Compliments of the Season story
A British millionaire's spoiled little girl loses her rag doll, and buying her new dolls does not make her happy, so the parents put out an notice offering a £25 reward money for the doll. Having been buried by the family dog, the doll is found by a drunken tramp, who takes it with him to a pub, pretending it is a high class lady, to the amusement of the audience. Two low-lives frequenting the pub realize the doll is worth money, and force the tramp at knife-point to return it, planning to take the money from him later. But his uncanny knowledge of the paintings in the house impresses the lady of the house enough that she has him driven home by car, so he avoids the robbers. Directed by: Philip Saville. Story by: Donald Wilson, based upon the story by O. Henry.
13 total · 1 choice · 6 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| what if criminals were after me | choice | The story leads up to a sticky situation that the tramp Fuzzy found himself in. Two criminals forced Fuzzy at knife point to return a rich little girl's lost doll. They then waited to stab him and make off with the reward money. The story resolved itself when Fuzzy contrived to impress the lady of the house with his unexpected eloquence and erudition, and he was courteously chauffeured away under the noses of his would-be assassins. |
| alcohol abuse | major | The tramp Fuzzy was an out-and-out alcoholic with a taste for Scotch whiskey. |
| Christmas traditions | major | The story is set in London during the late 1920s or early 1930s on the night of Christmas Eve. The viewer is shown both ordinary people celebrating in a crowded pub and a wealthy family hunkered down for the evening in their lavish mansion. In one notable scene, a little girl visited a mall Santa in search of her missing rag doll. She was evidently unhappy with the replacement doll he provided to her, and angrily smashed it on the floor at his feet. |
| life in late modern Britain | major | The story is set in London during the late 1920s or early 1930s on the night of Christmas Eve. The viewer is shown both ordinary people celebrating in a crowded pub and a wealthy family hunkered down for the evening in their lavish mansion. |
| money isn't everything | major | A message of the story is that no amount of money could replace for the rich little girl her worn out, old rag doll. |
| rich character vs. poor character | major | The tramp Fuzzy was contrasted with a wealthy millionaire and his family. |
| social inequality | major | The viewer is shown Christmas Eve from the perspective of a tramp, ordinary people in a pub, and a wealthy family, respectively. |
| art discussion | minor | Fuzzy mentioned the unmistakable style of the painter Sargent as he remarked on various paintings around the wealthy family's house, in a desperate attempt to save himself from thugs that were waiting to stab him. |
| father and daughter | minor | The millionaire couldn't grasp that money alone wasn't remedy the loss of his young daughter's cherished rag doll. |
| husband and wife | minor | A millionaire and his wife briefly grappled with what to do after their young daughter's beloved rag doll went missing on Christmas Eve. |