Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Pocketful of Miracles

 Pocketful of Miracles
type
TVTItem
 Pocketful of Miracles
label
Pocketful of Miracles
 Pocketful of Miracles
page
PocketfulOfMiracles
 Pocketful of Miracles
comment
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })Pocketful of Miracles is a 1961 comedy film directed by Frank Capra, starring Bette Davis and Glenn Ford.The setting is New York in the early 1930s, shortly after the end of Prohibition. "Apple" Annie (Davis) is an elderly alcoholic street hustler, who sells apples to pedestrians, and is a sort of supervisor to a gang of beggars and street hustlers. She is a particular favorite of Dave the Dude (Ford), a gangster who is looking to diversify his business now that Prohibition is over. Dave is trying to broker a deal in which he will be the New York man for a big Chicago mob boss, very much to the displeasure of his girlfriend Queenie (Hope Lange), who wants him to go straight and retire from organized crime. Dave devoutly believes that Annie's apples are good luck charms that have fostered his rise in the criminal world.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })Meanwhile, Annie has her own secret life. Unbeknownst to everyone, she has a daughter, Louise, who has been off in Europe attending a Catholic school for many years, and Annie has been squirreling away the money she gets from selling apples and hustling and using it to pay for her daughter's education. Ever since Louise was a small child Annie has been writing her letters pretending to be Mrs. E. Worthington Manville, a rich New York society lady. Annie is horrified when she receives a letter from her daughter informing her that Louise is engaged to be married to the son of a Spanish count, and that the three of them are coming to New York to meet her. Annie's Heroic BSoD also threatens Dave the Dude, who needs Annie's lucky apples to close his deal, and who clearly has a soft spot for the old lady in any case. So Dave elects to launch The Masquerade in which Annie will be cleaned up and dressed as a rich society lady in order to hoodwink Louise and Annie's new Spanish in-laws. Comedic hijinks ensue.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })A remake of Capra's own 1933 movie Lady for a Day (itself based on Damon Runyon's short story "Madame La Gimp"), this was the last film for the legendary director, whose career stretched back to the silent movie days. It was also the last film for veteran character actor Thomas Mitchell—Scarlett's dad in Gone with the Wind, Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life, The Alcoholic doctor in Stagecoach, and approximately eight million other film roles. Conversely, it was the first film for 20-year-old Ann-Margret, who plays Louise and would go on to be a huge star. Peter Falk also has one of his earliest roles as Joy Boy, one of Dave's henchmen; his performance earned an Academy Award nomination, as did the film's costume design and Title Theme Tune.
 Pocketful of Miracles
fetched
2022-01-07T07:26:24Z
 Pocketful of Miracles
parsed
2022-01-07T07:26:24Z
 Pocketful of Miracles
processingComment
Dropped link to JustInTime: Not a Feature - IGNORE
 Pocketful of Miracles
processingComment
Dropped link to VerbalIrony: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 Pocketful of Miracles
processingUnknown
VerbalIrony
 Pocketful of Miracles
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_23473ae7
type
Adaptation Expansion
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_23473ae7
comment
Adaptation Expansion: Pocketful of Miracles goes into a lot more detail than Lady for a Day did about the mobster's backstory. It also shows the first meeting between Dave and his girlfriend (called Queenie in this version). The story about Queenie wanting Dave to marry him and Dave's desire to get a promotion in the mobster world were also additions for this movie.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_23473ae7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_23473ae7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_23473ae7
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_257ff2e7
type
Maintain the Lie
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_257ff2e7
comment
Maintain the Lie: An impressive amount of work goes into making Louise and Annie's in-laws think that Annie is Mrs. E. Worthington Manville, a wealthy society lady. Dave the Dude borrows a friend's apartment. The various thugs, lowlifes, and beggars that know Annie dress up as society folk. The mayor and the governor come to her daughter's reception. The police commissioner arranges a police escort to take Louise and Annie's in-laws to the port to board ship.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_257ff2e7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_257ff2e7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_257ff2e7
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_2740531a
type
She Cleans Up Nicely
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_2740531a
comment
She Cleans Up Nicely: Apple Annie is older than the usual subject of this trope.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_2740531a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_2740531a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_2740531a
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_389b0e
type
Title Theme Tune
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_389b0e
comment
Title Theme Tune: Overall the film didn't do very well, but the title song "Pocketful of Miracles" got an Oscar nomination.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_389b0e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_389b0e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_389b0e
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_44f5d199
type
Pretty in Mink
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_44f5d199
comment
Pretty in Mink: Louise has a white ermine shoulder cape.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_44f5d199
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_44f5d199
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_44f5d199
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_52989fee
type
Narrator
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_52989fee
comment
Narrator: Joy Boy. He is not at all interested in this Apple Annie scheme and wants Dave to stop screwing around and close his deal with the Chicago mobster.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_52989fee
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_52989fee
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_52989fee
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_64dd304c
type
Pre-emptive Declaration
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_64dd304c
comment
Pre-emptive Declaration
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_64dd304c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_64dd304c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_64dd304c
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7a54c458
type
Mock Millionaire
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7a54c458
comment
Mock Millionaire: Mr. and Mrs. E. Worthington Manville, with Annie's husband being played by pool hustler Henry Blake (Thomas Mitchell).
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7a54c458
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7a54c458
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_7a54c458
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7eebe99c
type
The Alcoholic
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7eebe99c
comment
The Alcoholic: Apple Annie drinks gin. A lot of gin. She is tanked when Dave first comes to her shabby little room after hearing about her problem.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7eebe99c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7eebe99c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_7eebe99c
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7fdf7db6
type
Princess for a Day
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7fdf7db6
comment
Princess for a Day: Or in this case a society lady for a day.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7fdf7db6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_7fdf7db6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_7fdf7db6
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_9d2231a6
type
Hustler
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_9d2231a6
comment
Hustler: How Henry Blake makes his living, as a pool hustler. Blake is pretending to be E. Worthington Manville when the Spanish count says that each of them have to come up with $50,000 for the dowry. Blake then hustles the count into a game of pool that ends with Blake winning and the count on the hook for the whole dowry.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_9d2231a6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_9d2231a6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_9d2231a6
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_ae3d6438
type
Deadpan Snarker
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_ae3d6438
comment
Deadpan Snarker: Joy Boy, one of Dave's henchmen, is the narrator, and pretty snarky. Then there's Annie herself, who is rather snarkier than she was in the 1933 version. Bette Davis gets a nickel for an apple and says "A nickel! Thank you, Mr. Rockefeller!"
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_ae3d6438
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_ae3d6438
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_ae3d6438
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_b0e81c37
type
A Simple Plan
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_b0e81c37
comment
A Simple Plan: Grows increasingly complicated as Dave the Dude, because he believes Annie is good luck (and probably because he genuinely likes her), faces more and more obstacles. A bunch of society reporters from New York newspapers show up at the dock when the ship carrying Louise arrives. The reporters obviously will expose Annie as a fake, so Dave has them kidnapped.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_b0e81c37
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_b0e81c37
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_b0e81c37
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e34400ab
type
Ambiguously Gay
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e34400ab
comment
Ambiguously Gay: Pierre, the clothing designer who is part of the effort to make Annie over. When Pierre goes into the room with Annie, Dave objects, only for Queenie to say "It's all right. Believe me, fellas, it's all right."
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e34400ab
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e34400ab
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_e34400ab
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e46f71c3
type
Hollywood Costuming
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e46f71c3
comment
Hollywood Costuming: has a few nods to 1930s clothing, but the overall look (especially the women's formal dresses at the end) owed more to the time it was made.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e46f71c3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e46f71c3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_e46f71c3
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e61d9a3c
type
Clothing Damage
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e61d9a3c
comment
Clothing Damage: A fight between Dave and Queenie ends with Queenie's clothing getting torn in a very fanservice-y way.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e61d9a3c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e61d9a3c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_e61d9a3c
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e6291d05
type
Percussive Maintenance
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e6291d05
comment
Percussive Maintenance: When Annie's record player starts to skip, she kicks it, and it starts back up.
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e6291d05
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_e6291d05
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_e6291d05
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_name
type
ItemName
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_name
comment
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Pocketful of Miracles / int_name
 Pocketful of Miracles / int_name
itemName
Pocketful of Miracles

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 PocketfulofMiracles
sameAs
Pocketful of Miracles
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Did I Mention It's Christmas? / int_a1a5a2e6
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Dueling Dubs / int_a1a5a2e6
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
Hollywood Costuming / int_a1a5a2e6
 Pocketful of Miracles
hasFeature
The Great Depression / int_a1a5a2e6