BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 HOLIDAY FILMS & SPECIALS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.The Lemon Drop Kid is a 1951 comedy film based on the short story of the same name by Damon Runyon, starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell. Although Sidney Lanfield is credited as the director, Frank Tashlin reportedly was hired, to finish the film. The story had previously been adapted as a 1934 movie starring Lee Tracy, with actress Ann Sheridan in a bit part. William Frawley is featured in both versions.The song "Silver Bells," sung by Hope and Maxwell, was introduced in this filmThe Lemon Drop Kid (Bob Hope), a New York City swindler, is illegally touting horses at a Florida racetrack. The Kid touts across a beautiful woman intending to bet $2,000 on a horse named Iron Bar. Rigging a con, the Kid convinces her to switch her bet, but learns that she was betting for boyfriend and notorious gangster Moose Moran (Fred Clark). When the horse finishes dead last, a furious Moran demands the Kid pay him $10,000 (the amount he would have won) by Christmas Eve, or the Kid "won't make it to New Year's."This film is typical one liners that Bob Hope was famous for. This film however suffers because many of them are "flat" and have not held up over time! This film runs about 90 minutes but it seems to run 3 hours. Some parts of this film however is funny but it has equal parts that are not funny. It is also hard to hear 48 year old Bib Hope refereed to as kid in this film. This is a great film for Bob Hope fans. For the rest of us it is just an okay film. Not a bad film but not very good either!

In this entertaining farce, Hope plays "The Lemon Drop Kid": a swindler and horse race tract tout, who nearly always has a box of lemon drops in his pocket. Unfortunately, he convinced the wrong lady to change her betting, not realizing she is the moll of notorious gangster Moose Moran, who demands payment of $10,000., which is what he would have won if she had bet on the horse he so instructed. The remainder of the film chronicles the details of his sidewalk Santa scam to collect the $10,000. within a couple weeks, just prior to Christmas.The Kid has a good-looking blond for a moll: Marylyn Maxwell, as Brainey Baxton. No clue how she earned her nickname: perhaps as sarcasm? As a chorus line dancer for a gangster, and the moll of a perpetually broke small time hood, she doesn't appear to be especially brainy. When she tells her boss, Oxford Charlie, of the financial success of the Kid's Santa scam, he decides to take over the scam, replacing the kid's accomplices with his own men. A group of near destitute "old dolls" are mostly pawns in this scam, as the money is supposed to go toward their upkeep, rather than into the pockets of the scammers. Despite the kid's spending some time in jail, as expected, in the end, things work out well for the kid, his accomplices, and the old dolls. Moran and Charlie are arrested for separate violations. An old doll is reunited with her safe-cracking husband, who just got out of jail and demonstrates his needed skill. The kid is able to pay off his "debt" to Moran and to provide ample funds for the near future of the old dolls. Brainey is finally agreeable to marriage with the Kid, on the supposition that he has reformed his larcenous ways. However, we seriously question such a reformation, from his comments on a set of silverware.There many large gaps in the screenplay, and many contrived coincidences, typical of Hope comedies, but with only a moderate amount of slapstick. Music isn't a big part of the film. However, the Christmas classic "Silver Bells" was composed for this film, and sung by Marylyn and Hope, as well as a chorus. However, Bing Crosby scooped them with the release of a record before the Christmas season, ahead of the release of the film, well after Christmas.

Very funny 1951 Bob Hope film where he plays a small-time gangster who has accidentally dropped money of a bigger mob person at the track and then finds an ingenious way to get the money back.The gags are great with Marilyn Maxwell as Hope's girlfriend and eventual partner in the scheme.Jane Darwell showed a gift of comedy in this hilarious film. As one of the old dolls, she brings plenty of humor as the wife of a convicted safe-cracker about to be released at holiday time.Hope's great idea of setting up a licensed home for old dolls is very humorous. How will he pay for the home in a gambling home? He sends his band of crooks out playing Santa Claus and soliciting money.All goes well until Lloyd Nolan, a real big-time gangster, gets wind of the scheme and steals the money from Hope. Bob has to retrieve the money and free the dolls who have been taken hostage by a ruthless Nolan.Funny and yet very poignant with the holiday-spirit like ending.

Far too many reviewers of these old movies refuse to put aside their modern desire to be offended and harp on things, like smoking, that were accepted and not even noticed or commented on at the time the film was made. So many actually want to be offended that they miss the main story of the movie. There are only a couple of Bob Hope films that I really like, several that I sort of like and a few that were, to say the least, lousy. This is one of his best and shows how even a low-life cheat, gambler and scam artist can turn his life around. The story is flawless, the acting is superb and the main song, "Silver Bells" is a classic. Watch the film with an unbiased and open mind and you will enjoy it.