Christmas in July (1940)

Director:

Preston Sturges

Writer:

Preston Sturges (written by)

Release Date:

18 October 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

If you can't sleep at night, it isn't the coffee - it's the bunk!

Plot:

An office clerk loves entering contests in the hopes of someday winning a fortune and marrying the girl he loves...

Plot Keywords:

Contest | Telegram | Clerk | Coffee | Slogan

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Dick Powell	...	Jimmy MacDonald
Ellen Drew	...	Betty Casey
Raymond Walburn	...	Dr. Maxford
Alexander Carr	...	Mr. Shindel
William Demarest	...	Mr. Bildocker
Ernest Truex	...	Mr. J.B. Baxter
Franklin Pangborn	...	Don Hartman (radio announcer)
Harry Hayden	...	Mr. E.L. Waterbury (office manager)
Rod Cameron	...	Dick (co-worker)
Adrian Morris	...	Tom Darcy (co-worker) (as Michael Morris)
Harry Rosenthal	...	Harry (co-worker)
Georgia Caine	...	Mrs. Ellen MacDonald
Ferike Boros	...	Mrs. Schwartz
Torben Meyer	...	Mr. Schmidt
Julius Tannen	...	Mr. Zimmerman

Runtime:

USA:67 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #6414) | UK:U

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Sturges helped invent the gadget sofa demonstrated in the department store scene.

Quotes:

Jimmy MacDonald: I don't know whether you've ever had anything like this happen to you, Dr. Maxford, but to be poor and unknown one minute and be sitting on top of the world the next minute - that's a feeling that *nobody* can ever take away from me.
Dr. Maxford: Well, I'll be... I'll be... I'll be...
Jimmy MacDonald: To know I won this contest because I thought up a better slogan than anyone else means more to me than anything else on earth and I'll tell ya why...
Dr. Maxford: If you wou -
Jimmy MacDonald: You see, I used ta *think* that maybe I had good ideas and was gonna get somewhere in the world, but now I *know* it. And that's what I want to thank you for, Dr. Maxford, even more than the money.
Maxford's secretary: Is this the one you wanted, Dr. Maxford? The $25,000 one?
Dr. Maxford: That's right.
Maxford's secretary: When did they choose a winner? I didn't know...
Dr. Maxford: I don't *know*. They bother to inform *me* about these things, of course! James MacDonald - is that M-A-C or M-C?
Jimmy MacDonald: It's M-A-C, sir.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Gilmore Girls: Santa's Secret Stuff (#7.11)" (2007)

A treat any time of the year.

Could this be one of Preston Sturges's most profound comedies?

In addition to being one of the funniest and most underappreciated. In "Sullivan's Travels," Preston Sturges has the

Joel McCrea character speak admiringly of fellow director Frank

Capra. In "Christmas in July" possibly Sturges was trying to teach

Capra how to handle sentiment without falling into sentimentality --

the scene where Dick Powell is handing out presents to his

neighbors, and he gives a doll to a crippled girl in a wheelchair --

a remarkably tender moment in the midst of a hectic scene -- done

with just the right touch, One of my favorite lines occurs when

bug-eyed Raymond Walburn sarcastically tells contest-winner

Powell, "I can't wait to give you my money!" Sturges also shows

that you can have plot complications without resorting to villains --

no Capraesque class warfare here -- rich and poor are equally

lovable -- even gruff William Demarest.