SYNOPSICS
Mister 880 (1950) is a English,French,German,Dutch,Italian movie. Edmund Goulding has directed this movie. Burt Lancaster,Edmund Gwenn,Dorothy McGuire,Millard Mitchell are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1950. Mister 880 (1950) is considered one of the best Comedy,Crime,Romance movie in India and around the world.
The Secret Service of the US Treasury Department has been able to nab a number of high-powered and violent counterfeiters over the years, but case number 880, which has been open now for ten years, has so far confounded them. The reason this case bothers them so much is not only the duration of the file, but more importantly the fact that the bills themselves and their distribution are of an amateurish nature, including the obvious typographical error, "Wahsington", on them. They do realize that the perpetrator, who they have coined Mister 880, has been able to get away with it so far because the bills are almost exclusively $1, which merchants rarely check, and that the bills collected, which have been distributed solely in New York City, amount to less than $50 per month. The Secret Service decides to bring in Los Angeles based Steve Buchanan to work on the case as a pair of fresh eyes. As Steve goes about his initial investigation of merchants who have been duped over those ten ...
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Mister 880 (1950) Reviews
Charming comedy about the counterfeiter next door.
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.
The Whimsical Edmund Gwenn
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.
Highly entertaining Burt Lancaster comedy!
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.
Got change for a $1?
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.
Wonderful Edmund Gwenn...back in the courtroom again
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 ****