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The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
12 January 1940 (USA)
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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. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
1 win
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NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Say Anything 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Review
(From Collider.com. 18 November 2009, 8:27 PM, PST)
Soulpepper Theatre Presents Parfumerie 11/26-12/24
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 28 October 2009, 11:14 AM, PDT)
(From Collider.com. 18 November 2009, 8:27 PM, PST)
Soulpepper Theatre Presents Parfumerie 11/26-12/24
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 28 October 2009, 11:14 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Romantic comedy perfection
more (99 total)
US TV Schedule:
Cast
(Complete credited 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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
99 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
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
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Soon after wrapping principal photography, Ernst Lubitsch talked to the New York Sun in January 1940. "It's not a big picture, just a quiet little story that seemed to have some charm. It didn't cost very much, for such a cast, under $500,000. It was made in twenty-eight days. I hope it has some charm."
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Goofs:
Continuity: When Klara hurries out of the back room with her hat and coat she rushes past the rest of the employees as they enter the room in a group. Flora is the second-to-last person in the line and she is clearly inside the room before Klara runs past. In the next cut showing Klara hurrying through the store, Flora is the last person in line and is still in the doorway.
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Quotes:
Alfred Kralik:
There might be a lot we don't know about each other. You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth.
Klara Novak (Miss Novak): Well I really wouldn't care to scratch your surface, Mr. Kralik, because I know exactly what I'd find. Instead of a heart, a hand-bag. Instead of a soul, a suitcase. And instead of an intellect, a cigarette lighter... which doesn't work.
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Klara Novak (Miss Novak): Well I really wouldn't care to scratch your surface, Mr. Kralik, because I know exactly what I'd find. Instead of a heart, a hand-bag. Instead of a soul, a suitcase. And instead of an intellect, a cigarette lighter... which doesn't work.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Twice in a Lifetime: Matchmaker, Matchmaker (#2.3)" (2000)
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Soundtrack:
Ochi Tchornya (Dark Eyes)
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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.