The Shop Around the Corner

Rating:
Summary: A Review
Review: "The Shop Around the Corner" is one of the best Jimmy Stewart movies out there. He and Margaret Sullavan are excellent as Alfred and Klara, two shopworkers who, unbeknownst to them, are falling in love as pen-pals. The supporting characters in the movie such as Mr. Matuscheck, Pepi, and my favorite, Mr. Pirovitch, keep the storyline amusing and witty at all times. Even though I like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, "You've Got Mail" doesn't even compare to the quality of it's predecessor. "The Shop Around the Corner" creates an atmosphere in which Alfred and Klara don't really hate each other, but more mildly annoy each other. In "You've Got Mail", Ryan and Hanks give the impression of having no respect for each other. "The Shop Around the Corner" at least makes the ending believeable and even bound to happen, while "You've Got Mail" makes it seem like it wouldn't really work out. In "You've Got Mail", they made Hanks really rich and her not so rich, and they didn't even work together. He puts her out of the business her mom had founded; they were written as competitors and not co-workers, which makes the ending very unlikely because of the obvious immediate dislike they took for each other, or at least Ryan for Hanks. This classic is one that never gets old; you will never get tired of the storyline or the characters.

Rating:
Summary: The best romantic comedy ever!
Review: This is my all-time favorite romantic comedy (and I am a veteran film fan). YOU'VE GOT MAIL is OK, but the modern film makers had to upgrade Hanks' character to make him rich and threw in unnecessary sexual complications for both characters, thereby detracting from the main plot. IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME, the Judy Garland musical version of the same plot, has the acrimony between the two main characters so strong that it is completely unbelievable when they suddenly fall in love. Only this movie has the perfect touch throughout. The makers of the stage musical, SHE LOVES ME, wisely stuck with the SHOP AROUND THE CORNER plot and produced a most delightful show.Stewart and Sullavan make a superb team, with just the right balance in their developing relationship to make the ending not only possible, but even inevitable. The supporting cast is nearly perfect, especially the always excellent Frank Morgan. Felix Bressart, as Pirovich, and Joseph Schildkraut, as the arrogant but slippery villain, are a delight to watch.Don't just rent this movie--buy it! You will want to watch it again and again. And each time will seem as fresh as the first, because there isn't a false note in the whole film.

Rating:
Summary: James Stewart at his best
Review: I'm a big fan of you've got mail, but i'm an even bigger fan of the SHop around the Corner.

The story: Stewart works as a head clerk in a store in eastern Europe. A new woman comes to work at the store and spoils Jimmy stewart days. At the same time, they are both involved in writing anonymous letters to each other and slowly fall in love with each other.

The movie is full of ironic situation and the entire cast that support Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan do a great job. Unlike you've got mail that tends to drag, this movie is full of energy and you can't see time go by.

When the two main characters finally discover their love for each other, it is the most poignant romantic scene i've ever seen. Any girl would want to be in Jimmy Stewart's arms at this point. He had a gift for really making you feel what the characters were going through, and in this case, you really feel the passion he feels for this woman.

I'm not into romantic comedies too much but if there's one to watch, this is the one, regardless of how old it is, the romance in it is timeless.

Rating:
Summary: Dated Romantic Comedy - Innocent & Charming
Review: Set in World Depression Era Prague, this is the story of an ambitious store clerk who is falling in love with a mystery woman with whom he has exchanged romantic letters, only to discover that the mystery woman is none other than the sales girl from his shop, who seems to be constantly bickering with the collegue. Add a little twist (the owner is convinced that his favorite employee -Stewart- is having an affaire with the owner's wife), leaving Stewart briefly 'fired', along with an admission that the sales girl 'liked' Stewart all along, the happy ending is inevidable.

Although VERY dated (references to poverty and -I have a wife and two kids to consider- are over-used, along with the indication that many small objects of pleasure, like a musical cigar box, are out-of-reach for common people's enjoyment), this film is much more effective (and more credible) than the 1990s re-make "You've Got Mail". In the re-make starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the actual odds of the chain-of-events are so unbelievable that the viewer's intelligence is grossly offended.

"Shop Around The Corner" is an innocent stroll down memory lane into a less complicated, less hectic, and more romantic time and place known as a novelist's Utopia. Lovers of Classic Romantic Comedies will enjoy this picture!****

Rating:
Summary: Charming Romance is deserving of classic status
Review: Sometimes when watching films from the 1930s and 1940s, one must wade through long moments of awkward silence, offensive slapstick comedy, sexist attitudes and laughably bad dialogue. So it comes as a charming surprise when watching the 1940 romance "The Shop Around The Corner," that this semi-classic has aged so well. The dialogue is crisp and sharp, executed with wit and pace. The acting is uniformly superb, as the handful of MGM professionals provide experienced dimensions to even the smallest of supporting roles.

"The Shop Around The Corner" is indeed old fashioned, but in the most charming and pleasant of ways. Based on a play by Nikolaus Laszlo, the film weaves a comfortable tale in and around a Budapest retail store, where a handful of clerks show up each day for work. James Stewart, in fine form as usual, is the head clerk, serving as the silent and emotional leader of the shop. He states whats on his mind, goes about his day with silent professionalism, and has a father-son relationship with the store owner, played by legendary character actor Frank Morgan.

Margaret Sullavan is a fiery co-worker who argues constantly with Stewart, and their spirited repartee is the highlight of this film. Stewart, single and lonely, has an unknown penpal with whom he is slowly falling in love with. Eventually, he uncomfortably realizes this unknown friend is indeed Sullavan, and he must decide whether to reveal this to her, since she too has fallen in love with the mystery author of the letters.

Much credit for the delightful success of "The Shop Around The Corner" must be given to director Ernst Lubitsch, whose experienced hand keeps things moving along at a comfortable pace. Theater trained with a forte for romantic comedy, Lubitsch was most definitely in his element here. The dialogue is also the key, and viewers will laugh heartedly throughout this film. Of course, Stewart and Sullavan make a touching couple, independent and head strong to a fault. Viewers will long for this vibrant pair to finally admit their love for one another.

"The Shop Around The Corner" set the standard, and it has been remade multiple times, most recently with the enjoyable (though inferior - did Tom Hanks have to be a multi-millionaire?) "You've Got Mail." I suppose my only complaint is the Budapest location for this story. With the exception of a few odd police uniforms and unique architecture, never for a moment do I truly believe this film takes place in Hungary. But that's small potates. "The Shop Around The Corner is a lovely holiday charmer. Heartfelt and touching, it is truly an example of the old axiom, "They don't make movies like this anymore." Too bad.

Rating:
Summary: A Review
Review: "The Shop Around the Corner" is one of the best Jimmy Stewart movies out there. He and Margaret Sullavan are excellent as Alfred and Klara, two shopworkers who, unbeknownst to them, are falling in love as pen-pals. The supporting characters in the movie such as Mr. Matuscheck, Pepi, and my favorite, Mr. Pirovitch, keep the storyline amusing and witty at all times. Even though I like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, "You've Got Mail" doesn't even compare to the quality of it's predecessor. "The Shop Around the Corner" creates an atmosphere in which Alfred and Klara don't really hate each other, but more mildly annoy each other. In "You've Got Mail", Ryan and Hanks give the impression of having no respect for each other. "The Shop Around the Corner" at least makes the ending believeable and even bound to happen, while "You've Got Mail" makes it seem like it wouldn't really work out. In "You've Got Mail", they made Hanks really rich and her not so rich, and they didn't even work together. He puts her out of the business her mom had founded; they were written as competitors and not co-workers, which makes the ending very unlikely because of the obvious immediate dislike they took for each other, or at least Ryan for Hanks. This classic is one that never gets old; you will never get tired of the storyline or the characters.

Rating:
Summary: The Shop Around the Corner
Review: 1940's THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER has been remade twice; in 1949 with Judy Garland and Van Johnson in the musical adaptation IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME, and again in the late '90s in the internet-based YOU'VE GOT MAIL with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. They can remake it another dozen times. It's hard to believe any will ever better this gem from director Ernst Lubitsch.
Jimmy Stewart stars as Alfred Kralik, chief clerk at Matuschek's, a gift shop in Budapest. Margaret Sullavan is Klara Novak, a feisty new hire. Klara and Kralik seem to have only one thing in common - a vocal dislike for each other. Of course they share one other thing - they are anonymous pen pals who have fallen in love with each other through the mail.
THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER is based on the play 'Parfumerie' by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo, and its pedigree as a product for the stage shows. Almost all action takes place within the shop. It is visually static enough to assume that this probably would have made a successful radio production. That said, Lubitsch comes across with one beautiful shot that would have been impossible to duplicate on radio or in a theater. Shot from the inner side of the post office boxes we see #38 being opened and a gloved hand feeling around the empty interior. The hand is removed and Margaret Sullavan's disappointed face appears, framed by the open box.
Lubitsch also has fun with the wonderful character actor Felix Bressart, who plays the wise and timid clerk Pirovitch. The thunderous and intimidating owner of the shop, Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan - the wizard in THE WIZARD OF OZ), turns to Kralik a few times in the first half of the movie and begs his honest opinion on this or that. Terrified that his opinion may be asked next, Pirovitch makes like a mouse caught out of the cabinet and Lubitsch catches him scurrying off-screen time and again. This business sets us up for a later scene when Pirovitch confronts Matuschek and gives an unsolicited opinion in defense of his out-of-favor friend Kralik. It's an ennobling moment, one of many in this fine movie.
Stewart and Sullavan are convincing as a couple unknowingly throwing barbs at the object of their tenderest affections. They are average enough looking to make the whole thing plausible - a couple of glamour pusses, say Cary Grant and Rita Hayworth, would have thrown the whole thing off. The story needs a boy and a girl-next-door type.
The dvd's extras include cast and crew biographies, a trailer, "A Great Story is Worth Retelling" (background story of the making of THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER in written text) and the short subject "A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound," which doesn't have much to do with the movie it's bundled with but is delightful nonetheless.

Rating:
Summary: Worthy of a look-see but by NO MEANS worthy of 5 stars....
Review: Call me a fuddy-duddy, call me a spoilsport, call me a naive romantic, if you dare, but I'm here to tell you that, at best, this "masterpiece" merits only 3 out of 5 stars. (So, how do you like them apples? By the bushel, or by the pound?) Please permit me to expound:

My main criticism of this film--SPOILER ALERT: read no further if you have not already seen this film--is the way in which its two stars (Stewart and Sullavan) repeatedly harp on others' physical "deficiencies."

Now don't get me wrong. I realize that all of us, male or female, have certain standards of physical beauty by which we judge prospective mates. But isn't our ability to overlook such standards and STILL fall in love with someone one of the most admirable, if not defining, aspects of romance? I, for one, believe that it is.

As Mr. Kralik, Mr. Stewart, comes closest to preserving this idea. After all, it's only after Ms. Sullavan's Ms. Novak calls him bowlegged that he mentions that he consciously chose not to comment on how red her hands were. (Alas, even Mr. Kralik succumbs to superficiality in the end when he describes Ms. Novak's supposed pen pal as being pot-bellied.)

But what really stuck in my craw...and what dashed any hope of a realistic depiction of true romance...was Ms. Novak's request that Mr. Kralik lift up his pant legs to show her that he was not in fact bowlegged before she would consent to kiss him--to take the next step, as it were--at the very end of the film. Say goodbye to romance....

I know, I know. You're probably thinking that I'm too sensitive, that in asking him to lift up his trousers, she was only teasing him. Well, I respectfully disagree...especially considering the way the Ms. Novak character had behaved earlier in the film.

If you think I'm completely offbase, consider your past romantic experiences. Was every person you ever fell in love with perfect? Of course not. And of those things you found to be less than perfect, would you have considered it "romantic" to tell him or her about them? Again, of course not.

I guess what I've been trying to say is that if only so-called perfect people fell in love, there would be precious little romance in the world...and even less interesting conversation.

Rating:
Summary: Nearly perfect
Review: "The Shop Around The Corner" was the first film I watched by the master director Ernst Lubitsch, and despite all of the rave reviews, I was not disappointed. A beautifully crafted film, more complex than "You've Got Mail". In addition to the romance between Klara Novak (Sullavan) and Alfred Kralik (Stewart), the problems of the shop owner Matuschek (Morgan) add depth to the movie and make it more touching. If you like this film, also see Lubitsch's "Trouble In Paradise", considered by many to be the best example of the Lubitsch touch.

Picture quality is excellent, but not flawless. There are some film artifacts throughout, but they do not distract from the timelessness of this movie.

Rating:
Summary: THE LUBITSCH TOUCH WORKING OVERTIME
Review: Ernest Lubitsch made many a frothy film during his tenure, with a remarkably European flair (considering that none of his films were ever shot in Europe). In "The Shop Around The Corner" he sets his sites on a Hungarian book shop in which two co-workers fall madly in love with one another through daily correspondence without realizing that their grandest amour is working next to them eight hours every day. In fact, they hate one another while at work! This is the film that proves opposites attract! As the lovers, James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan are an inspired team. Though some of the acting that surrounds them has dated - badly - there's considerable magic left in this delightful romantic comedy from MGM.
Unfortunately, the film doesn't look quite as good as it might in this new Warner incarnation. Though the negative has been cleaned up considerably in the way of scratches, chips and fading, there's nothing charming about the edge enhancement and shimmering of fine details that crops up throughout the film. A few of the night scenes appear to have a "duped" quality with a loss of fine detail and low contrast levels as a result. The audio has been nicely restored. Extras are supposed to include theatrical trailers for this film and its musical remake "In The Good Old Summertime" starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson. *One the former is actually included on the disc.
BOTTOM LINE: Not a bad effort. Just not an outstanding one!