C'est arrivé dans la 5e avenue

This is a very enjoyable holiday film that gets no press. I learned about it because it was included in a set of holiday films.

If you are familiar with and enjoyed the 18th century play, "She Stoops to Conquer," the same social commentary about relations between the upper and lower classes appears here with a Dreppression era - post World War II twist. It requires you to suspend your sense of logic, but if you can do that, you will have a lot of fun. It's a holiday film that you will enjoy viewing year after year.

The professional critics big knock on this film is that it is too long. That is valid criticism for the ending. A scene or two could have been cut or shortened without damaging the plot. That weakness is more that offset by a great many laughs and chuckles and honest warmth which make the first 90 minutes fly by.

Watch for Gail Storm as the run-away college student who was a very popular TV personality in the early 1950s and Alan Hale, Jr., as one of World War II veterans, who was the captain on "Gilligan's Island."

This a movie for all to see for it is so superb in the story, the actors and the directing!!! I would recommend it to everyone and it sure would be wonderful to be able to see it on television or even better to have a copy on DVD or VHS. It is so sad that great movies like this are forgotten in lieu of action films of today that are all too often do NOT have a good story or acting! Most are full of foul language and sex scenes which are not at all necessary for a truly great film such as "It Happened On Fifth Avenue". In summary this is a wonderful Family Film that will truly bring tears to your eyes.

In 1946 Monogram Pictures decided to upgrade their image by creating a new bigger budget style of film and presenting them by new in-house section ALLIED ARTISTS..... and this delicious humane film was their second big budget outing. IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE has been mostly lost to TV and cinema goers for over 40 years and now it is available on WB label DVD.... The first Allied Artisis film was BLACK GOLD which also wonderfully humane and kind shows what a focus on viable films they embarked upon. IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE is a very funny and witty and ultimately wise family comedy about how a group of genuinely homeless people (in every sense of the word) re discover their home and family. As a Christmas movie it is terrific...and there are some hilarious sequences, notably an old tailor who delivers an uproarious monologue about moths and a waiter in a restaurant trying to set a table from wobbling (while Ted FioRito plays the violin). With a perfect cast for each role and the $1.4m budget resulting spectacularly well decorated and very elaborate sets, this Monogram-Allied Artists film must have been a box office bonanza. Other films they made in this period that reflected their new image are THE GANGSTER and SUSPENSE both equally compelling, well made and worth a DVD release soon.... what a find IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE is and presented in a spotless gleaming DVD. I really applaud WB for releasing this charming humane and delicious film. Nominated for an Oscar for script, it should have also been nominated for Victor Moore's wry turn as the hilarious hobo who secretly babysits mansions while their owners go to another house for their holiday. Gale Storm is gorgeous and her clothes - as are all the qualities of this well made film - peppered with Blake Edwards' added sight gags - are A grade.

"Sort of a Christmas movie and not really a musical" is how a friend described this to me. Kind of a perfect description and is the reason I decided to watch it. And finding out it starred Gale Storm was icing on the cake. I watched My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show when I was a kid and she was a family favorite in those days.

It's a little uneven and could've used some better continuity in spots, but I loved it. And seeing Alan Hale, Jr as a young man was a delightful surprise.

Heartwarming, sweet, and just the right amount of sappy, I highly recommend this one.

This is one of those cute, kind of fantasy, holiday movies of the 1940s with acting veterans, Victor Moore and Charles Ruggles leading the show. It's a decent NYC-set film, albeit far fetched most of the way through. Don Defore and Gale Storm add to the fun. Also, look for a very young Alan Hale Jr long before his Skipper role in the tv show, 'Gilligan's Island'. 'It Happened on Fifth Avenue' despite its many flaws, is a lot of fun and worth watching.