The Great Rupert

Overview

Jimmy Durante plays the patriarch of a down-on-their-luck family of acrobats, who suddenly finds a great deal of money hidden in his house amid the depths of the Great Depression. The authorities suspect Durante of being a thief, but in fact the culprit is a benevolent little squirrel named Rupert. This clever critter has been pilfering money from the obnoxious, wealthy miser who lives in the adjoining house and who decided to stash most of his funds in the wall separating the two residences. The stop-motion animation is the handiwork of George Pal.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/24/2012
UPC:	0874757035994
Original Release:	1950
Source:	American Pop Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:25:00
Sales rank:	57,113

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jimmy Durante	Mr. Amendola
Terry Moore	Rosalinda Amendola
Tom Drake	Peter Dingle
Frank Orth	Frank Dingle
Sara Haden	Mrs. Katie Dingle
Queenie Smith	Mrs. Amendola
Chick Chandler	Phil Davis
Jimmy Conlin	Joe Mahoney
Hugh Sanders	Mulligan
Don Beddoe	Mr. Haggerty
Candy Candido	Molineri
Clancy Cooper	Policeman
Harold Goodwin	FBI Man
Frank Cady	Tax Investigator
Lester Dorr	Actor
Frank Marlowe	Actor
Torben Meyer	Actor
Irving Pichel	Actor
Harry Strang	Actor
Leith Stevens	Composer

Technical Credits

Laszlo Vadnay

Harry Crane

James O'Hanlon

George Pal	Producer
Irving Pichel	Director
Laszlo Vadnay	Screenwriter
Harry Crane	Screenwriter
James O'Hanlon	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

A modestly entertaining holiday film, The Great Rupert (often also known as A Christmas Wish) is not on a level with It's a Wonderful Life or The Bishop's Wife but it does have a certain charm. It also stretches things a little to call Rupert a holiday film; while part of the film does take place at Christmas, much of it is set after the season has ended. Still, it has enough of a connection to make the classification stick. Some may be bothered by the fact that Rupert on one level equates money and happiness. That isn't really the creators' intention, but they were rather artless in conveying the message, causing this confusion. More bothersome to some will be the lack of a first rate screenplay; Rupert is sweet and moderately engaging, but the script just barely gets by. Modern viewers used to sophisticated CGI animation tricks may also be put off by the title character. George Pal's stop motion animation is charming but undeniably jerky and, to eyes raised on Pixar, not totally realistic. If they can get past this, however, they will probably find Rupert a lovable little character. Even moreso is Jimmy Durante, who has one of his best screen roles in Rupert and who displays his unique talent to very good effect. Terry Moore and Tom Drake are only adequate, hampered by roles that are fairly dully written, but Queenie Smith is a lot of fun. Irving Pichel's direction is fine, hampered a bit by budget constraints but accomplishing what it sets out to do. Rupert is a nice change of pace from the Christmas films one has seen dozens of times -- although it's not one that bears dozens of viewings itself.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler