The Lemon Drop Kid

Bob Hope plays a racetrack tout who hatches a Christmas charity scam in order to pay off a Florida gangster in The Lemon Drop Kid, a minor but snappy 1951 comedy. Hope is right at home here, cracking wise as con man Sidney Melbourne, dodging debtors and a furious girlfriend (Marilyn Maxwell) while he organizes colorful New York underworld characters into an army of Santas that hit the streets to collect money for a bogus cause. Of course, before it's over his scheming heart has turned sentimental, even as the local underworld kingpin (Lloyd Nolan) muscles into his plan. The film works best as a comic character piece, with Hope as the smart-aleck hustler who meets threats with self-effacing quips and who's out of his league when he runs into the bigwigs. But the story has a tendency to tip toward the cartoonish, as if Hope can't quite shake his Road movie persona. Directed by Sidney Lanfield, The Lemon Drop Kid is overall a solid holiday title, with Maxwell and Hope serving up a nice duet on “Silver Bells.” [Note: The Lemon Drop Kid is also included in Shout! Factory's three-disc The Bob Hope Collection—priced at $34.99—along with Road to Bali, Road to Rio, My Favorite Brunette, and The Seven Little Foys]. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)[Blu-ray/DVD Review—July 11, 2017—Kino Lorber, 115 min., R, DVD: $14.95, Blu-ray: $24.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1951's The Lemon Drop Kid features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 mono soundtrack on the Blu-ray release, but no extras. Bottom line: a welcome Blu-ray debut for this fun Hope holiday film.]