Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

A food writer who has lied about being the perfect housewife must try to cover her deception when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her home for a traditional family Christmas.

Director:

Peter Godfrey

Writers:

Lionel Houser (screenplay), Adele Comandini (screenplay),

Stars:

Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Elizabeth Lane
Dennis Morgan	...	Jefferson Jones
Sydney Greenstreet	...	Alexander Yardley
Reginald Gardiner	...	John Sloan
S.Z. Sakall	...	Felix Bassenak
Robert Shayne	...	Dudley Beecham
Una O'Connor	...	Norah
Frank Jenks	...	Sinkewicz
Joyce Compton	...	Mary Lee
Dick Elliott	...	Judge Crothers

Storyline

Journalist Elizabeth Lane is one of the country's most famous food writers. In her columns, she describes herself as a hard working farm woman, taking care of her children and being an excellent cook. But this is all lies. In reality she is an unmarried New Yorker who can't even boil an egg. The recipes come from her good friend Felix. The owner of the magazine she works for has decided that a heroic sailor will spend his Christmas on *her* farm. Miss Lane knows that her career is over if the truth comes out, but what can she do?

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Plot Keywords:

farm | christmas | food | writer | war hero | 

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Taglines:

Dear Fans, Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan are spending a very merry "Christmas in Connecticut." The romancin's rosy and the fun's furious and everybody's going to be there! You're invited! Warner Bros. (The happy hosts) (original poster - written in script)

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

11 August 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

Indiscrição

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of Elizabeth Lane was loosely based on the then popular Family Circle Magazine columnist Gladys Taber, who lived on Stillmeadow Farm in Connecticut.

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Goofs

Yardley was discussing with Sloan about his competitor getting a jump on the reader audience with a new baby, and that it was due next September. They were discussing this at Christmas. Elizabeth Lane's competitor in another magazine wouldn't have been pregnant yet, or just barely but no one would know.

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Quotes

Felix Bassenak: Sam?
Sam: Yes, sir?
Felix Bassenak: Catastrophe, what is it?
Sam: It's from the Greek. It means "a misfortune, a cataclysm or a serious calamity."
Felix Bassenak: It is good?
Sam: No, sir. That's bad.

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Connections

Featured in A Hollywood Christmas (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Turkey in the Straw"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Played at the community dance

User Reviews

Lightweight But Pleasant Holiday Feature

This lightweight but pleasant holiday feature makes the most out of a pretty slim premise, thanks to a solid cast and some resourceful writing. Not meant to be taken very seriously, it provides easygoing entertainment with some simple but upbeat themes.

Barbara Stanwyck was an interesting choice as the lead, and she makes it work well enough. The premise of Stanwyck's writer character trying to fool everyone and maintain her image is more suited to screwball comedy than to a holiday feature, but the tone is kept light and funny while having just enough of the holiday atmosphere to be believable. The supporting cast helps out, with the likes of "Cuddles" Sakall and Sydney Greenstreet getting some good moments.

This kind of light but worthwhile feature is not as easy as it looks - as witness the string of crass, barely watchable holiday features of recent years. While hardly anything deep or brilliant, "Christmas in Connecticut" holds up well enough to be among the more enjoyable movies of its kind.