The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Director:

Ernst Lubitsch

Writers:

Samson Raphaelson (screenplay)
Miklós László (play)
(more)

Release Date:

12 January 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Drama

Plot:

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realizing that they're falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

Plot Keywords:

Gift | Pen Pal | Post Office Box | Hungary | Budapest Hungary

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Margaret Sullavan	...	Klara Novak
James Stewart	...	Alfred Kralik
Frank Morgan	...	Hugo Matuschek
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Ferencz Vadas
Sara Haden	...	Flora
Felix Bressart	...	Pirovitch
William Tracy	...	Pepi Katona
Inez Courtney	...	Ilona Novotny
Sarah Edwards	...	Woman Customer
Edwin Maxwell	...	Doctor
Charles Halton	...	Detective
Charles Smith	...	Rudy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charles Arnt	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Joan Blair	...	Customer Recognizing Matuschek (uncredited)
Mary Carr	...	Grandmother (uncredited)
Mabel Colcord	...	Aunt Anna (uncredited)
William Edmunds	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Grace Hayle	...	Plump Woman (uncredited)
Gertrude Simpson	...	Woman Customer (uncredited)

Directed by
Ernst Lubitsch

Writing credits
Samson Raphaelson		(screenplay)
Miklós László		(play "Parfumerie") (as Nikolaus Laszlo)
Ben Hecht		uncredited

Produced by
Ernst Lubitsch	....	producer

Original Music by
Werner R. Heymann		(musical score)

Cinematography by
William H. Daniels		(as William Daniels)

Film Editing by
Gene Ruggiero

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist: Miss Sullavan

Production Management
Arthur Rose	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Horace Hough	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Wade B. Rubottom	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Production Companies

• Loew's
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Loew's (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #5967) | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

All scenes were reportedly shot in sequence.

Goofs:

Continuity: Pirovitch looks through the right side of the Cafe window from outside and tells Alfred he can't see Klara's face at first because she is sitting behind a coat rack. When Alfred joins Klara inside, she's sitting at the far end of the window with the coat rack well behind her.

Quotes:

Woman Customer: How much is that belt in the window, the one that says "2.95?"
Alfred Kralik: $2.95
Woman Customer: Oh, no!
[walks away]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (2008)

Soundtrack:

Ochi Tchornya (Dark Eyes)

Romantic comedy perfection

Lubitsch's charming masterpiece, so often imitated and re-adapted since it appeared in 1940, is one of the very few films that can be called perfect. There is not a shot, a line, a performance, or a moment in THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER that isn't exactly right. Everything fits together and runs like a Swiss watch.

With its flawless screenplay and cast, it's the most subtle, discreet, and understated of romantic comedies. What other film manages to be so warm-hearted yet so rigorously unsentimental? What other movie story is so exquisitely planned and executed?

Margaret Sullaven isn't sexy, it's true, but this isn't a film about sex. It's about love in the human heart and mind. A sexier actress would have thrown things out-of-balance. As always, Lubitsch knew exactly what he was doing. Just as he knew ace comedian Frank Morgan (the WIZARD OF OZ's Wizard) had hidden depth, which this film so beautifully reveals.

They don't make them like this anymore -- they didn't make them like this back then, either. SHOP was under-rated in 1940, when it appeared. It's simply too subtle, too intelligent and disciplined for the average viewer or critic.

Nothing overdone or exaggerated. Nothing out-of-place. If Mozart had been a filmmaker, he would have made this one. Warm, charming, adult, quiet, intelligent, knowing, touching ... perfection.