MisterWhiplash
It's easy to see romantic comedies containing ridiculous premises - we've had them now with Hollywood for decades - but like so much in cinema what has to work is the execution. You could have a meet cute that involves two people meeting by accidentally bumping into each other and striking up a conversation about their dogs in 2016 (sound familiar at all?) and it could be a terrific, entertaining, engaging and artistically driven film if there's some heart behind it, if we can get behind the characters, and the actors and director are sympatico with how to add some humanity to the situation. Ernst Lubitch and Margararet Sullivan and Jimmy Stewart have that with Shop Around the Corner, and that's what counts.Hell, the movie may sound familiar because it IS now remade (1998's You've Got Mail): Klara gets a job through showing off a skill (apparently it is one) to sell an object like a music box to a newcomer to the owner of Matuschek's (Frank Morgan, Oz's Wizard in an apt role), and yet this doesn't sit well with Alfred, who can't stand the music box (mpph, he says, what if someone smokes 20 cigarettes a day, it'll get in their heads!) or maybe even her for that matter. But his animosity is also met by her's, and yet unbeknownst to each other they have a correspondence going with people they find "wonderful" and arrange some months after - it cuts ahead in time, it's fine - to finally meet. And of course they are writing to one another.So it's cute, it's precious maybe, but everything in this script is realistically drawn by Samson Raphaelson (from a play, and apparently it's why this takes place in Hungary for some reason or another). That is to say, no one really acts too much like an idiot (a common problem with today's rom-coms, when they do some out but you know what I mean), and there's even an element of sadness to the film, of things not working out for people and betrayal and mistrust. In a way it's as much about trust and belief in others as it is about love if not more-so, and a lot of this comes out in a sub-plot that makes the film as good as it is.What happens with this sub-plot? Well, Mr Matuschek is becoming more brusque with his employees as time goes on - he cares that things get sold and that his employees do things like stay after, just ONCE per year, to help set things up for Christmas - and it leads to an argument with Alfred that later in the same day results in Alfred being let go from the job. This isn't the kind of scene many might expect when coming to a screwball romantic comedy (and this isn't really screwball, but you also know what I mean). It's dealt with in a degree of reality, and that there's sadness to what's happened to Alfred and how Stewart and Morgan act the scene together when the boss tells him employee he's fired it's not something explosive or melodramatic, it's subtle and it cuts deep since we know there's this connection between the two going back years (Alfred being the oldest employee he has).And then there's Matuschek's marriage, which drives a lot of this sub-plot conflict, and it's not silly or meant for laughs. If anything the movie may lack some laughs in places, but there are enough that it satisfies as a comedy, if not *as* much as Trouble in Paradise or To Be or Not to Be (very different movies but also films dealing with romance and status in society). I think the real juggling act for Lubitsch here is to have this light tone, to have the kind of "ooh, I can't STAND you!" dynamic that Stewart and Sullivan have here - and I think Stewart is a better fit than in the other 1940 mega Rom-Com, The Philadelphia Story, which is possibly more entertaining overall but not as strong as a story - and there's that part of it, and then there's the dramatic parts. This is a business we're meant to take seriously as a place that Matuschek's made for his employees to feel like they're at home (with one exception, who I won't mention here but is revealed to be the sort of "heel" of the movie), and when this old man gets drama in his life it tears him apart despite his work life.I wish I could put into words what makes this movie so special, and I think that it's *because* that Lubitsch has this plot contrivance involving these two people and their correspondence, and how Alfred finds out first that Klara has been writing to him all along and he doesn't mention anything about it when he goes into that restaurant (only to let the tension and words and verbal aggression continue), that he has something to work with. It's fun to see this push and pull between the two, but then also how they naturally, mostly from Klara to Alfred, build attraction over the course of the story.So by the time it gets to that ending, it's not corny or cheesy, it's earned and emotional and it feels like a fable come true in some odd way. The Shop Around the Corner both reflects the economic uncertainty of the period (remember this is still pre WW2 and though it's Europe I'm sure it wasn't so different as in the US far as lack of work goes) and fulfills a good part of drama for how characters see one another and how misconceptions can drive things to a tipping point (and will one go over or not), and then also how a sweet romance can be concocted amid all of this. 9.5/10
elvircorhodzic
Festive atmosphere flavored family drama, spontaneous love, heartfelt comedy and healthy humor. Director Lubitsch's film spice with warm and everyday human subjects. „THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER" is a pleasant place with a lot of respect and charm. The film is a bit slow. I think that this approach is intentional, because this looks more realistic. The story is more or less everyday. The love affair or the love of the main character are strange spices in the story. Both changes in the daily routine of the protagonists and their views on life. Lonely hearts connected a piece of paper. True. It is fascinating to watch how the director deftly mixes comedy, drama and romance. In this film does not lose the thread, the atmosphere remains the same and only the changing characters. Characterization of the characters is very interesting. Frank Morgan as Hugo Matuschek owns the shop and he is benevolent dictator. James Stewart as Alfred Kralik is a workaholic and a perfectionist and very lonely character who is difficult to adapt. Margaret Sullavan as Klara Novak is safe but lonely. The woman in which the conflict her own and outer world. Felix Bressart as Pirovitch, the man who in life has two stations. Work and family. Two of the greatest love and the two biggest fear. A friend in need. The voice of reason and peace.The film that appeals to the Christmas atmosphere.
Raya Jacob
This was my first-ever Jimmy Stewart romance film, and now I'm interested to watch his other films, too.I was pleasantly surprised to find the comedic dialogue well-paced, and the romantic portions charming without being cheesy. Very 'modern' for a 1940 film. It's like watching a stage play.The unusual setting (early 1900s Budapest) is an added interest, and the beautifully crisp black-and-white of the film focuses attention on the essentials of each scene.The thing I enjoyed best, though, is Stewart's remarkable screen presence; he has an "earnest-but-not-a-pushover" charm that made me want to cheer him on.
