Glenn Ford & Evelyn Keyes in "Mr. Soft Touch" (1949) - feat. John Ireland

At Christmas time in San Francisco, returning WW2 hero Joe Miracle (Glenn Ford) learns that a gangster has taken over his nightclub and murdered his partner, then steals $100,000, and hides out with Victor Christopher (Ray Mayer), the brother of his dead partner Leo, and Victor's wife Clara (Beulah Bondi). Clara has purchased a berth for Joe on the next ship leaving the city, but it does not depart until the following night.

Joe is trying to hide until then, but the police demand to search the apartment. Joe worries they are looking for the stolen money, but they want to arrest Victor for disturbing the peace and beating Clara.

The police mistake Joe for Victor and arrest him for the night. Joe believes that his problems are solved, but Jenny Jones (Evelyn Keyes), a social worker, persuades the judge to give Joe a suspended sentence. Joe then suggests that he stay at the settlement house until he can control his urge to beat Clara.

Joe telephones Clara and asks her to bring him the stolen money. While Joe is hanging Christmas decorations, a group of teenagers talk him into a dice game. Joe wins from the boys the money they were supposed to spend on a Christmas tree. Later, he secretly returns the money to Jenny's desk, leaving the boys to figure out a solution to their problem. Joe then hides the stolen money in the gym.

Joe accidentally falls on the piano and breaks it, then visits a piano store that is actually a front for a bookie operation, and is spotted by newspaper columnist Henry "Early" Byrd (John Ireland).

The janitor, Alex (William Edmunds), finds a gun hidden in Joe's mattress. Jenny knows Joe's real identity and asks him to leave. Joe goes to his room to pack, finds Byrd waiting for him, and from him learns that Leo was killed by the syndicate when he refused to sell the River Club while Joe was in the Army.

Joe accompanies Jenny to visit some poor Polish-Americans. The syndicate corners him and demands that he return the stolen money. The gangsters start a fire in the settlement house and retrieve the money in the confusion, but the building burns to the ground.

Joe sneaks into the River Club and forces Barney Teener (Roman Bohnen), the boss, to replace the money taken by his friends. Then, disguised as Santa Claus, Joe donates the entire amount to the settlement house building fund. As he leaves, Joe is shot by a gang member. Jenny rushes to him, and both realize that after he recovers, they will spend their lives together.

A 1949 American film-noir crime Holiday romance film (a/k/a "House of Settlement") directed by Gordon Douglas and Henry Levin, produced by Milton Holmes, screenplay by Orin Jannings, story by Milton Holmes, cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr. and Joseph Walker, starring Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, John Ireland, Beulah Bondi, Percy Kilbride, Clara Blandick, Ted de Corsia, Stanley Clements, Lora Lee Michel, Harry Shannon, and Charles Trowbridge. Final screen appearance of Roman Bohnen.

Actor Roman Bohnen passed away from a heart attack shortly after filming on February 24th, 1949 a little more than 5 months before the movie's release.

The car Joe is driving at the beginning is a 1946 Lincoln four-door sedan.

The opening chase through the streets of San Francisco, with a squadron of police cars and motorcycle cops, was all shot on location, predating the San Francisco car chases in "The Lineup" (1958) by nine years and "Bullitt" (1968) by 19 years.

When the couple visits the tenement apartment to check on the baby, the language being spoken by the old man and Joe is the latter's native Polish. The Polish word for diaper is pielucha.

Sixth and final film to feature Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes after "The Lady in Question" (1940), "The Adventures of Martin Eden" (1942), "Flight Lieutenant" (1942), "The Desperadoes" (1943), and "The Mating of Millie" (1948).

Evelyn Louise Keyes (1916-2008) born in Port Arthur, Texas, the daughter of a Methodist minister, was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" (1939). Keyes married Barton Bainbridge, an alcoholic, and threatened Keyes with a gun on at least one occasion. They separated and in 1940, he committed suicide with a shotgun in her car, leaving a note. Keyes wrote: "The note said it was because I had left him. I never left a man again. I made them leave me." Later, she married and divorced director Charles Vidor (1943-1945), actor/director John Huston (1946-1950), and bandleader Artie Shaw (1957–1985).

Soundtrack music:
"Light Cavalry Overture" - by Franz von Suppé
"Song of the Volga Boatmen" - Traditional
"Cielito lindo"
"Joy to the World" - by Lowell Mason
"Adeste Fidelis" aka "O Come, All Ye Faithful"

What do you get from two different directors? This interesting little uneven mix of noir and comedy. It's not a bad film. It's actually quite an entertaining movie. But, it could have been a Christmas holiday classic. Recommended for Glenn Ford completists.