#384: The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: James Stewart & Margaret Sullavan



Alfred Kralik, the assistant to the manager of a gift shop right around the corner from the main boulevard in Budapest, is hesitant to hire the young and talented Klara Novak from the start. Throughout her time at the store, the two can’t stand to be near each other. What they don’t realize is that they have each fallen in love with each other through their anonymous pen pal letters to each other.

Does this premise ring a bell? Of course it does. The film (based on a play by Miklós László) was the inspiration for Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail (1998). Due to this fact, this post will be more of a comparative study (although, let’s face it, not much of a study) rather than my usual standard review.

There are two vast improvements made by You’ve Got Mail. First off, the location. I understand that the play was written and took place in Hungary. However, this doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason to set it there. Normally I’m all for keeping the original locale, but it has nothing to do with the story. If they at least decided to have non-American accents used, it would be a step up. But when the main characters are clearly American in a set that doesn’t look particularly Hungarian, you might as well set it in the States.

Next, the female lead and her relationship with Kralik. Klara is often rude to Kralik for his insincere reception. Klara comes across as bitter, but at first I let it slide; he was rude to her as well. But once Kralik discovers that she is his pen pal, he is very kind to her – even romantic. However, she continues her streak of insults without apology. Nora Ephron brilliantly fixed this up in two ways. First, she made Klara’s character (renamed Kathleen Kelly) extremely likable, and when she blurts out an insult, Kathleen immediately feels horrible about it. Second, the female lead’s position in society is brought up to date. Kathleen Kelly is not just a salesgirl; she’s the owner of a small store that is fighting against the large corporation that’s taking her business, which is owned by her e-mail pal Joe Fox. Kathleen Kelly has a much more meaningful reason to detest Joe Fox than Klara Novak’s hatred of Alfred Kralik. The relationship didn’t resonate nearly as brilliantly as Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.

Speaking of Tom Hanks, I was amazed at how similar he is to James Stewart in both performance and appearance. I think I can go as far as saying that I believe Tom Hanks to be the James Stewart of our age.

I don’t mean to bash this film; it absolutely has a charm to it, and though it was outdated, it certainly had a je-ne-sais-quoi that led Ephron to bring it to this day and age. James Stewart was clearly the backbone of the film, and his wit and charm certainly influenced Tom Hanks’ role of Joe Fox. Some scenes in You’ve Got Mail were taken almost directly from The Shop Around the Corner, most notably the scene when the male lead discovers that he has been writing to his business foe. If I had to guess, the similarities between these two scenes were intended to support the humorous side of the male lead and his good nature, which was pulled off flawlessly on both accounts.

Outdated, but a lovely lighthearted film.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• According to Bright Lights Film Journal website, when Kralik mentions "You read Zola's Madame Bovary," Klara immediately corrects him: "Madame Bovary is not by Zola," she snipes. The joke here is that though Klara knows who wrote Madame Bovary, she doesn't understand that she herself is living exclusively in Emma Bovary's world of impossible ideals.
• The play, "Perfumerie" (also known as "Illatszertár"), was copyrighted 10 November 1936.
• To make sure his film was stripped of the glamor usually associated with him, Lubitsch went to such lengths as ordering that a dress Sullavan had purchased off the rack for $1.98 be left in the sun to bleach and altered to fit poorly.
• According to the Book "Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise", ‘The Shop Around the Corner’ is the most meaningful tribute possible to the owner and employees of the long vanished Berlin clothing firm of S. Lubitsch.

#424: To Have and Have Not (1944)

Director: Howard Hawks

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Marcel Dalio & Dan Seymour

Just after the fall of France thanks to Vichy, the French Caribbean suffered under the new regime, though it often was overlooked. To Have and Have Not sets its tale in Martinique in 1940. American fisherman Harry Morgan (Bogart) finds himself in a pickle, trying to avoid allying himself with either the Vichy government or the French resistance.

This film is probably best known for one line, carried out by Lauren Bacall: "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? Just put your lips together, and blow." To Have and Have Not was Bacall's first role in a film, at the tender age of 19. And I'm surely not the only one to say, but my, girls just don't mature the same way as they used to. She has one of the most sultry voices you'll get from the leading ladies of the '40s. It comes as no surprise, then, that this is also the film in which Humphrey Bogart fell in love with her, leading to a marriage (despite the 25-year age difference).

The music by William Lava and Franz Waxman is phenomenal, particularly the songs performed on screen by Hoagy Carmichael. Carmichael has an incredibly impressive resume - take a look at his IMDB profile and glance at some of the songs he's written that have been used in films for decades.

Now here's the beef. I found this film to be pretty much identical to Casablanca. They both feature Bogart in a role where he's stuck in the middle of riots between the Vichy gendarmes and the French resistance in an exotic landscape, where he meets a beautiful and intriguing girl. The strange thing about this is that the story has been completely altered from the original novel by Hemingway to actually reproduce what had been done in Casablanca intentionally. Who does that!?

Still, the film is hailed as one of Bogart's finest, with a 100% rating on RottenTomatoes. I don't agree with it - it's certainly not as good as Casablanca... but it's still a very good, classic film.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall fell in love during production. Director Howard Hawks afterward said that it was actually Bacall's character Marie that Bogart had fallen for, "so she had to keep playing it the rest of her life." However, it has also been said that Hawks - who was something of a womanizer, and who had a fling withDolores Moran during the shooting of the film - was jealous and frustrated that Bacall had fallen for Bogart and not for Hawks himself.
• The setting was shifted to Martinique because the Office of Inter-American Affairs would not have allowed export of a film showing smuggling and insurrection in Cuba.
• The most famous scene in To Have and Have Not (1944) is undoubtedly the "you know how to whistle" dialog sequence. It was not written by Ernest Hemingway, Jules Furthman or William Faulkner, but by Howard Hawks. Hawks wrote the scene as a screen test for Bacall, with no real intention that it would necessarily end up in the film. The test was shot with Warner Bros. contract player John Ridgelyacting opposite Bacall. The Warners staff, of course, agreed to star Bacall in the film based on the test, and Hawks thought the scene was so strong he asked Faulkner to work it into one of his later drafts of the shooting script.
• The screenplay was rewritten to boost Slim's role to take advantage of the public interest in the real life romance between Lauren Bacalland Humphrey Bogart.

#427: Spring in a Small Town (1948)

(Original Title: Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun)

Director: Mu Fei

Cast: Wei Wei, Yu Shi, Wei Li, Hongmei Zhang & Chaoming Cui

Surprise! No trailer found, but you can watch the full film for free! Sorry, embedding doesn't seem to work. But! Free movie!

Soon after WWII, Yuwen finds herself living unhappily with her ill husband Liyan. Also living at their formerly exquisite house are Liyan's sister known simply as Meimei (Mandarin for 'little sister') and their servant, Lao Huang. Yuwen gets a shock one day when her old sweetheart named Zhichen arrives to visit Liyan, Zhichen's old schoolmate, a fact that Yuwen never knew. She soon realizes that she is still in love with Zhichen, while Liyan hopes for Yuwen to play matchmaker for Zhichen and Meimei.

This film was originally released just a year before the Communist Revolution. Before the film could make a name for itself, the Communists banned the film for being counter-revolutionary, and it was doomed to be lost forever. Luckily, the '80s brought a renaissance of Chinese cinema, leading to the film's rediscovery. Since then, Spring in a Small Town has been hailed as the greatest Chinese film of all time.

I'm not gonna lie, I don't see the big deal about this film. Yes, it demonstrates a feeling of a world lost to a joyless post-war depression, but there doesn't seem to be much in style or content that stood out to me at all. And to be completely honest, the audio quality completely ticked me off. Every time the narration comes in, you can hear the microphone turn on by the initiation of scratchy annoyance.

I read a fellow film blogger's analysis of this, and he completely adored it. I wouldn't mind if somebody could convince me to see this film in a better light. Because right now, I'd take Crouching Tiger over this for Best Chinese Film Ever any day.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Voted the best Chinese-language film of all time by the Hong Kong Film Academy in 2004.
• Voted the best Chinese-language film of all time by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society in 2002.

#434: The Cat Concerto (1947)

Directors: Joseph Barbera & William Hanna

Cast: Tom & Jerry

A RICHIE'S BLOG FIRST!

Come one, come all! This is the first of... well, probably not that many more posts to bring classic films to the masses! That's right, folks! This post actually contains the FULL FILM. All seven minutes of it, at your disposal, any time. So please, enjoy the film.

Watch tom & Jerry the cat concerto in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The Cat Concerto is one of the most memorable cartoon shorts to grace the screen. Similar to Fantasia (1940), the short gives a glimpse into what might be seen in the mind of a child listening to classical music. Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody is a perfect piece to serve as the back-drop of the story, being both difficult for Tom to perform as well as a bit comedic in its virtuosity.

I'm unfortunately unable to find any information on who was performing on the recording, but this website claims that the music was not altered to fit the cartoon at all. I find this highly unlikely, and I basically think the author of that site is a moron. But! The animation is undoubtedly remarkable for its time, matching the story as well as Tom's performance flawlessly to the music. It's no wonder this short won an Oscar.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Was the focus of a short and bitter flurry of allegations between Warner Brothers and MGM of plagiarism over similarities between this film and WB's Rhapsody Rabbit(1946). The controversy began when raw film from "Rhapsody Rabbit" was sent to be processed at a central film lab which serviced both Warners and MGM. By accident, the finished negatives were sent to MGM, who eventually returned them, but Friz Freleng (the director on "Rhapsody Rabbit") suspected that Hanna and Barbera or others at MGM may have viewed the film before sending it on to Warner Bros. Hanna and Barbera counter-charged that Freleng had somehow overheard their ideas for "The Cat Concerto" and acted on it.

#479: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)

Director: Norman Z. McLeod

Cast: Danny Kaye & Virginia Mayo

Although apparently hugely unsuccessful for the throngs on the IMDB message boards, I believe this film to be a true classic. Walter Mitty is a proofreader at Pierce Publishing, where he spends most of his hours daydreaming of being a hero. When the opportunity comes for him to be a real hero, it's a different story.

Kaye's klutzy Mitty is a huge source of entertainment, providing great slapstick humor to some incredible vocal talent. In fact, I was so impressed by one song that I'm providing it here. That's right, folks! Richie's first embedded video! Enjoy, and just wait until the end - it's worth it!

The music throughout is a lot of fun, often complimenting the slapstick scenes.

Unfortunately, Mike Myers is scheduled to star in a remake of this film at some point in 2010, so I recommend watching the original before it is ruined. Also, let me know what you think when you do, because I really don't understand why so many people on IMDB disliked this. I, on the other hand, give two thumbs up.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Author James Thurber acknowledged that the character Walter Mitty was based on his friend, writer Robert Benchley. Thurber said that he got the idea for Mitty from the character created by Benchley in a series of shorts that he made for Fox and MGM, respectively, in the 1920s and 1930s. Thurber is also on record as saying that he hated this film and that Danny Kaye's interpretation of Mitty is nothing at all like he intended the character to be.
• Author James Thurber offered producer Samuel Goldwyn $10,000 to not make the film.
• Danny Kaye's wife, Sylvia Fine, wrote the lyrics to a song in which Walter Mitty fantasizes that he is the homosexual women's hat designer Anatole of Paris, whose show he stumbles upon while escaping from villains in Stacey's Department Store. She was a musical-theater buff and introduced a reference to the song "Ol' Man River" (from Show Boat (1936)) into the lyrics of the song "Anatole of Paris" and satirical references to "Show Boat" in one of Mitty's daydreams.