Joe has a trained squirrel named Rupert but he can't find any work. Joe is kicked out of his apartment and he releases Rupert back into the park. Joe runs into Louie Amendola (Jimmy Durante) and his family. They take over his apartment. Rupert can't survive in the wild and he goes back to the apartment to live in the rafters. The landlord's son Pete Dingle (Tom Drake) falls immediately for Rosalinda Amendola (Terry Moore). Mr. Dingle starts getting payments from his investment and he stuffs the money in the wall. Rupert throws the money down to the apartment and the needy Amendolas think it's a gift from heaven.The squirrel is fun. The stop motion is rudimentary but very charming. There are a couple of songs from the energetic Durante. I wonder if the movie needs to bring Joe into this. It would be funnier to have the squirrel do all this stuff. The little puppy love romance is cute. The story gets a bit rambling. I'm not sure bringing the cops, IRS and the FBI into the movie is the best comedy. The story about the money probably needs to be simplified a little.

IF WE WERE to choose one word to describe today's honoree, THE GREAT RUPERT (George Pal/Eagle-Lion Films, 1950) it would have to be the above mentioned "Squirrely". Beyond that obvious pun and reference, the next one up in this lexicon would have to be offbeat.BEING WHAT WOULD today be classified as a "G" Rating, as approved fare for Family Viewing, the cast and story,nonetheless, do manage to keep even an adult clientèle interested. In much the same way that future family oriented cute-animal movies such as BENJI (Mulberry Square, 1974) and DIGBY: THE BIGGEST DOG IN THE WORLD Walter Stehnsen Film 1973), manage to simultaneously balance story line with equal portions of the madcap-comic, romance and mini-dramatic happenings*;in the final analysis, RUPERT accomplishes the same sort of results.EXAMINATION OF THE cast reveals an unusual, yet solidly balanced blend of veteran talent. We are presented with newcomer, Tom Drake, in the juvenile male lead and love interest for ingénue, Terry Moore.TOPPING THE VETERAN cast is Jimmy Durante. The "Old Schnozolla", himself turns in a performance that was at once funny, dramatic and believably entertaining. With all of his vast experience on stage, the radio and in the movies, it was truly a part that Jimmy could have "phoned in"; which he obviously did.IN SUPPORTING ROLES we have the always reliable characterizations from Frank Orth, Jimmy Conlin and Chic Chandler; whose character pulled the unlikely double-duty as both romantic rival and in saving the day by getting young Dingle's (Drake)song published (and even recorded, yet!).BEFORE WE GO ANY further, let's get back to Miss Moore. This part would mark the second straight year in which she would find herself playing in a cast which featured a stop-motion animated character. It was in the previous year's MIGHTY JOE YOUNG Argosy Pictures/RKO Radio Pictures, 1949) that her costar was a movable doll character of a relative few inches in length. With this two picture run, that Miss Moore would work with three of the biggest names in animation; namely Willis O'Brien & Ray Harryhausen (in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG) and finally with George Pal (in RUPERT THE GREAT).AS FOR THE ANIMATION that made up a truly small portion of RUPERT, it is outstanding. It was well blended and interspersed with footage of a real, live squirrel; in order to give the furry nut-eater the chance to dance and 'perform' what could be only described as cute comic relief.* OUT OF A CURIOSITY that has existed for some years, we forced ourselves to watch RUPERT THE GREAT, yesterday evening over the Cable Channel Turner Classic Movies; which described it as a Christmas Picture. Whereas Christmas did play a part in the beginning of the movie; it did cover a lot more of a time span.AS SILLY AS the whole premise seems to us today, with a much more cynical and jaded view of the World, the story does give us a sort of latter day fairy tale; what with all ending well in the end.WE ALL NEED this now and again, even you and I. Right Schultz? NOTE: * As far as the interplay between Miss Terry Moore and Rupert, there is none. Other than dropping the ca$h, while unseen to Durante's wife and being 'saved' from a burning building by a Fireman, 'Rupert' only had scenes with Jimmy Conlin.

i've never liked or approved much of redneck gourmet cook Heidi Wilson "The Huntress", but after seeing this piece of Christmas schmaltz, i couldn't really think of a better purpose for Rupert the Christmas squirrel.in the opening scene a actress and her agent come to see a old man who puts a Scottish kilt and outfit on a squirrel and makes it dance to his accordion. i pretty much related to the snobby actress who basically gives Rupert a look of disdain and boredom after his dance.to say that there is much better Christmas fare than this is a understatement. this not only was the stooooopidest Xmas flick i've ever seen, it is amongst the most tryingly inane movies i've ever seen. i usually like movies that are so bad they're good, but this one was so bad you just wanted to start screaming for mercy.i don't think squirrels are all that smart and talented. the beach front here in my town is infested with the nasty rodents and it ain't pretty. they run in and out of the rocks and they look malnourished and like they have rabies or something. i wouldn't wanna touch em. my friend, who by the way happens to love this stupid cheeseball of a movie, has some cuter, healthier looking squirrels in his backyard tree, but they ain't good for much except getting into the bird feeder and chasing away the birds. i think Rupert is probably worth half as much as the "real" thing and the "real" thing ain't much.the only thing i thought was salvageable about this hokey pokey was Jimmy Durante's rendition of "jingle Bells". at least Jimmy Durante was good for carrying the slack when Rupert couldn't.Rupert is a bad actor. i wouldn't even have him on a patty melt. i'm sure he would taste bad. like stinky, old Christmas candy from Christmas long past. pee-yew. there wasn't anything funny or cute about Rupert, he was just tedious and boring. he should have had more slapstick antics rather then trying to do God's work by being careless with other people's money. i usually like a religious element in film, but the idea that the good lord works miracles through Rupert approaches a kind of blasphemy of sorts. don't need no religious preachings from no mangy squirrel.i assure you your Christmas is better spent with Rudolph, Frosty, Charlie Brown or whatever the heck gets you through the trying holiday season. only don't waste your time with Rupert, he will only try your patience and make you glad Christmas only comes once a year. no wonder chipmunks are more fashionable at Christmastime.

The Great Rupert besides being the first feature film of master Puppetooner George Pal is a pleasant, gentle, and innocuous family comedy about the innocent antics of a very smart squirrel and the changes he wreaks in a neighborhood. Ironically enough no one knows he's the responsible party right up to the highest levels of government.Rupert who is an animated squirrel courtesy of George Pal is a trained rodent by animal trainer Jimmy Conlin, but who can't sell the act to agent Chick Chandler and because of that he's evicted for lack of rent payment by landlord Frank Orth. As luck would have it another group of vaudevillians, the family Amendola which consists of Jimmy Durante, wife Queenie Smith and their daughter Terry Moore. Mainly because Orth's son develops big eyes for Terry, he rents them the place without a deposit nor hopes of getting one.But Rupert returns to his nest in the roof of that house and he causes miser Orth's fortune to fall upon the Amendolas, it's where the old skinflint stores his loot because he doesn't trust banks. Remember we were not too far from the Depression when many banks failed.I can't go any farther, but suffice it to say it all works out financially and romantically in the end. Along the way Jimmy Durante provides us with a couple of numbers in his unique style.The film is timeless in its humor, but it does show the age of the fashions involved. It probably could be remade today, I can see Steve Martin in Jimmy Durante's part.But not with the Schnozz.