The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

John Chard December 28, 2019

★ 9/10

Ah, epistolary love, delightful. This is the story of Matuschek and Company - - of Mr. Matuschek and the people who work for him. It is just around the corner from Andrassy Street - - on Balta Street, in Budapest, Hungary. Klara Novak seeks work at Hugo Matuschek's Budapest store, after initially being turned down by head clerk Alfred Kralik, she gains employment after impressing the originally gruff Matuschek himself. This annoys Alfred and both he and Klara take an instant dislike to each other, completely unaware that they are I fact both each others lonely hearts pen pal. Boy oh boy was this production in safe hands. Produced and directed by the fabulous Ernst Lubitsch ("To Be Or Not To Be" & "Heaven Can Wait") and starring James Stewart (take your pick of many classics), Margaret Sullavan ("The Good Fairy" & "So Red the Rose") and Frank Morgan ("The Wizard Of Oz"). Adapted…

CinemaSerf June 23, 2022

★ 8/10

Frank Morgan is super in this delightful comedy drama. His general goods store finds itself with a new employee in "Klara" (Margaret Sullavan) who has loads of new techniques and a style that manages to irk long time supervisor "Kralik" (James Stewart). What we know from early on is that both are engaged, enthusiastically, in a pen-pal relationship unaware of the true identities of each other - and their antics as the first meeting looms ever closer make for highly entertaining stuff to watch. Things take a bit of a downturn when, suddenly, "Kralik" falls a little foul of his normally jovial, somewhat dithery, boss - and though the audience can readily guess why, it takes a while for the old gent to realise the error of his ways. There is something immeasurably genial about the whole thing. The scenes in the stockroom where they are moving what are clearly empty boxes, the character acto…