Tenth Avenue Angel

Plot summary

Eight-year-old Flavia (Margaret O'Brien) lives in a New York tenement during the Great Depression with mother Helen (Phyllis Thaxter) and father Joe (Warner Anderson), who's nearly broke and needs a job. Her aunt Susan (Angela Lansbury) lives with them, too.

Flavia's thrilled because Susan's sweetheart Steve (George Murphy) is returning from a one-year absence. The little girl is unaware that Steve's been in jail for associating with a gangster.

Flavia sees a mouse and is afraid. Her mother tells Flavia a fable that if you catch a mouse and make a wish, it will turn into money. This leads her to hide a mouse in a cigar box in the alley near the blind newspaper man's stand (Mac) (Rhys Williams). Two neighborhood youths rob Mac and by coincidence hide the money right by the girl's box with the mouse. Flavia finds it and is overjoyed until the adults accuse her of stealing it from Blind Mac. Her mother has to tell her the truth about the fable and Flavia realizes that so many stories she has heard are "lies".

Everybody's desperate for money. Helen's pregnant and faces physical complications. Steve's unable to get his old job, driving a taxi. The gangster offers him a payday for stealing a truck, but Steve's conscience gets the better of him at the last minute. Helen is all right, Joe finds a job and Flavia's thrilled because Susan's going to marry Steve.

Cast

Reception

The film was an expensive failure at the box office, earning only $725,000 in the US and Canada and $75,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $1,227,000.