As he does every winter, hobo Aloysius T. McKeever (Victor Moore) moves in to a mansion on New York City’s 5th Avenue while its owners are away for the winter and invites all his hobo friends in from the cold. But this Christmas, Mary O’Connor (Ann Harding) comes home unexpectedly after a quarrel with her boyfriend to find her house occupied by jovial street dwellers. To make matters even worse, her father (Charles Ruggles) disguises himself as a hobo to get an invitation to stay in his own home — and keeps his identity secret in this perennial Christmas favorite about rediscovering family and the joy of being together.
The film received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Story.
It Happened On Fifth Avenue is usually defined as a Christmas movie, in part because of its plot time-line, but more than that, it’s a movie that, like George Seaton’s Miracle On 34th Street — made the same year — sings of the generosity of the human spirit, and the feeling of renewal that was in the air in the immediate post-World War II era, a funny, gentle, warm look at people making their way in a time when, for the first time since the Great Depression and the outbreak of the Second World War, cautious optimism seemed an appropriate approach to life. And not for nothing was this reportedly lead actor Don Defore’s personal favorite of all of his movies. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
Starring Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, Gale Storm.