Mr. 880 is a 1950 American film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Burt Lancaster (Detective Steve Buchanan), Dorothy McGuire (UN worker Ann Winslow), Edmund Gwenn ("Skipper" Miller, the counterfeiter), and Millard Mitchell ("Mac" McIntire, the other detective), among others.
It is classified under the comedy and crime genres. And rightly so, as it is a tragicomic event. "Case 880" refers to the "File 880" where his case was housed during the investigation. The film is shot in black and white.
The film's synopsis revolves around a counterfeiter who for many years—for 10 years—evades the investigators pursuing him, until an investigative office assigns the case to an agent skilled in tracking and catching counterfeiters. The level of counterfeiting is rudimentary and crude, but it succeeds because he only counterfeits small bills in tiny amounts, and the counterfeiter turns out to be an elderly man who barely scrapes by.
The film begins by discussing the U.S. Secret Service, as this service is responsible for protecting the president and catching counterfeiters.
It must be kept in mind that it is set in the 1950s, right in the middle of the Cold War, and occasionally, very subtly, this makes itself indirectly felt.
The script is interesting; right from the beginning, you know who the good guy is, who the bad guy is, and what the bad guy is doing. They even cross paths, yet it is so well-constructed that it entertains and generates the necessary intrigue to see when he makes a mistake or when he gets discovered.
Regarding awards, the script was nominated for an Edgar Award (Edgar Allan Poe Awards) for Best Mystery Screenplay (Robert Riskin). The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Edmund Gwenn), and it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (Edmund Gwenn).
The film is based on the true story of Emerich Juettner, known by the alias Edward Mueller, an elderly man who counterfeited just enough money to survive and was careful about where and when he passed his fake dollar bills, allowing him to evade authorities for ten years despite the poor quality of his counterfeits and the growing interest in his case.
The film is based on an article by St. Clair McKelway that was first published in The New Yorker and later collected in McKelway's book True Tales from the Annals of Crime and Rascality.
In real life, Juettner was captured and arrested in 1948, and served four months of the one-year prison sentence he received. He also had to pay a fine of, paradoxically, one dollar. When 20th Century Fox filmed Mr. 880, Juettner made more money from the movie than he had made in his entire counterfeiting career.http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/little-old-moneymaker/9282/
An interesting passage occurs when the detective discovers the counterfeiter and confronts him, and the counterfeiter replies by telling him that with what he counterfeited, he saved the State half of what the State would have spent on him if he had instead chosen to collect a pension. Sensational.
A film that does not disappoint and is great for a good time.
Links to the database entries on IMDB and FilmAffinity:
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