Barnes & Noble

For sheer charm it's hard to beat this gentle 1940 comedy, an evocative period piece that bears the unmistakable "Touch" of Ernst Lubitsch, a consummate filmmaker who could accomplish more with a match than most directors could with a forest fire. This graceful tale unfolds mostly in a Budapest notions shop, where lonely clerk James Stewart conducts a romance by correspondence with equally lonely shopgirl Margaret Sullivan. A twist of fate finds her working at Stewart's store, where the would-be lovers continually bump heads, unaware that they are paramours by post. Lubitsch orchestrates the performances of Stewart and Sullivan, an unlikely-looking couple with surprisingly good chemistry, as well as those of a supporting cast that includes Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, Sara Haden, Felix Bressart, and William Tracy. As moving as it is humorous, The Shop Around the Corner might seem like an old-fashioned curio to some, but to others it represents the very best that Hollywood once had to offer: tasteful, stylish, and, in its own small way, even profound. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

The Shop Around the Corner is adapted from the Hungarian play by Nikolaus (Miklos) Laszlo. Budapest gift-shop clerk Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and newly hired shopgirl Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) hate each other almost at first sight. Kralik would prefer the company of the woman with whom he is corresponding by mail but has never met. Novak likewise carries a torch for her male pen pal, whom she also has never laid eyes on. It doesn't take a PhD degree to figure out that Kralik and Novak have been writing letters to each other. The film's many subplots are carried by Frank Morgan as the kindhearted shopkeeper and by Joseph Schildkraut as a backstabbing employee whose comeuppance is sure to result in spontaneous applause from the audience. Directed with comic delicacy by Ernst Lubitsch, this was later remade in 1949 as In the Good Old Summertime, and in 1998 as You've Got Mail. It was also musicalized as the 1963 Broadway production She Loves Me. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 012569566927
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
• Presentation: B&W
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 1:39:00
• Sales Rank: 2,595

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Holiday - TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection

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