Gentle romantic comedy about a Secret Service Agent trying to catch a cold case counterfeiter and a United Nations translator.Gentle romantic comedy about a Secret Service Agent trying to catch a cold case counterfeiter and a United Nations translator.Gentle romantic comedy about a Secret Service Agent trying to catch a cold case counterfeiter and a United Nations translator.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total
George Adrian
- Carlos
- (uncredited)
Rico Alaniz
- Carlos - Spanish Interpreter
- (uncredited)
Polly Bailey
- Woman
- (uncredited)
Gilbert Barnett
- Boy
- (uncredited)
Edward Biby
- Man in Hallway
- (uncredited)
Robert Boon
- Dutchman
- (uncredited)
Paul Bradley
- Man
- (uncredited)
Howland Chamberlain
- Duff
- (uncredited)
Perdita Chandler
- Cashier
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBased on the true story of Emerich Juettner, an elderly junk dealer who, like the character in the movie, only used to print counterfeit $1 bills to make ends meet. For 10 years, Juettner eluded the Secret Service's efforts to find him. He was finally caught in January, 1948, after a fire forced him to vacate his apartment on New York's Upper West Side, and move in with his daughter in Queens. The firemen who put out the fire left some of Juettner's belongings in a nearby alley. A few weeks later, a group of local boys found some of his $1 bills in the alley, realized they were fakes (the name "Washington" was misspelled as "Wahsington" on the bills), and turned them over to police. Juettner was arrested, but only sentenced to nine months in jail and a $1 fine. When 20th Century Fox bought the movie rights to his story, Juettner received more money than he had ever made as a counterfeiter.
- GoofsAnn returns to the art store outside of which a man had been annoying her, after which he was questioned by a policeman. The woman in the shop tells her that the man showed ID to the policeman that showed he was a Treasury agent. Although the scene between Ann and the agent indicated that the woman could not hear what people outside said, and she was certainly too far away to see the man's ID, the scene ended with the agent and the officer talking in the store's doorway, and the woman could easily have spoken with the officer afterward.
- Quotes
Ann Winslow: Someone once said that a task left undone creates a void that no amount of achievement can fill.
Steve Buchanan: Who's the imbecile who dreamed that one up?
Ann Winslow: I am.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits appear on dollar bills.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Making of 'the Day the Earth Stood Still' (2008)
Featured review
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.
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.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- El caso 880
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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