La bonne combine

Burt Lancaster has top billing in this film, but the plot, character and whole movie belong to Edmund Gwenn - "Mister 880." Gwenn had won the Oscar for best supporting actor in "Miracle on 34th Street" of 1947, and was nominated again for his role in this film. While he didn't win the Oscar in 1951, he did win another Golden Globe as best supporting actor, which he had also won for "Miracle" in 1947.

Gwenn's role of William "Skipper" Miller here is based on a real person, Emerich Juettner. And the movie is based on the true story of Juettner's 10 years of counterfeiting one-dollar bills, and his final discovery and prosecution. The film is based on the story written about Juettner by St. Clair McKelway and serialized in The New Yorker magazine in 1949, and later published as a book. The story is fairly accurate - Mister 880 was the file number that the Secret Service assigned for this unknown counterfeiter. Skipper's character had emigrated to the U. S. from Austria where he was born, in 1876.

The movie is centered around Burt Lancaster's role as Steve Buchanan, the Secret Service agent who handled the investigation of Mister 880. But, the real Skipper didn't get caught as in the film. The authorities in real life hadn't been able to narrow down their search as the movies tells it, and get close to discovering who the counterfeiter was. Rather, Mister 880 was discovered after he had destroyed the plates and thrown his printing press out during the winter. And some boys found several of the bogus bills, showed them to their parents who then reported the find to the authorities.

As in the film, Mister 880 was given the sentence of 1 year and one day and a $1 fine; and he was paroled after serving 4 months. That was in 1949, and he was 73 years old. On his release, he lived five more years, dying at age 79 on Jan. 4, 1955. But in real life, Mister 880 married in 1902 at age 26. His wife had a son in 1903 and a daughter in 1918. She died shortly thereafter of the Spanish Flu. The movie doesn't account for Juettner's family. The Wikipedia bio doesn't have information about Juettner having served in the U. S. Navy, as the film conveys.

By casting Lancaster and Dorothy McGuire in leads and building a romance around them, 20th Century Fox was able to craft a story with enough interest and star appeal to draw fans and make a movie pay off. The character of Skipper probably was the kindly old gent as portrayed by Gwenn. The bio says that he fessed up to what he had done, as the movie shows. One would like to think that human interest stories such as this would be able to stand on their own. But, one has to trust Hollywood somewhat based on the experiences of long-time professionals working there. Even though they at times misjudged films - big budget films that flop at the box office. And then, there have been the little regarded sleepers that turn out to be blockbusters - such as maybe the biggest one of them all, "Casablanca" of 1942.

So, this is still a very good story; a nice little romance and light comedy, and gentle drama about a kindly old man who broke the law to survive, but doing it in a way that no one would be terribly hurt. And, the supporting role, played superbly by Edmund Gwenn, is what really makes the movie rather than any of the Hollywood revisions and add-ons to sell the movie.

Edmund Gwenn (best known as Santa Claus in "Miracle on 34th Street) portrays another charming old man who makes ends meet by a little counterfeiting on the side. Burt Lancaster is the treasury agent set to track down the mysterious "Mr. 880," as the Secret Service calls him, but who has time for a little romance. Gwenn, as usual, is delightful and Lancaster, at the beginning of his career, shows the softer side that became more apparent toward its end. The film is a forgotten gem.

New York-area counterfeiter, a kindly old junk collector who means no harm, may have met his match in a new Secret Service man determined to nab the 10-year offender of phony one-dollar bills. Despite an early placard telling us the film was made with "the special permission of the Secretary of the Treasury", as well as with "the assistance of the Treasury Department of the United States Secret Service", the film is surprisingly light and blithe. Edmund Gwenn, Santa Claus in 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street", ends up before the judge again, and his sweetly honest disposition and gentle nature puts us on his side no matter what the crime. Agent Burt Lancaster, wooing Gwenn's neighbor Dorothy McGuire, is perhaps too intense an actor for such a breezy, frivolous take on this situation, yet he works well with his co-stars and has a good scene questioning some Bowery kids (Billy Gray among them). Not an important picture by any means, though mildly entertaining. Gwenn received a Golden Globe for his performance, followed by an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. **1/2 from ****

I realize that 9 is an incredibly high rating, but I stand behind it. It's also high given that I was ready to bail after the first three minutes of this film-- blatant pro-Secret Service propaganda, complete with a stentorian voice-over. But then the characters show up: Burt Lancaster at his most charming, Edmund Gwenn doing his peerless benevolent eccentric, and a positively luminous Dorothy McGuire, exuding intelligence, wit, and gutsiness.

The title comes from the case file number (880) of a real-life counterfeiter—Emerich Juettner, ,a.k.a. Edward Mueller. The feds gained such respect that they called him Mr. 880—and his story deserves a film. Mueller (called "Skipper" and played by Gwenn) did indeed live in New York as a small-time counterfeiter who, amazingly, was as incompetent at etching a passable $1 bill ("George Wahsington") as he was competent at passing his queer money without detection for 10 years (1938-48).

The addition of Lancaster's and McGuire's roles is pure poetic license, but their duo only enhances the story because of the clever interlocking structure of the plot, and the often crackling dialog between them and with others, notably the wry and dry Millard Mitchell.

The hackneyed old phrase applies—I laughed (or at least smiled frequently), I cried (got teary-eyed once or twice), I got caught up in it. The point at which Burt and the feds are closing in on the dear old paperhanger, and McGuire is in a moral quandary about whether to help them or protect him, is so well done that it generated the same quandary in me—what would I have done?? It's a question I couldn't answer, and one that increased the tension that built to the courtroom scene and denouement.

"Mister 880" needs to be seen, right through to the end, which I won't spoil. But I will add a marvelous coda: Ultimately, the real Mr. 880, Juettner, made more money from this film than he did from a decade of counterfeiting—though of course, if he hadn't counterfeited there wouldn't have been a movie to profit from. So we get both poetic license and poetic justice.

This is an odd movie, as it concerns a very successful counterfeiter but not in a way you'd expect. In other words, while the guy printed horrible quality money, he managed to get away with it for a decade. Why? Because instead of printing higher denominations or trying to get rich, he was just an old guy who passed phony $1 bills here and there. Oddly, he never really had much desire to hurt anyone or become a big-time crook--just do it on odd occasions to make ends meet. And, because of this odd m.o., he managed to evade detection so long. And, what makes this even more interesting is that it's all based on a true story.

The film is told mostly from the viewpoint of a Secret Service agent--played by Burt Lancaster. He was an incredibly determined agent and worked hard to capture the crook (Edmund Gwenn). But, because Gwenn plays such a nice and seemingly harmless old guy, the case drug on and on and on--as no one suspected the cute old man.

The film is very well-made and although it's not a film noir picture, it has similarities. Mostly, it's reminiscent because the story is very straight-forward--though the sentimental musical score and sympathetic telling of the story is about as far from noir as you can get! Well made and interesting.