replies Durante. Everyone in the family will love this one. My 5 year-old son recently took this for his afterschool class to watch and, after they got over the fact that it was in black-and-white, they really enjoyed it. You'll love it!!!