The Great Rupert (1950) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

A squirrel becomes the guardian angel for an impoverished family.

Cast & Crew

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Irving Pichel

Jimmy Durante

Mr. [Louie] Amendola

Terry Moore

Rosalinda [Amendola]

Tom Drake

Frank Orth

Mr. [Frank] Dingle

Sara Haden

Mrs. [Kate] Dingle

Film Details

Also Known As

Rupert

Genre

Comedy

Release Date

Mar 1950

Premiere Information

Los Angeles opening: 24 Mar 1950

Production Company

George Pal Productions, Inc.

Distribution Company

Eagle-Lion Films, Inc.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 26m

Sound

Mono, DTS

Color

Black and White, Color

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

7,926ft (9 reels)

Synopsis

On the day before Christmas, down-on-his-luck entertainer Joe Mahoney rehearses his trained squirrel Rupert in his shabby apartment, but his last hope is shattered when agent Phil Davis informs him that the talented rodent has no box office potential. Dejected and penniless, Joe is evicted by his landlord, Frank Dingle, who lives upstairs with his wife Kate and son Peter. After setting Rupert free in the park, Joe encounters his old friend Louie Amendola, who used to have a human pyramid act with his wife and daughter Rosalinda, but has since fallen on hard times. The Amendolas go to Joe's vacant apartment, and Peter is so taken with Rosalinda that he lets them move in with no money down, to the annoyance of his tight-fisted father. Meanwhile, Rupert, unable to adapt to life in the wild, finds his way back to his old home and settles in the rafters. Dingle receives a notice from the bank telling him that a gold mine he invested in years before has finally paid off, and that he will receive weekly checks for $1,500. Upon cashing the first check, Dingle hides the money behind his bedroom wall, poking it through a hole he has drilled in the baseboard, while Rupert watches from the other side. Downstairs, Mrs. Amendola has just finished praying that their lot in life will be improved when Rupert tosses the money down through the hole in the skylight. Assuming that the money has come from heaven, the Amendolas pay a holiday visit to the Dingles, and Peter and Rosalinda play a duet he has written for the tuba and harp. Phil then shows up with a fruit basket for Joe, and he is immediately attracted to Rosalinda, to Peter's chagrin. Rosalinda agrees to go out with him, hoping he will be able to get Peter's composition published. Meanwhile, after making several extravagant purchases and helping a needy friend, Louie once again finds himself broke. He and Rosalinda urge Mrs. Amendola to pray for more money, and she does so just as Dingle is hiding that week's dividend, and once again Rupert showers them with cash. As the weeks go by, the Amendolas contribute generously to charity and become partners in all of the struggling neighborhood businesses, and Louie secretly lends Peter money to invest in an oil well. One day, a police officer, a tax investigator and an FBI agent show up at the Amendola residence demanding to know where the money is coming from, and Louie invites them to come back Thursday and witness the weekly "miracle." On Thursday, Dingle gets a letter from the bank telling him the gold mine is exhausted and there will be no more checks, while downstairs, Mrs. Amendola repeats her prayer to no avail. As the police, tax and FBI investigators argue over who will interrogate Louie first, Rupert makes off with one of Louie's lit cigarettes, and before long the apartment is filled with smoke. When Peter drags his raving father out of the burning building, everyone realizes where the money came from. The investigators agree to drop the matter, and Louie, whose investments in the local businesses have paid off, offers to help Dingle rebuild his home. A fireman rescues Rupert and sets him free. The squirrel is waiting in the park when Joe returns with a job offer from a circus, and Rupert becomes a great success. Later, while Louie is showing the Dingles through their beautifully refurbished home, Peter receives word that his oil well investment has paid off and he is now rich. Phil drives up and gathers everyone to listen to Peter's song on the car radio, and Peter proposes to Rosalinda, to the great joy of both families.

Director

Irving Pichel

Cast

Jimmy Durante

Mr. [Louie] Amendola

Terry Moore

Rosalinda [Amendola]

Tom Drake

Frank Orth

Mr. [Frank] Dingle

Sara Haden

Mrs. [Kate] Dingle

Queenie Smith

Chick Chandler

Jimmy Conlin

Rupert [a Squirrel]

Hugh Sanders

Donald T. Beddoe

Candy Candido

Clancy Cooper

Harold Goodwin

Frank Cady

Tax investigator

Crew

John Abbot

Assistant Supervisor

Ted Allen

Based on a Story by

Harry Crane

Additional Dialogue

Harry Crane

Jimmy Durante

Ernst Fegté

Production Design

Harold Godsoe

Assistant Director

Duke Goldstone

Flora James

Buddy Kaye

Joseph Kish

Lionel Lindon

Director of Photography

William Lynch

James O'hanlon

Additional Dialogue

George Pal

J. S. Pierpont

Miles Pike

Helen Rachmil

Costume stylist

Lewis J. Rachmil

Prod Supervisor

Harry Ray

Fred Spielman

Leith Stevens

Curley Twiford

Laslo Vadnay

Clarence Wheeler

Film Details

Also Known As

Rupert

Genre

Comedy

Release Date

Mar 1950

Premiere Information

Los Angeles opening: 24 Mar 1950

Production Company

George Pal Productions, Inc.

Distribution Company

Eagle-Lion Films, Inc.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 26m

Sound

Mono, DTS

Color

Black and White, Color

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

7,926ft (9 reels)

Articles

The Great Rupert

October 11, 2011

Beloved animation producer George Pal fled the Nazis but made good at Paramount with his Technicolor Puppetoon short subjects, which won him seven Academy nominations and one Honorary Oscar. Pal made the leap to live-action feature productions with The Great Rupert (1950), a low-budget fantasy that offered comedian Jimmy Durante the sentimental role of Louie Amendola, the impoverished paterfamilias of a family of vaudevillians that can no longer do their human pyramid act - he's too old, his wife (Queenie Smith) is too fat, his daughter Rosalinda (Terry Moore) has grown too big to play an angel. Mrs. Amendola's prayers are answered by money that seems to fall out of nowhere. As roughly $1500 a week continues to appear out of the wall, Louie helps his poor neighbors and invests it in local businesses. Then the secret of the 'miracle' is revealed: the money belongs to the miser upstairs, (Frank Orth). He's been stuffing it into the wall for hiding, not realizing that a mischievous squirrel named Rupert has been pushing it right out again, into the room below. George Pal's animation background comes to the fore with the title critter, which is animated by stop-motion - it even dances in one scene. A happy ending ensues, even after the building is badly burned. Jimmy Durante sings two songs and another is saved for comic Jimmy Conlin, as a squirrel trainer. Despite being about 'praying for money,' the unpretentious film generates warmth and charm, an opinion that was echoed by Variety: "It aims at the family trade and hits the target right on the Schnoz." George Pal cleared enough money to immediately put his dream project Destination Moon (1950) into production. Always the most loyal of filmmakers, Pal rehired his Rupert director Irving Pichel to direct what became the first blockbuster hit of the science fiction boom of the 1950s.

Producer: George Pal
Director: Irving Pichel
Screenplay: Laslo Vadnay (screenplay); James O'Hanlon, Harry Crane (additional dialogue); Ted Allen (story)
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Music: Leith Stevens
Film Editing: Duke Goldstone
Cast: Jimmy Durante (Mr. Louie Amendola), Terry Moore (Rosalinda Amendola), Tom Drake (Peter 'Pete' Dingle), Frank Orth (Mr. Frank Dingle), Sara Haden (Mrs.Katie Dingle), Queenie Smith (Mrs. Amendola), Chick Chandler (Phil Davis), Jimmy Conlin (Joe Mahoney), Rupert (Himself the Squirrel), Hugh Sanders (Mulligan).
BW-89m.

by Glenn Erickson

The Great Rupert

The Great Rupert

Beloved animation producer George Pal fled the Nazis but made good at Paramount with his Technicolor Puppetoon short subjects, which won him seven Academy nominations and one Honorary Oscar. Pal made the leap to live-action feature productions with The Great Rupert (1950), a low-budget fantasy that offered comedian Jimmy Durante the sentimental role of Louie Amendola, the impoverished paterfamilias of a family of vaudevillians that can no longer do their human pyramid act - he's too old, his wife (Queenie Smith) is too fat, his daughter Rosalinda (Terry Moore) has grown too big to play an angel. Mrs. Amendola's prayers are answered by money that seems to fall out of nowhere. As roughly $1500 a week continues to appear out of the wall, Louie helps his poor neighbors and invests it in local businesses. Then the secret of the 'miracle' is revealed: the money belongs to the miser upstairs, (Frank Orth). He's been stuffing it into the wall for hiding, not realizing that a mischievous squirrel named Rupert has been pushing it right out again, into the room below. George Pal's animation background comes to the fore with the title critter, which is animated by stop-motion - it even dances in one scene. A happy ending ensues, even after the building is badly burned. Jimmy Durante sings two songs and another is saved for comic Jimmy Conlin, as a squirrel trainer. Despite being about 'praying for money,' the unpretentious film generates warmth and charm, an opinion that was echoed by Variety: "It aims at the family trade and hits the target right on the Schnoz." George Pal cleared enough money to immediately put his dream project Destination Moon (1950) into production. Always the most loyal of filmmakers, Pal rehired his Rupert director Irving Pichel to direct what became the first blockbuster hit of the science fiction boom of the 1950s. Producer: George Pal Director: Irving Pichel Screenplay: Laslo Vadnay (screenplay); James O'Hanlon, Harry Crane (additional dialogue); Ted Allen (story) Cinematography: Lionel Lindon Music: Leith Stevens Film Editing: Duke Goldstone Cast: Jimmy Durante (Mr. Louie Amendola), Terry Moore (Rosalinda Amendola), Tom Drake (Peter 'Pete' Dingle), Frank Orth (Mr. Frank Dingle), Sara Haden (Mrs.Katie Dingle), Queenie Smith (Mrs. Amendola), Chick Chandler (Phil Davis), Jimmy Conlin (Joe Mahoney), Rupert (Himself the Squirrel), Hugh Sanders (Mulligan). BW-89m. by Glenn Erickson

Quotes

Trivia

The stop motion animation used in creating the illusion of a dancing squirrel (Rupert) was so realistic, director Geroge Pal received many inquiries as to where he got a squirrel that was trained to dance.

Notes

The working titles of this film were Rupert and Rupert II. According to a news item in Daily Variety, the title of Ted Allen's original screen story was "Money, Money, Money." A Hollywood Reporter news item reported that George Baxter had been cast, but his appearance in the final film has not been confirmed. A July 6, 1949 news item in Hollywood Reporter stated that eden ahbez had been signed to collaborate with composer Fred Spielman on the lyrics to "Melody for Two Orphan Instruments," but the song was performed in the film as an instrumental duet for harp and tuba.
"Rupert" was portrayed by both a trained squirrel and a puppet animated through stop-motion photography. The Great Rupert was producer George Pal's first feature film, after many years working on the "Puppetoon" series.

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