Mister 880 (1950)

The movie opens with a fully orchestrated epic march suggesting flags and a parade of glittering bayonets. The credits seem to be stamped on iron plaques. The narrator is a Reed Hadley clone who intones staggering facts about the resources and efficiency of the Secret Service. "The Secret Service Building in Washington houses ten million daltons of nanosieverts and contains twelve thousand long tonnes of files and fingerprints." If you've seen any of the popular semi-documentaries of the immediate post-war period, like "The House on 92nd Street," it will all be familiar to you.But -- that's not what it's about. The Intro is a fake. "All false pretenses, like flowers, fall to the ground; nor can any counterfeit last long." It's not about the staunch servants of the public weal at the Secret Service after all. It's about Burt Lancaster's pursuit of shabby old Edmond Gwen who runs off a couple of dozen one-dollar bills on the hand-cranked machine in his basement whenever an emergency arises.Gwen is so lovable, so huggable, so generous, that sometimes he slips one of his crummy old bills -- Washington is spelled Wahsington -- into the purse of his friend, the sophisticated Dorothy McGuire, and it's through her that Lancaster finds out what's going on. And the movie become a pleasant little romance with some cockle-warming humor thrown in.The setting is New York City. I was surprised to learn that their office is located at 90 Church Street because that's where I enlisted. The photography has been influenced by the noir style and it doesn't quite fit. Night-time streets are slick, wet, empty. Shadows are stark. Old paintings in rococco frames hang from the walls. Gwen lives in a basement apartment that looks like an episode of The Hoarders, filled with ancient and spooky junk.The imagery doesn't always mesh well with the narrative, but the director has added some nifty comic touches. There is, for instance, a silent scene, watched through a store-front window, in which Lancaster's pal pretends to hit on McGuire, so that Lancaster can come to the rescue and find out how she came to pass one of Gwen's phony bills. It's a perfectly performed two-minute silent movie.It's a reasonably pleasant way to while away an hour or two. The romance is perfunctory and doesn't get in the way of the plot too much. And most of the gooey sentimentality is left for the last fifteen minutes, when we hear "Auld Lang Syne" on the sound track.Let me put it this way: If you liked "Miracle on 34th Street," you'll like this because the similarities, taken together, stand out like a gastropod on its poduncle.

Burt Lancaster was always one who took firm control of his career. He got out of the studio system very early in Hollywood and was always the one who called his own shots. I'm guessing that he probably owed someone a favor which is why he did Mister 880.It's not that Mister 880 is a bad film, but it's most definitely not a Burt Lancaster project. Burt and leading lady Dorothy McGuire play a definite second fiddle to Edmund Gwenn as the whimsical old neighborhood character who does some counterfeiting on the side when he runs short of money.The title stems from the number on his file with the United States Secret Service. Mister 880 isn't even that good a counterfeiter, but his case has been put on the agency back burner for years while they assign top priority to organized gangs of counterfeiters. Gwenn does his work on cheap office supply paper with a hand press. He even spells Washington wrong on the one dollar bills he prints. And he's been getting away with it for years because of the small denominations.McGuire comes to Lancaster's attention as she gets stuck with one of Gwenn's phonies. He's the agent who the New York office finally decided to assign to the 880 case. Of course the usual romantic complications get in the way of the case, but not forever.Edmund Gwenn is one of those delightful character actors you cannot help but like. His charm is infectious, never more so than when he won that Oscar for Miracle on 34th Street. His character of the Skipper is in the same vein as Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street. Who could not like Edmund Gwenn and therefore who could not like Mister 880.

When I first saw this in 1950 I just loved "the Skipper" and every time I watch it, as I did yesterday, I fall again. A very good actor who just melts your heart in his characterizations.Burt Lancaster as the Agent trying to solve an old case that has bugged the Secret Service for a decade; and Dorothy McGuire as the U.N. interpreter caught up in the investigation are fine. When they are in the restaurant purring at each other, while saying serious things about the case, it is a wonderful scene. Fine direction and acting.I watch it as the beginning of my holiday "classic" film month. Nothing to do with Christmas, Thanksgiving or New Years. But it does end with the music to Auld Lang Sang playing in the background and the spirit is that of a holiday movie. A treat and I give it 9/10.Jane

Very Enjoyable film. Too bad Burt Lancaster didn't make more comedies - as he displays a very nice touch here, making fun of his macho image.I didn't know anything about this film before I watched it and was pleasantly surprised. The characters are a little more "loose" or natural acting than is seen in most Hollywood fare of the time. The story concerns a secret service agent looking for counterfeiters, a translator at the United Nations, and a beloved old man. A very nice, original story.All the actors are good - Burt, Dorothy McGuire is quite radiant and Edmund Gwynn is dynamite. I'd say he is better in this than in "Miracle on 34th Street". If you are looking for a nice movie that will put a smile on your face - you can't go wrong with this one. It'll stick with you.