Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan in the Ernst Lubitsch movie ‘The Shop Around the Corner’

Offering uplifting fare with a backdrop of Christmas, we turn the clock back more than 80 years to the Ernst Lubitsch romantic comedy The Shop Around the Corner (1940). The film is based on the Hungarian play Parfumerie (1936) by Miklós László, with the screenplay by Samson Raphaelson and Ben Hecht.

(From left, James Stewart as Alfred Kralik and Margaret Sullavan as Klara Novak in the Ernst Lubitsch movie The Shop Around the Corner).

Klara Novak and Alfred Kralik are introduced to us as a new and a tenured employee of a store owned by Hugo Matuschek named Matuschek and Company. Klara and Alfred have clearly different sensibilities for how best to help Hugo choose merchandise and operate his store, which spills over to their relationship over time at the store. Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan star as Klara Novak, Alfred Kralik and Hugo Matuschek, respectively.

(Frank Morgan as Hugo Matuschek in the Ernst Lubitsch movie The Shop Around the Corner).

A series of supporting salespeople, delivery staff and others support the operation. The staff includes Pirovitch, a family man portrayed by Felix Bressart, womanizer Ferencz Vadas, as portrayed by Joseph Schildkraut, saleswoman Ilona Novotny as portrayed by Inez Courtney, clerk Flora Kaczek as portrayed by Sara Haden and the precocious yet ambitious delivery boy Pepi Katona, as portrayed by William Tracy.

(From left, Felix Bressart as Pirovitch and William Tracy as Pepi Katona in the Ernst Lubitsch movie The Shop Around the Corner).

The groundwork for the film begins with the established protocols of the store along with a difference of opinion over the selling of cigarette boxes, which is the occasion of Klara Novak and Alfred Kralik unwittingly coming into conflict. That Alfred and Klara secretly are falling for one another as anonymous love interests through the mail leads to a significant segment of the romantic comedy of the film. That the cigarette boxes cause turmoil between Kralik and Hugo Matuschek calls a secure working arrangement for Kralik into doubt.

(From left, Joseph Schildkraut as Ferencz Vadas and James Stewart as Alfred Kralik in the Ernst Lubitsch movie The Shop Around the Corner).

A serious complication within the operation of the store takes the disagreement between Kralik and Matuschek down a path that rearranges the dramatic turns of the movie into a more uplifting turn for Alfred Kralik. Kralik satisfyingly gets to decide the fate of a distasteful member of the staff while also getting to exert additional influence over the fate of the store as well as his budding romance. Pepi Katona earns the right to shine for a moment in the growing optimism of shifting fortune.

(From left, Margaret Sullavan as Klara Novak and James Stewart as Alfred Kralik in the Ernst Lubitsch movie The Shop Around the Corner).

An uplifting romantic comedy set against the backdrop of Christmas simply must come to resolution on the night before Christmas. The store sees a positive under the guidance of Alfred Kralik. Klara Novak and Alfred Kralik take the moment to see through some firmly difficult interpersonal views to speak the truth to one another. Happiness comes through the other side of a story that sees fit to invite doubts and obstacles to keep what feels right from fruition.

(From left, actress Margaret Sullavan, director Ernst Lubitsch and actor James Stewart on the set of the Ernst Lubitsch movie The Shop Around the Corner).

The movie You’ve Got Mail (1998) borrows from The Shop Around the Corner by using the notion of anonymous correspondence between two people leading to their falling in love being an important plot point. The notion worked in 1940 and largely worked in 1998. The highly satisfying story coupled with highly satisfying performances within The Shop Around the Corner as directed by Ernst Lubitsch leads me to grant the movie 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, December 11, 2021

Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy and the movie ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’

With the death of espionage writer John le Carré (pseudonym for David John Moore Cornwell) in December 2020, one natural inclination was to return for an updated screening of the movie based on his novel named Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). Today we look into the movie that released in September of 2011.

(From left, Mark Strong as Jim Prideaux and Péter Kálloy Molnár as Hungarian Waiter in the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).

The movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens with an incident in failed espionage incident in European country Hungary, wherein Jim Prideaux as portrayed by Mark Strong is involved in a shooting by a Hungarian Waiter as portrayed by Péter Kálloy Molnár. This leads to scandal in the early 1970s British intelligence apparatus, including the ouster from service of intelligence leader Control and his right hand man, George Smiley. John Hurt portrayed Control as Gary Oldman portrayed George Smiley.

(From left, Gary Oldman as George Smiley and Benedict Cumberbatch as Peter Guillam in the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).

The espionage fueled assassination attempt has ties to a Soviet double agent atop the British spy apparatus, whose uncovering and correction drives much of the remainder of the film. In the new order of British intelligence following the assassination attempt, from which Jim Prideaux survives, Percy Alleline becomes the new Chief with Bill Haydon as his deputy and Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase as lieutenants to Alleline. Toby Jones portrays Alleline as Colin Firth portrays Bill Haydon. Ciarán Hinds and David Dencik portray Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase, respectively.

(Colin Firth as Bill Haydon, David Dencik as Toby Esterhase, Toby Jones as Percy Alleline and John Hurt as Control in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).

The wrinkle in uncovering the double agent, and the motivations underpinning those involved in the both the cover-up and the uncovering, propels the dignity of an understated English sensibility through much of what follows. George Smiley is pressed into service to detect the double agent, or mole, in the movie that follows. Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Peter Guillam, whose job and personal cost offers a compelling tale for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy all by itself.

(From left, Svetlana Khodchenkova as Irina and Tom Hardy as Ricki Tarr in the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).

Keeping an eye on the telling of the interest in Ricki Tarr, as portrayed by Tom Hardy, and Soviet spy Irina offers another compelling stream of story to tug as you follow along with an espionage tale that is brilliantly layered from the book by Le Carré and the screenplay by Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan. Svetlana Khodchenkova portrayed Irina.

(Ciarán Hinds as Roy Bland in the movie Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy).

While my feeling for style and substance might err a bit toward a sympathetic bent towards British nostalgia from an American cousin, to borrow from a line used at least once in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, I found much of the subtle mechanisms of telling the threads leading us to resolution were well done. To me, the film deserves a better reception, at least in the United States, than it actually received. The movie did better in the United Kingdom, which I reflect in rating Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at 4-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, February 17, 2021