Mister 880

Mister 880
Directed byEdmund Goulding
Screenplay byRobert Riskin
Based onTrue Tales from the Annals of Crime & Rascality
by St. Clair McKelway
Produced byJulian Blaustein
StarringBurt Lancaster
Dorothy McGuire
Edmund Gwenn
Narrated byJohn Hiestand
CinematographyJoseph LaShelle
Edited byRobert Fritch
Music bySol Kaplan
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • September 29, 1950 (1950-09-29)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,750,000

Mister 880 is a 1950 American romantic drama film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire and Edmund Gwenn. The film is based on the true story of Emerich Juettner, an elderly man who counterfeited just enough money to survive and skillfully eluded authorities for ten years. Juettner's story was first told in an article by St. Clair McKelway published in The New Yorker and later collected in McKelway's book True Tales from the Annals of Crime & Rascality.

Juettner, who was caught and arrested in 1948, serving four months in prison, earned more money from the release of Mister 880 than he had produced in his entire counterfeiting career.