O. Henry's Full House (1952)

A compendium of five stories from the acclaimed US writer that are all quite entertaining. It starts off with a story about "Soapy" - a wily vagrant who decides that with winter coming, it's time to get himself snuggly incarcerated for the harsh weather. Who else but Charles Laughton could get that character up and running with an avuncular amiability and mischief to him, especially when he alights on the down on her luck lady of the night (Marilyn Monroe). Sadly for him, though, it seems it wasn't just Sam Goldwyn who couldn't get arrested in Hollywood. Next the "Clarion Call" sees a detective (Dale Robertson) attempt to prove whether or not his childhood friend (Richard Widmark) is guilty of killing a man when a robbery goes wrong. "The Last Leaf" has a rather sad premiss to it as a young girl (Anne Baxter) is saddened by a break-up and wanders out into the snow where she promptly catches pneumonia. Despite the best care of her sister (Jean Peters) it looks like her dwindling life-force is attached to the leaves on a tree that are gradually being blown away by a violent storm. Perhaps only the painter who lives upstairs (Gregory Ratoff) and earns a meagre living selling his paintings for a few dollars here and there might be able to help? The fourth short story was my favourite. Two hustlers - Oscar Levant and Peter Allan are trying to flog some dodgy goldmine share certificates, but decide they have to scrape together some cash to buy some actual gold that can plausibly have been dug up in the mine. To that end, they decide to kidnap the ten year old "J.B." (Lee Aaker) and ransom him to his folks. Little do they realise that this youngster is way more than a match for these two bumpkins, and soon the tables are well and truly turned. Finally, there is a festive theme as a young couple, expecting a baby, struggle with balancing the books and getting something nice for the other for Christmas. Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger deliver quite a sensitive story about the sacrifices that both are prepared to make to give the other just that little extra joy as they anticipate their dinner of meatloaf and milk that's chilled in box on the window sill. Each of these stories have simple morals underpinning them, but they are presented in a fashion that allows the characters to tell us the story without labouring any message. Laughton is in his element, so too is the understated Ratoff and there's plenty of fun to be had at the hands of the young Aaker too. A soupçon of human nature, faith and buffoonery that I rather enjoyed.