Christmas Eve

Then look elsewhere. LOL The hoped for reunion in this movie could have been set for any day at all. Only some incidental music and a Christmas tree here and there set the story at Christmas time. Nothing about the plot makes it important. It's an oddly constructed movie montage, with three vignettes leading to a reunion of those characters at the end, and while the actors were big names at the time, none of them really shine in this film ... even Randolf Scott, who essentially plays to the same personality you'll see in many of his Western films. And indeed, you'd have a hard time telling him from Gary Cooper's Western characters. For us, this was just an "okay" watch when if we'd known better, we could have been watching something quite a bit better.

Aunt Matilda and her fortunes are in jeopardy from her nephew Phillip who has supposedly been managing her money for years. Matilda's generosity has her at risk of being declared mentally incompetent. She convinces the judge to wait until Christmas Eve so that her 3 adopted sons can return and take over. We see each of the sons in a situation which puts him in a bad light. Michael is a bit of a playboy/aspiring gigolo with a determined girlfriend who won't let him get away no matter what. Mario, playing by George Raft, is the George Raft version of Humphrey Bogart's Rick set in South America instead of Casablanca. His encounter with a Nazi costs him the lady he wanted in his life. And Jonathan, rides into town on the train, not a horse. He gets caught up in a baby selling deal but comes out ahead with 3 babies and a great new girlfriend. As Christmas Eve ticks away Phillip is sure they won't show. The judge is about to give up on waiting when one by one they make their entrance.

I would not have caught this film on AMC, late on a Sunday evening, except I had to be up to receive a business call from Europe, to come early Monday morning there, and after 1 a.m. my time. My opinion of it would agree - almost word-for-word - with "Rocky's" favorable one of the two prior ones in this comment section. So I won't add any duplicate detail, except to say that I thought the performances were all credible, and particularly enjoyed the nostalgic aspects as well as the story line itself. Seeing movies such as this, with stars who have long departed, at points when their careers still had a number of years left, adds an extra dimension, even where the work may fall short of "Citizen Kane, or "Gone With the Wind." And perhaps of equal - or even greater - interest is seeing such a cast filmed in the mode of productions as made decades ago. A good, solid 7 or 8* film, but, in my opinion, rating 9* with the cast nostalgia provided,

Enjoyed seeing this film which has a Christmas theme and concerns three adopted men who have gone in different places in the world after being adopted by their Aunt Matilda Reed, (Ann Harding). George Raft, (Mario Torio) had a background of serving time in prison and escaping into a foreign county. The second adopted son is George Brent,(Michael Brooks) who is a con-artist and the third son is Randolph Scott, (Johnny) who is an alcoholic and is a sort of burned out cowboy from the West. Their Aunt Matilda wants to locate these adopted sons and have them at her house on Christmas eve. The reason she wants to bring the family together is she is fearful her nephew is trying to cheat her out of her fortune, as she is very rich. This story goes into great detail about each of her sons which is very interesting with plenty of comedy, drama and even three babies get involved. Cute Film.