Watch Mister 880 For Free

I'll tell you why so serious

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"Mister 880" is the code word for the secret service's search for a counterfeiter who has been passing along fake $1 bills, easy to find, that is if you really look. After all, in our United States of Confusion, who hasn't wanted to misspell Washington D.C.? Here, the only way these bills can be identified are through the obvious mistake, and it is up to secret service agent Burt Lancaster to find the person responsible, because all of his colleagues from before him (including veteran Millard Mitchell) have had no luck. "879" and "881" are all closed files, simply because they were passing the big bucks, but 880 has been getting away with it, passing $1 bills around the New York City area in a pattern. When the pretty United Nations translator Dorothy McGuire is discovered to have passed two of the fake bills, Lancaster is on her trail, and in one of the film's most amusing sequences, sets out to protect her from masher Mitchell. The scene is shown from inside an art gallery as the soundless activities from Mitchell is visualized from outside. Another sequence has McGuire looking down from her apartment where Lancaster is standing outside a police car just as she has realized who the culprit for the counterfeiting is.The audience learns really early on that the culprit is none other than the sweet "Santa Claus", Edmund Gwenn, and in this "Miracle at Washington Square", Gwenn is observed bringing McGuire a precious antique and leaving her $2 in counterfeit change in her purse. He means no harm, and in a sense, she is like a daughter to him. McGuire learns quickly that Lancaster is on her trail for reasons other than saving her from a masher and sets out to trap him in the most hysterical of ways. She utilizes old counterfeiting slang dating back to the creation of America's first currency which instantly trips him into realizing that he's been had. Then, there's his encounters with Gwenn to where he's totally fooled by this old rascal, even spending a day with him at Coney Island.Having assumed that this was a light comedy, I was surprised to find actually that it is a charming romantic drama where a sort of unlikely fairy godfather brings two people together who are then torn apart suddenly when the truth is revealed. This isn't a great film by any means, but the performances are all solid (especially the Oscar Nominated Gwenn) and the atmosphere of post World War II New York is brilliantly documented. Mitchell's hard-boiled secret service agent is a bit of a rascal of his own, willing to get his face slapped and being labeled a pervert in order to get his job done. Little details like that make this a nice little find which I have been searching for for many years.

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 ****

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.

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